Anna in the Tropics

“Earnestly poetic. In evoking the lost Cuban-American world of a Florida cigar factory in 1929, Mr. Cruz has created a work as wistful and affectingly ambitious as its characters. 'Anna in the Tropics' reaches for the artistic heavens -- specifically, that corner of eternity occupied by the plays of Anton Chekhov, where yearning is an existential condition.” – Ben Brantley, New York Times

“The first Pulitzer winner by a Latino playwright, Anna also does something common to many great works of art, new or old: It makes an unfamiliar place feel familiar. Anna in the Tropics makes a strong case for the transformative powers of literature. Willingly or not, all the characters absorb Anna Karenina, and their lives are changed by it. Cruz is also writing, however, about the importance of making time to savor the small things in life – ‘taking walks and sitting on park benches, smoking a cigar slowly and calmly,’ as the lector puts it.” – J. Wynn Rousuck, Baltimore Sun

“…In Anna in the Tropics, Cruz claims his place as a storyteller of intricate craftsmanship and poetic power … [Cruz] has turned out many wonderful plays — but none more shimmeringly beautiful ” – Miami Herald

“Deeply engrossing.” – Robert Hurwitt, San Francisco Chronicle

Nilo Cruz, whose plays include NIght Train to Bolina, A Bicyle Country, Dancing on Her Knees, is one of the country's most produced Cuban-American writers. An alumnus of New Dramatists, Cruz has taught playwriting at Brown and Yale Universities.

2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama