Anna in the Tropics

by Nilo Cruz

Winner of the 2003 Pulitizer Prize for Drama . . . there are many kinds of light.
The light of fires. The light of stars.
The light that reflects off rivers.
Light that penetrates through cracks.
Then there’s the type of light that reflects off the skin.
—Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics This lush romantic drama depicts a family of cigar makers whose loves and lives are played out against the backdrop of America in the midst of the Depression. Set in Ybor City (Tampa) in 1930, Cruz imagines the catalytic effect the arrival of a new "lector" (who reads Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina to the workers as they toil in the cigar factory) has on a Cuban-American family. Cruz celebrates the search for identity in a new land. "The words of Nilo Cruz waft from the stage like a scented breeze. They sparkle and prickle and swirl, enveloping those who listen in both specific place and time . . . and in timeless passions that touch us all. In Anna in the Tropics , the world premiere work he created for Coral Gables’ intimate New Theatre, Cruz claims his place as a storyteller of intricate craftsmanship and poetic power."— Miami Herald Nilo Cruz is a young Cuban-American playwright whose work has been produced widely around the United States including the Public Theater (New York, NY), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA), Magic Theatre (San Francisco, CA), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theater (Princeton, NJ) and New Theatre (Coral Gables, FL). His other plays include Night Train to Bolina, Two Sisters and a Piano, Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, among others. Anna in the Tropics also won the Steinberg Award for Best New Play. Mr. Cruz teaches playwriting at Yale University and lives in New York City.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Theatre, School, Historical Fiction, Read For School

91 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Cruz'z interest in theater began with acting and directing in the early 1980s. He studied theater first at Miami-Dade Community College, later moving to New York City, where Cruz studied under fellow Cuban María Irene Fornés. Fornes recommended Cruz to Paula Vogel who was teaching at Brown University where he would later receive his M.F.A. in 1994.

In 2001, Cruz served as the playwright-in-residence for the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he wrote Anna in the Tropics. Rafael de Acha, produced and directed the world premier performance of Anna in the Tropics, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer and the Steinberg Award for Best New Play. A year later it received its Broadway premiere with Jimmy Smits in the lead role.

Some of the theatres that have developed and performed his works include New York's Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Pasadena Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Alliance, New Theatre, Florida Stage and the Coconut Grove Playhouse.

Cruz wrote the book of the Frank Wildhorn-Jack Murphy musical Havana. Its scheduled world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse has been delayed by the theatre's declaration of bankruptcy in 2010

Cruz has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including two NEA/TCG National Theatre Artist Residency grants, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, San Francisco's W. Alton Jones award, a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award and a USA Artist Fellowship.

Cruz is a frequent collaborator with Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank. To date, they have completed a set of orchestral songs, La centinela y la paloma (The Keeper and the Dove), for soprano Dawn Upshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (premiered under the baton of Joana Carneiro in February 2011); The Saint Maker for soprano Jessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and the Berkeley Symphony in May 2013; Journey of the Shadow for narrator and ensemble of eleven players (San Francisco Chamber Orchestra premiering in April 2013; the Conquest Requiem for soprano, baritone, orchestra, and chorus for the Houston Symphony under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada in May 2017; and Cinco Lunas de Lorca (The Five Moons of Lorca) as a digital short for countertenor, choir, and piano for the Los Angeles Opera. They are currently working on The Last Dream of Frida, an opera for the San Diego Opera whose premiere has been delayed due to COVID-19.

Cruz penned the libretto to composer Jimmy López's opera Bel Canto which had its world premiere at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on December 7, 2015.

Cruz's most recent work is Bathing in Moonlight, a world premiere featuring Raul Mendez, Priscilla Lopez, Hannia Guillen, Frankie J. Alvarez, Michael Rudko, and Katty Velasquez. Directed by Emily Mann (it has incorrectly been stated that Emily Mann directed the world premiere of Anna in the Tropics, the world premiere was directed by Rafael de Acha, artistic director of New Theatre, in Coral Gables, Florida. The following year, after being awarded the Pulitzer and Steinberg Awards, Emily Mann directed a production at the McCarter Theatre, which then was presented on Broadway.) Bathing in Moonlight ran September 9 - October 9, 2016, at McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. Bathing in Moonlight is the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and a 2016 Greenfield Prize.

