Anna in the Tropics Brings Cuban Heat to the Stage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Edward Miller, (205) 933-2383

Sultry, Seductive Production Comes to Birmingham Festival Theatre


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – April 4, 2011 – You might want to brush up on your Spanish before coming to see Anna in the Tropics at Birmingham Festival Theatre beginning April 21, 2011. The opening of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, by Nilo Cruz, will be entirely in Spanish. ¿Entiendes?

Set in Tampa, Fla. in the 1920’s, the play depicts how life changes for a family of Cuban immigrants working in a cigar factory, when a stranger arrives on the scene. The owner’s wife has hired a Lector, a well-spoken, well-dressed man to read classic novels to the workers as they roll cigars. The novel chosen is Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, a story of love, lust and betrayal. The characters and situations in the novel come to life for the family as the story unfolds.

“The play is about love: lost love, forgotten love, forbidden love. The strength of the piece is the poetic beauty of the language layered with the power of the sensuality contained in the work,” says Edward Miller, who is directing the play at BFT. “The climax provides a gripping and shocking finality to Cruz’s vision.”

Actors Don Cano (Lobby Hero), Chalo Gurmendi, Michelle Griffo, Beth Kitchin (Season’s Greetings), Jessica Knight, Sigfredo Rubio (Spinning into Butter) and David Seale make up the cast.

Anna in the Tropics runs each Thursday, Friday and Saturday for three weeks at 8:00 p.m. beginning on April 21, with a matinee on Sunday, May 1, at 2:30 p.m. The show closes on May 7, 2011. Tickets are $20, $15 for students. For reservations, call the theatre at (205) 933-2383.


About Birmingham Festival Theatre
BFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. For almost 40 years, BFT has been bringing local audiences theatrical experiences that touch the heart and stir the mind. Our all-volunteer Board of Directors works to involve the community’s many talented directors, actors, designers and techies to produce the best in contemporary and classic theatre. For more information, go to www.bftonline.org.