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Birth of Nilo Cruz
Cuban-American playwright and Librettist, born October 10, 1960 in Matanzas, Cuba to Nilo Cruz, Sr (a political dissident and shoe salesman) and Tiana Cruz. He has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer, being the first Latino playwright to ever be awarded the prize. As a librettist, creating numerous operas such as "The Santos Oratorio." -
Family relocation to Miami
In an attempt to leave the island of Cuba, Nilo Cruz's father was imprisoned for two years when Nilo was just a baby. After his father's imprisonment, they emigrated to Miami in 1970 when he was just 9 years old, leaving his two sisters behind. They later established themselves in a densely populated area called "Little Havana", a neighborhood in Miami, Florida. -
Teresa Maria Rojas
Nilo Cruz attended community college in Miami where he first developed an interest in directing. However, actress and educator, Teresa Maria Rojas, mentored Cruz during college and told him that she sees him as a writer, not a director. -
Maria Irene Fornés
While attending community college, Cruz directed a scene from "Mud," which Maria Irene Fornés saw and loved. She offered Cruz a spot at the artist incubation project she ran called "INTAR." Cruz then moved to New York City while being mentored by Maria Irene Fornés, eventually joining New Dramatists. -
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel was enchanted by Cruz's work that she offered him a scholarship to study playwriting with her at Brown University. -
Education
Nilo Cruz was able to graduate from Miami Dade College ( formerly known as the Community College of Miami) with an Associate of Arts (A.A) degree and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree at Brown University. -
Nilo Cruz's first play!
Nilo Cruz's first ever play was "Night Train to Boliña" which premiered in 1994 when he was just 34 years old! He later made the play a book that can be purchased on Amazon! -
A Park in Our House
One of Cruz's first plays to be produced, the semi–autobiographical A Park in Our House, harkens back to the playwright's youth in Cuba. -
Dancing On Her Knees
Explores themes of family, identity, and cultural heritage. Overlooks the complexities of cultural belonging and familial relationships in the context of the Cuban-American experience. -
Two Sisters and a Piano
Two Sisters and a Piano is a play set among the Pan American Games and the Russians' departure from Cuba. Witness the enthralling cat-and-mouse game between novelist Maria Celia and a charismatic military officer, whose infatuation blurs the lines between passion and politics. One of the 4 plays he has created as a book. This story is based on Cruz's older sisters, who his family had to leave behind back in Cuba. Notable works -
A Bicycle Country
" A Bicycle Country" is the story of three Cuban friends who flee their country in 1993 during an economic crisis to seek freedom and asylum in the United States. The play explores themes of oppression, hope, survival, and freedom, and is divided into four elements of life: earth, water, fire, and wind. -
Awards
Cruz has received numerous other awards, including the Kennedy Center Fund, American Theatre Critics, and the Human Festival for New American Plays. He has also received grants from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Rockefeller Fountain, and much more. -
Librettist
As a librettist, Cruz is a frequent collaborator with composer Gabriela Lena Frank. He has written the libretti for The Conquest Requiem and The Santos Oratorio for Ms. Frank and the text of orchestral songs, La Centinela y la paloma. Cruz also adapted Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel Bel Canto for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, with Peruvian composer Jimmy López. -
Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams
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. -
Nilo Cruz's plays
Nilo Cruz created 13 plays and a musical, texts for orchestrations and the libretto for Bel Canto; an opera based on the eponymous Ann Patchett Novel. His most well known play is "Anna in the Tropics." The immigrant experience is a common theme in many of Cruz's plays and he has become known for his ability to successfully emerge the magic of realism and other literary traditions into his works. -
The Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is considered as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition. In 2003, Nilo Cruz won the Pulitzer Prize for his drama play "Anna in the Tropics" which he also received a Tony Award nomination. He was the first Latino playwright to ever be awarded the prize. He won based on the strength of his script. -
Beauty of the Father
In the summer of 1998, the estranged daughter of a painter attempts to rekindle her relationship with her father after ten years of not seeing each other. Explores themes of love, sacrifice, and reconnection -
The Color of Desire/ Hurricane
The Color of Desire, set in 1960 Havana, revolves around a passionate romance between an American businessman and an out-of-work Cuban actress. In Hurricane, a damaged family faces shocking crisis when a hurricane ravages their Caribbean town. Cruz's play explores the nature of identity, faith, and the redemptive power of love. -
Sotto Voce play
A Jewish-Cuban young man sets out to recover memories of the S.S. St. Louis, which in 1939, left Nazi Germany for Cuba filled with Jewish refugees but was turned back by Cuba, the U.S. and Canada. -
Latest play!
"Thirst on the Street of Water" is an inspired story based on his new everyday struggles presented in life today. -
Sources!
- https://www.laopera.org/about-us/artists-2/creative-team/nilo-cruz/
- https://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/contemporaryplaywrightsofcolor/nilo-cruz
- https://humanities.as.miami.edu/public-programs/stanford-distinguished-professors/2011-2012/nilo-cruz/index.html 4.https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/cruz_nilo08.html#:~:text=Cruz%20was%20born%20in%20Matanzas,Little%20Havana%20neighborhood%20of%20Miami.