Cruz is an alumnus of New Dramatists and has taught playwriting at Brown University, the University of Iowa and at Yale University. He presently lives in New York City and Miami.

In 2009, Cruz received the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career.

In 2010, Cruz was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz is the 2003 Pulitzer winner for drama, making Cruz the first Latin American to win the award. Taking place in 1929 in a cigar factory, the play tells a poignant story of workers who would listen to a lector read a story as they roll cigars. Enamored by the story, cigar workers would increase their production, making their job into an art. Anna in the Tropics is in homage to this art form lost to time gone by.

In 1929 America is still under prohibition but the Cuban owned cigar factories in Tampa Bay governed their own rules and the rum flowed freely. This is how we find factory owner Santiago at the play's opening as he foolishly gambles away his money while drunk. His wife Ofelia and daughters Conchita and Marela have other ideas; they have paid for the passage of new lector Juan Julian Rios from Havana to boost the morale of the factory workers. The play opens as Santiago fritters away his money while the women wait for the boat.

Juan Julian chooses to read from Anna Karenina. Even though it is summer, the book transports the workers to Moscow in winter. Cruz includes passages from the book in the play in order to authenticate the readings. After only the first few passages, the workers become enthralled in the novel for better or worse. Cheche, Santiago's half brother, thinks that the factory should do away with the lectors and replace workers with machines. Marela, captivated by the story, works faster but without attention to detail. Conchita and her husband Palomo engage in a real life Anna Karenina story of their own, leaving the reader engaged to find out if it ends up coming to head.

Even though I am unfamiliar with Anna Karenina, I became captivated by the story as the workers did, wondering what would happen to the various love affairs. Cruz shows how the presence of a lector would boost worker morale as they listened to the story to break the monotony of worker. The play takes place at a time when modernity threatens the fabric of our country, as both machines and cigarettes look to replace workers and cigars. It is a faster, changing culture, and Cruz writes of a slice of a Cuban lifestyle that should not be forgotten. Creating memorable characters combined with a captivating story, I was enthralled with this play, even in written form.

Nilo Cruz is the author of many plays which have been produced at many theaters and festivals throughout the country. Anna in the Tropics is his first award winning play, and its combination of time, story, and characters make it deserving of the Pulitzer. A window into time gone by, Anna in the Tropics takes us back to a simpler lifestyle. I look forward to reading Cruz' other plays, and now that my interest has been piqued, to reading Anna Karenina as well. A solid production translating well to written form, Anna in the Tropics is a solid 4 star read.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Everything in life dreams. A bicycle dreams of becoming a boy, an umbrella dreams of becoming the rain, a pearl dreams of becoming a woman, and a chair dreams of becoming a gazelle and running back to the forest."
Anna In The Tropics ~~ Nilo Cruz



Nilo Cruz is the greatest poet the American theatre has produced since Tennessee Williams. And, like Williams, Cruz's women are beautifully drawn and realized. Lastly, no playwright has captured the steaminess of sex like Williams until Cruz burst upon the theatrical scene.

Anna In The Tropics is set in 1929 in a Cuban-American cigar factory where cigars are still rolled by hand and "lectors" are employed to educate and entertain the workers. The arrival of a new lector is a cause for celebration, but when he begins to read aloud from Anna Karenina, he unwittingly becomes a catalyst in the lives of his avid listeners, for whom Tolstoy, the tropics, and the American dream prove a volatile combination. Nilo Cruz transports readers and audiences with the power of his language, leading us to the depths of his characters' passions.



Cruz's play is a play for voices; it highlights the transformative powers of literature on the human mind and soul, and the unstoppable nature of progress in both people and business. The simple, essentially uneducated employees of a cigar factory in Tampa, Florida's Ybor City in 1929 are introduced to an unfamiliar, exciting world when their new lector, who breaks up the day's monotony by reading books and poetry aloud, Juan Julian, reads to them from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

This sets off a chain of events that forces the characters to re-examine their lives and their outlooks on the world. Conchita, unhappily married to the unfaithful Palomo, begins an affair of her own (mirroring Anna Karenina's) with Juan Julian. Marela truly loses herself in the story to the point of neglecting much of the real world around her. The factory's owners, Santiago and Ofelia, are inspired to develop a new cigar, but they're facing trouble from one of the workers, Cheché, who is slowly buying up portions of the factory by covering Santiago's gambling debts. Cheché is steadfastly determined to end the tradition of the lector and modernize the entire operation.

