KU News Release

University Theatre stages 'Anna in the Tropics'

LAWRENCE — University Theatre at the University of Kansas will present “Anna in the Tropics” by Nilo Cruz to close out the 2008-09 William Inge Memorial Theatre Series. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. April 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10; 5:30 p.m. April 4 and 11; and 2:30 p.m. April 5 in the Inge Theatre in Murphy Hall.

Winner of the 2003 Steinberg New Play Award and Pulitzer Prize for Drama, “Anna in the Tropics” is a poignant and poetic play about Cuban workers in a cigar factory facing modernization that threatens to replace them and their traditional hand-rolling methods with new technology.

Julie Rae Mollenkamp, associate professor of theatre at the University of Central Missouri, is the guest director for the production. Scenic designer is Dennis Christilles, associate professor of theatre and film; lighting designer is Elizabeth “Biz” Grim, Huxley, Iowa, graduate student; costume designer is Ellie Kleinwort, St. Ansgar, Iowa, senior; and sound designer Teresa Sutherland, Ottawa senior. Choreography is by Michelle Heffner Hayes, assistant professor of dance, and dialect design is by Paul Meier, professor of theatre and film.

Set in 1929 in Ybor City, an area in Tampa, Fla., “Anna in the Tropics” portrays the lives of cigar factory workers when a new lector, perhaps the last to ply his trade, is hired. As the lector reads from “Anna Karenina,” a novel of adultery set in 19th century Russia, he casts a spell over the workers, transforming their passions and desires through the affirming power of art. That the love they seek may result in a tragic end is ordained as much by the story of the Russian noblewoman as it is by the actions of the workers themselves.

“Most of the characters in the play cannot read or write, but they can recite lines from ‘Don Quixote’ and ‘Jane Eyre,’ ” Mollenkamp said. “Back when cigars were hand-rolled and named for the flush-cheeked heroines of the great romance novels, cigar factory workers set aside a portion of their wages to pay someone who would read to them. These velvet-voiced lectors were as carefully selected as the tobacco leaves, and the raised platforms from which they read were as practical as they were symbolic.”

Seated up high, the reader’s voices carried, and their exalted status was confirmed, the director said.

“Women fell in love, husbands threw jealous fits and factory owners fretted over just where their workers’ minds were wandering. The play’s focus is on the role the lector played in the factories during a time when personal and financial independence were inextricably linked.”

A discussion with the director and cast, as well as Topeka attorney Pedro Luis Irigonegaray and KU film professor John Tibbetts, will immediately follow the Friday, April 3, performance.

General admission tickets for “Anna in the Tropics” are on sale in the KU ticket offices: University Theatre, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS; and Student Union Activities, 864- 7469, or online at kutheatre.com. Seating is limited. Tickets are $12 for the public, $10 for students and $11 for senior citizens and KU faculty/staff. Visa and Mastercard are accepted for phone and online orders.

Members of the cast for the KU production are listed below by hometown, level in school, major, parents’ names, high school and role.

JOHNSON COUNTY
From Mission Hills 66208
Alexander Salamat, senior political science major, son of Essi and Teresa Salamat; Bishop Miege High School, Roeland Park; Santiago.

From Overland Park 66223
Jordan Foote, junior theatre major, son of Kim and Steve Foote; Blue Valley High School, Stilwell; Palomo.

From Shawnee 66216
Danny Shaw, senior theatre and human biology major, son of Greg and Dr. Pam Shaw; Shawnee Mission Northwest High School; Cheché.

MIAMI COUNTY
From Osawatomie 66064
Joseph T. Nagle, sophomore theatre major, son of Bill and Donna Nagle; Paola High School; Eliades.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66614
Raylene Gutierrez, freshman theatre and film major, daughter of Alfred and Pat Gutierrez; Topeka West High School; Ofelia.

OKLAHOMA
From Stillwater 74074
Hannah JoBeth Roark, freshman in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, daughter of Joel and Terri Roark; Stillwater High School; Marela.

TEXAS
From Kingwood 77345
Elizabeth Elliott, junior theatre major, daughter of Paul and Shannon Elliott; Kingwood High School; Conchita.

VENEZUELA
From Caracas
Carlos D. Pérez Beltrán, senior journalism and theatre and film major, son of Olga Pérez Beltrán; Rawlins County High School, Atwood, Kan.; Juan Julian.

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