Nilo Cruz Classic Play UN PARQUE EN MI CASA Comes to Miami Next Month

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and director Nilo Cruz is internationally acclaimed and a Miami-based treasure. For the first time in Florida, he explores family, faith and politics in Un parque en mi casa (A Park in Our House), one of his first produced works, and a semi-autobiographical story of astonishing poetic power. Performances are at the Miami-Dace County Auditorium (MDCA) from November 9 to 12, presented as a partnership with South Florida's own Arca Images and MDCA, in a new Spanish version, with simultaneous English translation. 

Set in the Cuba of 1970, the play tells the story of five relatives of an improvised family who await the arrival of a Russian who will live with them as part of an international exchange program. Each character must struggle with a life full of changes and uncertainties, a divided country and an uncertain future, while they work to meet the objectives of Castro's “Ten Million Tons of Sugar” harvest. Through a background of sadness and loss, these characters carry within themselves a remarkable source of humor, healing and strength. 

“Humor is used by Cubans, and all people, to soften the chaos and pain that life can bring, and that is one of the themes of this work,” says Cruz, who directs his own play in this new production. “We love continuing our ongoing collaboration with Nilo by bringing this version of one of his earlier plays to Miami audiences,” says Alexa Kuve, Founding Executive and Producing Artistic Director of Arca Images, who also created the Spanish translation. 

Arca Images has been a leader in providing high quality, bilingual theater that is accessible to Miami's diverse audiences Originally commissioned in English by the prestigious Princeton, New Jersey's McCarter Theatre, this production features brand new Spanish text with live simultaneous English translation voiced by bilingual actors over wireless headphones that is available for all patrons. This makes Hispanic theater in Miami widely available to both residents and visitors. After the 5 pm Sunday performance November 12 there will be a bilingual Q&A with the cast, the writer/director and the producer.

Playwright and director Nilo Cruz' “Anna in the Tropics" had its Broadway premiere with Jimmy Smits in the lead role, and he was the first Latino to win a Pulitzer Prize, for this work. He is author of more than 16 plays and four translations and received his M.F.A. in theater from Brown University. In addition, he is an accomplished theater director who has frequently mounted his own plays and directed other classic and contemporary works. Cruz' plays have been presented at New York's Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop and the McCarter Theatre, among others. His numerous awards and fellowships include two NEA/TCG National Theatre Artist Residency grants, a Rockefeller Foundation grant, a Kennedy Center Fund award, and a PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award. He has taught playwriting at Brown University, the University of Iowa, Yale and University of Miami. Two recent world premieres, “Hotel Desiderium” and “Kisses Through the Glass,” were commissioned and produced by Arca Images.

Tickets are $30 open seating, $25 seniors and students with valid ID. Advance tickets are available at www.arcaimages.org and the day of the show at Miami-Dade County Auditorium box office only. The theater is fully wheelchair accessible, with adjacent free on-site surface parking available. The Miami Dade County Auditorium On.Stage Black Box Theater is located at 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami, FL, with entrance in the rear. To request materials in accessible format, or any disability accommodation, visit www.arcaimages.org or contact Arca by email at arcaimages@gmail.com.

Support for Arca Images, and its performances, is provided in part by Miami-Dade County Auditorium; the Florida Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and the Board of County Commissioners; the Shubert Foundation; and other donors. 

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