The battles between reality and fantasy and tradition and progress are played out as to mirror the struggles of the characters in Tolstoy's novel, with spoken passages used to further illuminate the play's events. Cruz is quite successful in documenting the transformation of the unassuming workers into more worldly, adventurous figures this way. And, as he's infused the script with plenty of light-hearted comedy, he's able to smooth over many of the play's rougher edges.



However, there are problems with Cruz's script as well. As beautifully written as this script is, at times, it seems too calculated, too perfect. Also ACT II starts out with an extremely erotic and steamy scene, but as the act progresses, the passion that consumed two of the characters seems to peter out and much of the eroticism is lost as we focus on less interesting characters.

In the end, Cruz has given us an exotic, beautifully written, if a little plot heavy, slice of Chekhovian drama sprinkled with some magical realism. Recommended. 4.5/5

[Dream.M · Rating 4 out of 5]

قبلن فکر میکردم از نمایشنامه خوندن خوشم نمیاد، اما با خوندن این نمایشنامه " آنا در استوا" و نمایشنامه قبلی "آتش سوزی ها " متوجه شدم که انتخاب های قبلیم اشتباه محض بودن و ایراد جای دیگه ای غیر از درون منه .
.....
این نمایشنامه خیلی عالی بود و به شدت احساسات منو برانگیخت
درباره تاثیر ادبیات روی آدمها ، رشد شخصیتی و تغییر روابط بین فردی هستش
من از این مدل کتابها که درباره‌ ی کتاب دیگه‌ای نوشته میشن خیلی خوشم میاد و بنظرم هوشمندی و خلاقیت زیادی میطلبه این وصل کردن و ادغام داستانها به همدیگه . این نمایشنامه هم درباره یک خانواده کوچیک تولید کننده سیگار برگه که با گوش دادن به داستان آناکارنینا در حین کار که بوسیله قصه گو روایت میشه،( مثل رادیو گوش کردن ) تحت تاثیر قرار میگیرن و روابطشون و عواطف شون دستخوش تغییر میشه.
......
نکته : نظر من اینه که برای درک حسی بالای این نمایشنامه لازمه قبلا کتاب " انا کارنینا " رو خونده باشیم.
......
یه چیز بانمک یا شایدم بی‌نمک: همش فکر میکردم نویسنده این نمایشنامه یه خانم باشه چون اسمش نیلو عه،و وقتی عکسش رو توی گوگل دیدم خیلی یکه خوردم 🍃
.......
سعی میکنم این ریویوو رو سر حوصله تکمیل کنم.
منتظر شنیدن نظر دوستام در موردش هستم تا ازشون تقلب کنم😋

[Zahra · Rating 4 out of 5]

"الکل تو این کشور ممنوع شده، برای این‌که الکل مثل ادبیاته. ادبیات بهترین و بدترین لایه های وجودمونو رو می‌کنه. اگه عصبانی باشی، خشمتو رو می‌کنه. اگه ناراحت باشی، ناراحتیتو نشون می‌ده."
.
کتاب آناکارنینای تولستوی رو نخوندم اما فیلمش رو قبلا دیدم؛ برای همین تونستم گریزهایی که توی این کتاب به آناکارنینا زده می‌شد رو درک کنم. در کل یک نمایش‌نامه ی خوش‌خوان و کم حجمه که راحت در یک نشست خونده می‌شه. از خوندنش راضی ام و می‌شه گفت به خوندن نمایش‌نامه علاقه‌مند شدم.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna In The Tropics tells the story of a family that owns a cigar factory in Tampa in 1929 who hires a lector for the workers in the factory because it breaks up the monotony of the work and increases morale and how it impacts the factory workers' lives in other ways.

Lectors would come into the factories and read to and educate the workers while they completed their work. The lector they hire reads them Anna Karenina, and the workers are enthralled with the book. An aside to the book is that this is also a time of factories using machines instead of hand assembling the cigars, as Americans move toward things like cars and smoking cigarettes and living a faster paced life.

I found the play entertaining and it kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. I enjoyed the conversations the characters had with each other and enjoyed learning a little about the history and traditions of the cigar rollers.

[david · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stellar play that incorporates the importance of literature with the art of cigar making in Tampa, Florida, by Cuban immigrants.

