Dec. 6th at 7pm Dec. 7th at 7pm and 11pm Dec. 8th at 7pmStudio One, Walgreen Drama Center

1226 Murfin Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1212Free Admission

Amanda Cohen-Esteves’ Senior Directing Thesis

by Nilo CruzThe 2003 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama

In conjunction with Cuba Double Week

Presented by The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance's Department of Theatre and Drama

University of Michigan

Anna in the TropicsBy Nilo Cruz

Production Team

DirectorAssistant Director

DramaturgeDialect Coach

Stage ManagerAssistant Stage Manager

Scenic DesignerCostume Designer

Props DesignerCostume and Props

CoordinatorComposer/Sound

DesignerCo-Lighting DesignerCo-Lighting Designer

Media CoordinatorGraphic DesignerSound Engineers

Amanda Cohen-EstevesFlores KomatsuLevi StroudAimee GarciaAngela AlvarezJessica BrowningLucy BriggsSarah KornEmma GebhardKristi Weighman

Clay Gonzalez

Yemisi OdetoyinboLiz WilliamsMitchell SchneiderSarah FogelPeter LeonardJarrett FloydDylan Sundberd

Professor Ruth BeharProfessor Lawrence Fountain- StokesProfessor Maria CoteraJennifer Garcia-PeacockProfessor Malcolm TulipTheater and Drama Faculty

Jack KennyFrita BatidosSarah St. John

Paul SullivanDewey SinclairArthur RidleyProfessor Annette MasonEd Shock and the Shock FamilyThe Performance NetworkThe ReUse Center

Special Thanks to...

Basement ArtsJon ManganelloTaylor NortonDan TracyRich LindsayLauri AlvarezKyle BassettMs. Vera GarciaElena GarciaJessica HahnFrida BatidosMaria EstevesRob MurphyBecca KephartBen MurrayCuba Double WeekCookie Salazar

About the PlayThe Author Nilo Cruz, whose plays include Two Sisters and a Piano, Lorca in a Green Dress, Night Train to Bolina, A Bicycle Country, and Dancing on Her Knees, is one of the countryʼs most produced Cuban-American writers. His work has been produced at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, The Joseph Papp Public Theatre, South Coast Repertory Theatre and the New Theatre in Coral Gables. An alumnus of New Dramatists, Cruz has taught playwriting at Brown and Yale universities. He is the recipient of numer-ous awards including the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Alton Jones Award and the Kesselring Prize.

The CultureItʼs 1929, Ybor City, Florida. Though we are in the U.S., itʼs almost as if

of tobacco hangs in the air. We see the Cuban customs—the fast syllables and loud words. This is a pocket of the country in which Cuban culture is greatly alive and the Cuban cigar industry is the force that keeps its heart beating. The streets are lined with factories packed with Cuban-Ameri-cans. As they work, they conserve their Cuban culture, rolling cigars by hand in a traditional fashion and enjoying the Cuban custom of listening to a lector—a man they themselves selected to read news and literature to them, educating the illiterate workers on their world. Life is hot and still as the words of the lector spice the stage.

But change is beginning to shake the foundations of this city. Change threatens the conservation of the Cuban culture as modernity further grips the United States with towering factories that produce materials at lightening speed—machines replacing workers and assembly lines replacing specialists. Fast paced producing and consuming is now the American culture with no slowing down for traditions.

In this setting, the play focuses on the struggle of characters to conserve their way of life—both personal and communal. But can these Cuban-Americans keep their immigrant traditions alive as the country melts into fast consumerism? Or will they be forced to modernize? Will technology replace hands, and will the dominating thump of machinery and the call for faster, cheaper production completely erase the voice of the lector?

Set shortly before the start of the Great Depression, we see these char-acters in an incredibly vulnerable state. Times are changing—what will come of them?

- Levi Stroud, Dramaturge

BFA Senior Directing Thesis

Cast (In Order of Appearance)

There will be a 15 minute intermission. Running time: 105 minutes.

Act 1Tampa, Florida, Summer of 1929.

Act 2One Month Later.

EliadesSantiagoCheché

OfeliaMarela

ConchitaPalomo

Juan JulianPeppino Mellini,

Understudy to Juan Julian/Palomo

Manola, Understudy to Conchita/MarelaPascual Torino,

Understudy to Santiago/Cheche

Flores KomatsuJoseph McDonaldGraham TechlerAlex DeMaioRegan MoroTina Munoz-PandyaElliot CruzTristan RewaldKevin Douglass

Danielle Boivin

Run Crew

Musicians

Libby SeidnerNadine Dyskant-Miller

Rachel RosenbaumMichael Gieske

Sammy BollerJulian Bridges

Dylan GreenChristina Manceor

Maggie StarrClair NiederbergerCassidy Goldblatt

Megan LathanClifton Boyd

Kellen DeganIsabel Kwan

Eva RoosSam Saunders

FluteFluteClarinetBassoonGuitarPercussionPercussionPercussionViolinViolinViolinViolaViolaCelloCelloContrabassPiano

Directorʼs Note

“I am only interested in love” Florentino Ariza states in Love in the Time of Cholera. I believe that the most compelling stories center around love, and that may be my main drive in choosing this play as my senior directing thesis. Just as the character Conchita says in the play, “I am learning many things from [Anna Karenina],” so too have I learned many things from Anna in the Tropics. One major idea being that im-

studying. Conchita says to her husband Palomo, “I still love and desire you just the same.” She still loves him as much as the day she fell in love with him, even after years of marriage. She loves him not “in despite” of his numerous faults, but rather by embracing every part of him for good or bad. Itʼs an unexplainable phenomenon-- being in love with some-one that may or may not be “good” for you from societyʼs standards. Through forgiveness and redemption, this couple, like their older coun-terparts Ofelia and Santiago, are able to make compromises and learn to be honest and expressive with each other in order to make their relation-ship not only endure, but be better than ever before. Love is never ever easy because all of the most important things in life take work. Love is work. Love is not the movies, the novels, the fantasies. Love is the everyday stories; the couple that survive a child, the single mother trying to make ends meet for her family, the couple who battle the challenge of long distance. The imperfections are there but they make us who we are: real. Our responsibility as theater artists is to be storytellers and teachers to the greater public. They say that art mir-rors life; or perhaps, life mirrors art. I believe that both are equally true. I hope for everyone to leave this production with a newfound understand-ing that the answers are never easy, but there is always the chance for redemption and “real” love. I hope for this understanding to seep into your lives, your relationships, your loves, and let it change you for the better. I know it has for me.

Anna in the Tropics is dedicated to the loving memory of Julia Valente De Almeida Marques Esteves, who came from Portugal, with two small children, to give my mother and uncle a better life. I learned my culture, tradition, and loyalty to family from her. We will always endure and stick together in your memory. Te amo Avoʼ.

Running Crew HeadCostume & Hair/

Makeup HeadProps Head

Sound Board Operator

Jessica BrowningKristi Weighman

Danielle KyserNadine Dyskant-Miller