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Nilo Cruz

NILO CRUZ

  (1960 - )
Nationality:    Cuban USA
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    Peregrine Whittlesey Agency  

Nilo Cruz is the most produced Cuban-American playwright in the U.S. He was the first Dramatist of Hispanic decent to receive the Pulitzer Prize, in 2003 for anna in the Tropics. Victory Gardens premiered anna in the Tropics in Chicago, and subsequently transferred its production to the Goodman Theatre for an extended run. In his plays, Cruz almost always journeys back to Cuba, even when the play is not set there. He is a sensualist, a conjurer of mysterious voyages and luxuriant landscapes. His other plays include Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (presented by Victory Gardens in 2005) Night Train to Bolina, Dancing on her Knees, Two Sisters and Piano, a Bicycle Country, Lorca in a Green Dress, Beauty of the Father, Ybor City, and translations of Lorca's Dona Rosita, the Spinster, and the House of Bernarda albA. Cruz has been the recipient of numerous other awards and fellowships, including two Nea/TCG National Theatre artist Residency grants, San Francisco's W. alton Jones award and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award. In addition to Victory Gardens, his work has been seen at apple Tree Theatre, the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey, New York's Shakespeare Festival's Public Theatre, South Coast Rep, Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, New York Theatre Workshop, Magic Theatre, Minneapolis Children's Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Washington's Studio Theatre, Florida Stage, the Coconut Grove Playhouse, and at New Theatre, where he is a Playwright-in-Residence.

Research:    Member of the Dramatists Guild of America (as at 2015)

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below is a list of Nilo Cruz's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Anna In the Tropics         Ay, Carmela!         Beauty Of the Father         Bicycle Country, A         Capriccio         Color of Desire         Dancing On Her Knees         Dona Rosita the Spinster         Graffiti         Hortensia And the Museum Of Dreams         Hurricane         In Your Arms         Life Is A Dream         Lorca In A Green Dress         Night Train To Bolina         Park In Our House, A         Two Sisters And A Piano         Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, A         Ybor City

Anna In the Tropics

Anna In the Tropics
a poignant and poetic new play set in 1929 Florida 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.

Notes:
Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Out of the Box Productions

1st Published:
Theatre Communications Group,    978-1559362320

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ay, Carmela!

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Jose Sanchis Sinisterra. Translation By Nilo Cruz & Catalino Botello

1st Produced:
Warehouse Theatre Croydon, London    2001

Organisations:
Out of the Box Productions

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Beauty Of the Father

Synopsis:
We are all familiar with the love triangle but in Beauty of the Father Nilo Cruz introduces an unrequited love pentangle crossing two generations and the ghost of FedErico Garcia Lorca.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2007   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bicycle Country, A

Synopsis:
Three characters whose lives seem to be moving nowhere set out to build a dream, even if that dream seems perilous. This stirring portrait of three Cuban exiles and their harrowing journey across the Caribbean Sea examines the universal themes of freedom and oppression, hope and survival.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Florida Stage    1999

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Lyrical Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Capriccio

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Theatre Communications, 2008   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
One act

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Color of Desire

Color of Desire
-

Notes:
aka El Color Del Deseo (the Color Of Desire)

1st Produced:
Goodman Theatre, Chicago    11 Dec 2009

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Color of Desire and Hurricane" published by Theatre Communications Group 2012   978-1559364027

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dancing On Her Knees

Synopsis:
on "all Souls" day a dreamy transvestite rumbas against the grip of death in the times of aIDS

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Comedy Drama Comedy

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Dona Rosita the Spinster

Synopsis:
a spirited young woman full of life, Dona Rosita spends over two decades waiting for her fiance to return from abroad and marry her, finally losing all hope as the years pass her by. Set in Granada, Spain, the play draws symbolic parallels between Dona Rosita and the magically transformative nature of a rose called rosa mutable. In this lyrical Drama, Lorca portrays what he called "the grotesque treatment of women in Spain."