Anna Karenina is read throughout this piece by a ‘lecturer’ who is hired to narrate novels while manual cigar rollers, stuffers, workers listen as a form of diversion from the banality of their jobs.

An important theme here is that literature endures against all odds, even when technology interrupts with promises of lower costs, less skilled labor, and mass scales of production.

Also, many of the cigar crafters are women of all ages that relate to Tolstoy’s novel in a personal way that affects the characters behaviors toward each other.

Some men are in favor of a ‘lecturer’ while other men are deeply opposed to the sentimentality that the Russian story conveys.

The playwright is a Cuban immigrant.

Highly engaging.

[Neda · Rating 2 out of 5]

هنوز تجربه زیادی در نمایشنامه خوانی ندارم از این رو ممکن است نگاهم ناشیانه باشد.
این کتاب را بیشتر در باب عشق و خیانت یافتم چنانکه مضمون اصلی کتابی هم که خوان خولیان برای کارگران کارخانه سیگارپیچی می خواند همین بود: آناکارنینایی که دلبسته محبوبی است و به همسر خود خیانت می ورزد. تمام شخصیت های اصلی نیز گرچه این خیانت را تقب��ح می کنند اما خود نیز درگیر رابطه هایی هستند که مفهوم واقعی عشق را زیر سوال می برد. پالومو و کونچیتا، چچه و همسرش، خوان خولیان و حتی مارلو که گویی عشق خوان خولیان را در دل می پرورد، نمونه های آشکار این پارادوکس هستند. گرچه حضور خوان خولیان در این کارخانه، نگاه تمام افراد کارخانه را نسبت به جریان عشق و اثرات عشق واقعی تحت تاثیر قرار داد اما شاید عکس العمل چچه و حتی خیالی که پالومو در سر می پرورد گویای دقیق مفهوم عشق باشد.

[Ana Camastro · Rating 5 out of 5]

2020 Update:
I'm reading 20 of my favorite books this year (because hindsight is 20/20) and Anna in the Tropics is the first on my re-read list that I finished.

Anna in the Tropics is by far my favorite play. Nilo Cruz is an exceptional playwright; his characters are vivid, his prose is gorgeous, and he tells a beautiful and engaging story. Anna Karenina is one of my very favorite books and I thought Cruz handles the blending of the novel into the play perfectly. He makes the novel accessible and, I think, makes it so one can enjoy the play even if you haven't read the novel. I also enjoy how Cruz writes a positive pro-workers (and maybe even a little socialist) play and I loved that.

My favorite thing about the play is the character Conchita (a role I'd love to play on the stage one day). She was honest and vulnerable and strong. Had some of the best dialogue and scenes. The rest of the women are also fantastic. They're all different and unique and have their own voice.

I stand by my previous review of the play: it is perfect.

2017:
Perfect.

[Dre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished an audio of the staged production for the Pulitzer Prize winning play: Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz.

4.25 / 5 stars though I suspect my score would be much higher had I read the play with my eyes as well. It sometimes took me a moment to figured out who was speaking and that likely affected my enjoyment a little.

Still, I loved this story of a 1920s Cuban cigar factory in Tampa, Fl that continues the Cuban tradition of hiring a lector to read books as the workers roll cigars (by the way… this was a brilliant idea for the times).

A new lector arrives to read Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina upending and inspiring the lives of those who work in the factory as life often imitates art. This was a lively, funny and tragic work. I loved it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times, this play was extremely confusing. There are a lot of characters and intense relationships, which would likely be easier to grasp in an actual performance rather than a read-through.

Nonetheless, I can appreciate the value in the play. Some clarity would have been much appreciated, but it was rather interesting to watch unravel, and quite the jarring ending.

[Bethanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's just say it right now: I LOVE "Anna Karenina." It took me two weeks to read, but it was fantastic and I still consider it one of my favorite books.
Now for this little play.
I had to read it for a literature class, so my mind naturally goes to, "If you stand on your head and look at this aspect, how can it be interpreted?" The highlight of the book, as we discussed in class, was the effect of literature on both Anna in Tolstoy's novel and the characters in the play. Each felt some deep-down emotion but was unable to recognize it until Juan Julian brought the novel to them, and each was moved to some kind of action because of literature as well. I applaud Cruz for creating a parallel to Tolstoy's characters without creating a mirror of the story itself.
I know I only gave the play three stars, but this certainly is not because I didn't care for the story. However, a five-star rating for me means I'd read it again, and four stars means I put it down and said, "Wow, that was a really good book." Though nothing was inherently wrong with the book, I didn't walk away with any profound emotion or realization. Hence the three stars.

[Marybeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

In some ways, this is a run-of-the-mill romance with all the common complications, but what elevates the story is Cruz's luminous writing about 1929 Miami and the lives and lost traditions of the Cubans who've emigrated there. Cruz also adds a hint of magical realism, which manifests after the Lector, Juan Julian (the man who reads to the factory workers as they roll cigars) reads passages of Anna Karenina, prompting transformations for several characters. Ultimately, the play is about the transformative power of art, and I'm down for that.

[Javier Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna in the Tropics makes plain that Tolstoy's masterpiece, Anna Karenina, should be read in all climates, anywhere there are affairs of the heart. The play shows us that Tolstoy's brilliant insights are universally applicable everywhere. Fortunately for Palomo and Conchita, they get a lesson from Leo in the nick of time. I too got a lesson in the nick of time (I hope). Mine was from Nilo and he told me to re-read Anna Karenina, ASAP!

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet play. Learned a bit about cigar factories. Nothing remarkable in the plot but it was well written.

[S P · Rating 3 out of 5]

"No, everything in life dreams. A bicycle dreams of becoming a boy, an umbrella dreams of becoming the rain, a pearl dreams of becoming a woman, and a chair dreams of becoming a gazelle and running back to the forest."

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nilo Cruz has an exceptional way of painting a picture with his words. Though I’ve never worked as a cigar roller in 1929 Florida, Nilo’s writing took me to that time and place. I felt the gentle evening Floridian breezes and could smell the sweet smoke of the cigars that had been rolled by hand by guayabera-wearing men. The characters are relatable and very realistic.

There are various story lines played out in this short play. The central focus is that of some of the workers love affairs. Ofelia, the factory owner’s (Santiago) wife, keeps the tradition of having a lector read to the workers and hires Juan Julian for this purpose. Juan Julian chooses to read Anna Karenina’s love story which later parallels his affair with Conchita, Ofelia’s married daughter. The story also parallels Anna Karenina in that Chester, Santiago’s step-brother is in love with Marela, Santiago’s unmarried daughter – Like Kitty in Anna Karenina, Marela is not interested in Chester (Levin). She secretly pines for Juan Julian (Vronsky).

I had expected a conflict between the married couple and Juan Julian to ensue, however, the story ends in a way that I had not imagined. And it did not bring a sense of closure b/w Conchita and her husband; nor did it bring any closure to the strained relationship between Santiago, his wife, and his brother-in-law. I would have liked to see all of these dynamics drawn out a bit more. I hope to catch more than one live production in hopes to see the interpretations of this script answer some of my questions.

[SARAH · Rating 2 out of 5]

"کسی که زندگی اش رو وقفِ خوندن کتاب کرده،به نجات دادن چیزها از فراموشی معتقده"ص 55
"الکل توی این کشور ممنوع شده،برای این که الکل مثل ادبیاته.ادبیات بهترین و بدترین لایه های وجودمون رو، رو می کنه.اگه عصبانی باشی ،خشمتو رو می کنه.اگه نارحت باشی ناراحتتیتو نشون میده...اما بعضی از ما....بذار فقط بگیم زیاد خوشحال نیستن."
سانتیاگو:یه چیز امیدوار کننده بخون.
مارلا:بابا قصه ها باید تموم شن بذار کتاب رو تموم کنه.
کونچیتا:راست میگه. قصه باید تموم شه،وگرنه دچار سرنوشت ادم هایی می شه که پیش از وقت شون میمیرن.
این نمایشنامه در رثای ادبیات بود در مدح داستان و قصه گویی... این نمایشنامه ای بود از روزگار بسر امده قصه گوها... داستان سراها... همان ها که نسلشان به همان سرخپوستی در قبیله دور ،می رسید که شب ها همه قبیله را جمع میکرد تا قصه بگوید... کودک ،زن و مرد ،پیر و جوان دور اتش می نشستند و محسور صدای گرم قصه گو می شدند.....راست اش روزگار قصه ها بسر امده... شخصا حس میکنم نسل قصه گو ها برچیده شده و فکر می کنم من.... هم از اخرین بازمانده ها هستم همان ها که محو جادوی کلمات و پژواک واژه ها هستند.....در این میان شخصیت مارلا برایم خیلی رقت اور بود... مارلا بینوا.... مارلای ساده دل... چقدر رقت انگیز چقدر تنها.... چقدر خیال انگیز....مارلا ها برخلاف اناکارنینا ها دیده نمی شوند...از ان ها حرف زده نمی‌شود ... در خیالات و اوهام خودشان محو می‌شوند ؛دود می شوند ،گم می شوند .... بغیر مارلا ،باقی شخصیت ها برایم جذاب نبودند.... نمایشنامه ای است که کلیت استواری دارد و شخصیت ها مرز بین کلیشه و تیپ و شخصیت را در می نوردند....نمی دانم....تنها می دانم قصه و قصه گوها از میان رفته اند.....درست مثل خوان خولیان.....

