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.
Plays:
Night Train to Bolina, 1994
Dancing on her Knees, 1996
A Bicycle Country, 1999
Two Sisters and Piano, 2000
Ybor City, 2003
Anna in the Tropics, 2003
Lorca in a Green Dress, 2005
Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams, 2005
Beauty of the Father, 2006