Notes:
Original Playwright - Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated And Adapted by Nilo Cruz

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY, 2009   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  10            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Graffiti

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hortensia And the Museum Of Dreams

Synopsis:
a brother and a sister, whose lives were forever altered when their mother put them on a flight from Havana to the United States in 1961, return to their native land during the Pope's visit to Cuba. the brother and sister take their own path, as they search for recollection and healing. This tale of estranged siblings seeking to make sense of the childhood that was subtracted from their lives possesses an imaginative and lyrical landscape that elevates the material to a poetic universality.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Lyrical Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Hurricane

Hurricane
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Color of Desire and Hurricane" published by Theatre Communications Group 2012   978-1559364027

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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In Your Arms

Synopsis:
A company that has amassed an astounding 18 Tony Awards, 4 Pulitzer Prizes, 6 Pulitzer finalist distinctions, 3 Emmys, and 2 Academy Awards joins forces at the Globe for an exuberant world premiere dance-theatre musical! Ten of Americas best theatrical storytellers (the minds behind such hits as The Full Monty, Driving Miss Daisy, M. Butterfly, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) join director-choreographer Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, The King and I) and composer Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime) to create a ravishing evening that glides, leaps, and twirls through the giddy extremes of romantic love. This unique event ranges across eras and cultures and tells its stories through the universal language of dance, from classical ballet to swing to tap to ballroom to jazz to flamenco and more. In Your Arms is as intoxicating as a sunset cocktail and as exhilarating as a first kiss.

Notes:
Music by Stephen Flaherty; Vignettes by Douglas Carter Beane, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Carrie Fisher, David Henry Hwang, Rajiv Joseph, Terrence McNally, Marsha Norman, Lynn Nottage, and Alfred UhryDirection and Choreography by Christopher Gattelli; Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Conceived by Christopher Gattelli and Jennifer Manocherian

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
dance theatre

Parts:
Male:  11            Female:  12            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Life Is A Dream

Life Is A Dream
astrological omens predict that if King Basilio's son Segismundo is crowned, he will become a horrible tyrant who will bring destruction to his kingdom. Basilio imprisons Segismundo for life, but decades later he decides to let his son prove his ability to defy the stars. allowed to rule the palace, Segismundo wreaks bloody vengeance on the kingdom, confirming the prediction of the stars, and the prince is returned to his prison. In Nilo Cruz's sublime translation of Calderon de la Barca's classic, the question of whether life is a dream or an illusion takes on a renewed relevance and urgency.

Notes:
Original Playwright - Pedro Calderon De La Barca

1st Produced:
-    -

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
DramatistsPlay Service, Inc (2009)   978-0822222347

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama adaptation

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lorca In A Green Dress

Synopsis:
Lorca in purgatory, re-exploring the meaning of his life

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ashland, Or    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Theatre Communications, 2008   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  8            Female:  1            Other:  1 woman flamenco dancer/singer

Further Reference:
-

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Night Train To Bolina

Synopsis:
the play is set in Latin America in the mid-eighties, in an unidentified country, during the guerilla warfare. Threatened by starvation and abuse, two children flee their rural village for the city. Dancing on a fine line between innocent fantasy and harsh reality, Mateo and Clara explore their imaginations in a world of dark mysticism and denied love.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
San Francisco    1994

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Lyrical Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Park In Our House, A

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Two Sisters And A Piano

Synopsis:
Set in 1991, during the Pan American Games in Havana and while the Russians are pulling out of Cuba, this play portrays two sisters, Maria Celia, a novelist, and Sofia, a pianist, serving time under house arrest. Passion infiltrates politics when a lieutenant assigned to their case becomes infatuated with Maria Celia, whose literature he has been reading.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    1998

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Dramatists Play Service, NY,    -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Lyrical Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, A

Synopsis:
the Moon rides a blue bicycle which has a parasol attached. a very old man with wings talks through his eyes

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Ybor City

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    2003

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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