Nilo Cruz

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Nilo Cruz

Nilo Cruz at the post-performance dicussion of A Bicycle Country at Dartmouth College, March 5, 2007
Born 1960
Matanzas, Cuba
Nationality Cuba, USA (naturalized)
Genres drama
Notable work(s) Anna in the Tropics
Two Sisters and a Piano
Notable award(s) Pulitzer Prize (2003)

Nilo Cruz (b. 1960) is an Cuban-American playwright, the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Nilo Doming Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1960, Cruz immigrated to the "Little Havana" area of Miami in 1970 on a Freedom Flight, and eventually became a US citizen. His interest in theater began with acting and directing in the early 1980s. He studied theater first at Miami-Dade Community College, later moving to New York City, where Cruz studied under fellow Cuban María Irene Fornés. Fornes recommended Cruz to Paula Vogel who was teaching at Brown University. Cruz received his M.F.A. from Brown in 1994. His Masters Thesis was titled Cantando Bajo el Agua: Singing Underwater and consisted of, Betty and Gaguin and Dancing on Her Knees. In 2001, he served as the playwright-in-residence for the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he wrote Anna in the Tropics, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer and the Steinberg Award for Best New Play. A year later it received its Broadway premiere with Jimmy Smitts in the lead role.

Some of the theatres that have developed and performed his works include New York’s Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, McCarter Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, South Coast Repertory, The Alliance, New Theatre, Florida Stage and the Coconut Grove Playhouse.

Cruz has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including two NEA/TCG National Theatre Artist Residency grants, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, San Francisco's W. Alton Jones award and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays award.

Cruz is an alumnus of New Dramatists, has taught playwriting at Brown University, the University of Iowa and atYale University. He presently lives in New York City.

Cruz also has a daughter living in Los Angeles, California with her mother. His daughter is also involved with the theater.

[edit] List of Plays

  • Betty and Gaugin (1994)
  • Dancing on Her Knees (1994)
  • Night Train to Bolina (1995)
  • A Park in Our House (1995)
  • Two Sisters and a Piano (1998)
  • A Bicycle Country (1999)
  • Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams (2001)
  • Anna in the Tropics (2002)
  • Lorca in a Green Dress (2003)
  • Beauty of the Father (2006)
  • Graffiti
  • Capriccio

[edit] Translations and Adaptations

[edit] See also

Literature Portal

[edit] Critical studies

as of March 2008:

  1. An Old Dichotomy of Tradition and Modernity in Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics By: Woo, Miseong; Journal of Modern British and American Drama, 2006 Aug; 19 (2): 63-80.
  2. The Contemporary Ethics of Violence. Cruz, Solis and Homeland Security By: Rossini, Jon D.. IN: Ozieblo and Narbona-Carrión, Codifying the National Self: Spectators, Actors and the American Dramatic Text. Brussels, Belgium: Peter Lang; 2006. pp. 265-80
  3. Lenguas e identidades en transgresión: El teatro cubano en Estados Unidos By: Knauer, Gabriele. IN: Knauer, Miranda and Reinstädler, Transgresiones cubanas: Cultura, literatura y lengua dentro y fuera de la isla. Madrid, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany: Iberoamericana; Vervuert; 2006. pp. 141-58
  4. Nilo Cruz no Pyurittsa jushosaku: Anna in the Tropics By: Kishi, Masayuki; Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation, 2004 Feb; 149 (11): 684.
  5. Nilo Cruz By: Mann, Emily; BOMB, 2003-2004 Winter; 86: 70-75.
  6. The Children Are the Angels Here By: Munk, Erika; Theater, 2003; 33 (2): 62-63.
  7. The Onus of Seeing Cuba: Nilo Cruz's Cubanía By: Muñoz, José Esteban; South Atlantic Quarterly, 2000 Spring-Summer; 99 (2-3): 455-59.
  8. Interview with Nilo Cruz By: McAuliffe, Jody; South Atlantic Quarterly, 2000 Spring-Summer; 99 (2-3): 461-70.
  9. Más allá de la isla: La identidad cubana en el teatro del exilio By: Corces, Laureano. IN: Adler and Herr, De las dos orillas: Teatro cubano. Madrid, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany: Vervuert; Iberoamericana; 1999. pp. 59-64
  10. Persistencia y resistencia: Visión de 'lo cubano' en el teatro del exilio en inglés By: González, Mirza L.. IN: Adler and Herr, De las dos orillas: Teatro cubano. Madrid, Spain; Frankfurt, Germany: Vervuert; Iberoamericana; 1999. pp. 65-75

[edit] External links