[Hilda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't like it. I thought the story was weak and the character development non-existant. I wasn't engaged with the characters, therefore i didn't care what happened to them.

The resolution between Santiago and Cheche was dumb - he got a loan, and that was it? Did Cheche rape Marela? What happened to Cheche after murdering Juan Julian?

I was disappointed, as I expected a Pulitzer Prize winning play to be much better. I've read and seen much better plays by Cuban play-wrights, IMO, much more deserving of an award than this one.

I definitely would not recommend.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize, Anna in the Tropics, for this reviewer at least, was the most disappointing of the three nominees. The historical setting and the interweaving of Anna Karenina with the drama of a 1930s cigar factory make for a great idea, but the play plods along, hitting lots of standard points about dysfunctional families but never moving beyond the surface. Not recommended.

[Yasamin Rezai · Rating 3 out of 5]

"دارم از ادبیات حرف می زنم تو از پول حرف میزنی."
نمایشنامه ی خیلی خوبیه و میتونه اجرای خیلی لطیف، اروتیک و نرمی داشته باشه. فقط نمیدونم با آخرش باید چه کرد و میتونم بگم برای همین هم دو صفحه ی آخرش رو دوست نداشتم.

من ورژن فارسیش رو خوندم به ترجمه ی علی پور عیسی نشر نیلا
با عنوان : آناکارنینا در استوا

[Cerise Heartfilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

La obra me dejo súper sorprendida woww no pensé que iba a tener ese final.. Pero definitivamente la historia tiene algo de comedia y con un tema muy común para algunos ... El libro estuvo bien escrito y sinceramente me gusto

[Tom O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than a little overheated but beautifully evocative, this tale of a community teetering on the edge of irrevocable change finally tipped over by the arrival of an Anna Karenina reading 'lector' is full of drama, poetry and lust.

[April Grajales · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick easy read but lacked depth and I was disappointed in the ending.

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. Nothing particularly remarkable about it.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The scene is a cigar factory town, probably Ybor City, near Tampa in the late 1920’s. There is a parallel theme with Anna Karenina, as read by the lector who reads to the workers who roll the cigars all day long. Lectors were employed in the factories to help with employee boredom. This was an in era before automation.

There are some steamy scenes between the lector and both of the adult daughters of the family, one of whom is married. There is the uncle who is trying to prey on his youngest niece. The economic backdrop to the play is that the factory is losing money and the industry is facing a historical crossroads. So the father and uncle are acting even more irrationally than usual.


4.5 stars.

[Marisol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obra de teatro que me ha sorprendido y me ha encantado.

Me descubre un mundo desconocido, las fábricas de tabaco cubanas, donde existía un lector, si, una persona que se dedicaba a leer los diarios, revistas, libros, a los trabajadores mientras fabricaban puros.

En este libro tenemos a un lector, recién llegado de Cuba a Estados Unidos, contratado por unos cubanos que tienen su fábrica de puros, la llegada de este emblemático personaje cambia la inercia y el ritmo de la fábrica, sobre todo con la lectura escogida: Ana Karenina.

La obra es corta, con una tensión y un ritmo constante, es una bella historia.

[julia reste · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good! Simple and effective, and it hooked me. I really enjoyed reading this one. I can understand why it is more legible to the white public though, it follows a Shakespearean tragedy formula.

4/5 stars

[lux · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[rue mortensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for theatre class…. quite dark, but good overall.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be the best play Ive ever read I need to lie down.