Nilo Cruz | |
|---|---|
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| Born | |
| 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 Cruz is aCuban-Americanplaywright andpedagogue. With his award of the2003Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his playAnna in the Tropics, he became the second Latino so honored, afterNicholas Dante.[1]
Cruz was born in 1960 to Tina and Nilo Cruz, Sr. inMatanzas, Cuba. The family immigrated toLittle Havana inMiami, 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 Vogel who was teaching atBrown University where he would later receive his M.F.A. in 1994.
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 Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, and the play then had its Broadway premiere withJimmy Smits in 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 Playhouse has been delayed by the theatre's declaration of bankruptcy in 2010.[2]
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 Repertory in 2007.[3] He translated the script forHamlet, Prince of Cuba atAsolo Repertory Theatre into Spanish for the 2012 production that ran simultaneously in English and Spanish on alternating nights.[4]
Cruz has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including twoNEA/TCG National Theatre Artist Residency grants, aRockefeller Foundation grant,San Francisco's W. Alton Jones award, aKennedy Center Fund 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 Upshaw and theSt. Paul Chamber Orchestra (premiered under the baton ofJoana Carneiro in February 2011);The Saint Maker for sopranoJessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, theSan Francisco Girls Chorus, and theBerkeley Symphony in May 2013;Journey of the Shadow for narrator and ensemble of eleven players (San Francisco Chamber Orchestra premiering in April 2013); theConquest Requiem for soprano, baritone, orchestra, and chorus for theHouston Symphony under the baton ofAndrés Orozco-Estrada in 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 Opera andSan Francisco Opera with a premiere in October 2022.
Cruz penned the libretto to composerJimmy López's operaBel Canto which had its world premiere at theLyric Opera of Chicago on December 7, 2015.[5]
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 Moonlight ran September 9 - October 9, 2016, at theMcCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey.Bathing in Moonlight is the recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and a 2016 Greenfield Prize.
Cruz is an alumnus ofNew Dramatists and has taught playwriting atBrown University, theUniversity of Iowa, andYale University. He currently lives inNew York City and Miami.
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 Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career.
In 2010, Cruz was awarded the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) fromWhittier College.[6]
