Nilo Cruz
Nilo Cruz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Matanzas, Cuba |
| Occupation | Playwright,pedagogue |
| Nationality | Cuban-American |
| Education | Miami Dade College(BA) Brown University(MFA) |
| Notable works | Two Sisters and a Piano |
| Notable awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama(2003) |
Nilo Cruzis aCuban-Americanplaywrightandpedagogue.With his award of the 2003Pulitzer Prize for Dramafor his playAnna in the Tropics,he became the second Latino so honored, afterNicholas Dante.[1]
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Cruz was born in 1960 to Tina and Nilo Cruz, Sr. inMatanzas, Cuba.The family immigrated toLittle HavanainMiami, Florida,in 1970 on a Freedom Flight, and eventually naturalised to the United States. 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 CubanMaría Irene Fornés.Fornes recommended Cruz toPaula Vogelwho was teaching atBrown Universitywhere he would later receive his M.F.A. in 1994. Cruz is openly gay.[2]
Career[edit]
In 2001, Cruz served as the playwright-in-residence for the New Theatre inCoral Gables, Florida,where he wroteAnna in the Tropics.Rafael de Acha, artistic director of the New Theatre, produced and directed the world premiere performance ofAnna in the Tropics,which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Steinberg Award for Best New Play.
After the play was awarded the Pulitzer and Steinberg awards, Emily Mann directed a production at theMcCarter Theatrein Princeton, New Jersey, and the play then had its Broadway premiere withJimmy Smitsin the lead role.
Some of the theatres that have developed and performed Cruz’s works include New York'sPublic Theater,New York Theatre Workshop,Pasadena Playhouse,McCarter Theatre,Oregon Shakespeare Festival,South Coast Repertory,The Alliance,New Theatre,Florida Stage, and theCoconut Grove Playhouse.
Cruz wrote the book of theFrank Wildhorn-Jack Murphy musicalHavana.Its scheduled world premiere at thePasadena Playhousehas been delayed by the theatre's declaration of bankruptcy in 2010.[3]
Cruz has translated plays into both Spanish and English. His adaptation and translation ofLa vida es sueño(Life Is a Dream) in English premiered atSouth Coast Repertoryin 2007.[4]He translated the script forHamlet, Prince of CubaatAsolo Repertory Theatreinto Spanish for the 2012 production that ran simultaneously in English and Spanish on alternating nights.[5]
Cruz has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including twoNEA/TCGNational Theatre Artist Residency grants, aRockefeller Foundationgrant,San Francisco's W. Alton Jones award, aKennedy CenterFund for New American Plays award, and a USA Artist Fellowship.
Cruz is a frequent collaborator with Peruvian-American composerGabriela Lena Frank.To date, they have completed a set of orchestral songs,La centinela y la paloma(The Keeper and the Dove), for sopranoDawn Upshawand theSt. Paul Chamber Orchestra(premiered under the baton ofJoana Carneiroin February 2011);The Saint Makerfor sopranoJessica Rivera,mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, theSan Francisco Girls Chorus,and theBerkeley Symphonyin May 2013;Journey of the Shadowfor narrator and ensemble of eleven players (San Francisco Chamber Orchestra premiering in April 2013); theConquest Requiemfor soprano, baritone, orchestra, and chorus for theHouston Symphonyunder the baton ofAndrés Orozco-Estradain May 2017 which will be recorded by the Nashville Symphony in November 2022 for the Naxos label; andCinco Lunas de Lorca(The Five Moons of Lorca) as a digital short for countertenor, choir, and piano for theLos Angeles Opera.Their newest project isEl último sueño de Frida y Diego(The Last Dream of Frida and Diego),a two-act opera commissioned bySan Diego OperaandSan Francisco Operawith a premiere in October 2022.
Cruz penned the libretto to composerJimmy López's operaBel Cantowhich had its world premiere at theLyric Opera of Chicagoon December 7, 2015.[6]
Cruz's most recent work isBathing in Moonlight,a world premiere featuringRaul Mendez,Priscilla Lopez,Hannia Guillen,Frankie J. Alvarez,Michael Rudko, and Katty Velasquez. Directed byEmily Mann,Bathing in Moonlightran September 9 - October 9, 2016, at theMcCarter Theatrein Princeton, New Jersey.Bathing in Moonlightis the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and a 2016 Greenfield Prize.
Cruz is an alumnus ofNew Dramatistsand has taught playwriting atBrown University,theUniversity of Iowa,andYale University.He currently lives inNew York Cityand Miami.
Awards and honors[edit]
In 2003, Cruz received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his playAnna in the Tropics.
In 2009, Cruz received thePEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Awardfor a distinguished American playwright in mid-career.
In 2010, Cruz was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) fromWhittier College.[7]
Work[edit]
Plays[edit]
- 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)
- Capricho(2003)
- Beauty of the Father(2006)
- The Color of Desire(2010)
- Hurricane(2010)
- Soto Voce(2014)
- Bathing in Moonlight(2016)
- Exquisita Agonía(Exquisite Agony) (2018)[8]
Musicals[edit]
- Havana– music byFrank Wildhorn,lyrics by Jack Murphy, book by Cruz
Translations[edit]
- A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings– a children's play that is an adaptation of a short story byGabriel García Márquez
- Doña Rosita the Spinster– byFederico García Lorca
- The House of Bernarda Alba– byFederico García Lorca
- Life is a Dream– byPedro Calderón de la Barca
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Hilton Als (23 January 2006)."Ghosts and Hosts: Two Troubled Households".The New Yorker.Retrieved2008-12-25.
- ^Abarbanel, Jonathan (July 9, 2003)."A Conversation with Playwright Nilo Cruz".Windy City Times.RetrievedAugust 30,2018.
- ^"Pasadena Playhouse files Chapter 11 petition".Los Angeles Times.May 11, 2010.RetrievedMay 11,2010.
- ^Verini, Bob (20 February 2007)."Life is a Dream".Variety Magazine.Retrieved13 August2023.
- ^Della Gatta, Carla (2023).Latinx Shakespeares: Staging US Intracultural Theater.Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 118.ISBN978-0-472-05577-7.
- ^"Bel Canto".Lyric Opera of Chicago.Retrieved26 June2015.
- ^"Honorary Degrees | Whittier College".whittier.edu.Retrieved2019-12-06.
- ^Collins-Hughes, Laura (3 August 2018)."Review: Exquisite Agony, a Heart-to-Heart With a Dead Man".The New York Times.Retrieved20 January2019.
External links[edit]
- Nilo Cruzat theInternet Broadway Database
- Nilo CruzatIMDb
- Nilo Cruzat theInternet Off-Broadway Database
- Nilo Cruz Interview by Beth Stevens on Broadway
- New Plays And Playwrights–Working in the Theatre Seminarvideo atAmerican Theatre Wing.org, January 2004
- Bomb magazine interview
- Articles about Nilo Cruz andLife is a DreamatSouth Coast Repertory
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- 1960 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- Brown University alumni
- American writers of Cuban descent
- Cuban emigrants to the United States
- American male dramatists and playwrights
- American gay writers
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners
- Hispanic and Latino American dramatists and playwrights
- 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
- People from Matanzas
- American opera librettists
- Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States
- 20th-century American male writers
- 21st-century American male writers
- American LGBT dramatists and playwrights