It's All About Family In 'Anna In The Tropics' At Bay Street Theater

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy

There is a long-standing tradition in Cuban cigar factories of hiring lectors to read to workers in order to break up days filled with the monotonous task of hand-rolling cigars. Elegantly dressed and well-read, lectors traditionally sat on elevated platforms on the factory floor where they read aloud from popular literature, classic novels, or even news of the day, offering workers an education as well as entertainment.

Cuban cigars and the role of one particular lector figure prominently in Nilo Cruz’s “Anna in the Tropics,” Bay Street Theater’s current mainstage production which opened July 2 and runs through July 24. The play, which is expertly directed by Marcos Santana, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2003 and it offers a moving and powerful portrait of a family in transition.

Set in Ybor City, a neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, in 1929, the action takes place in a Cuban cigar factory owned by the Alcalar family and is a study in modernization and changing attitudes, not only in terms of workplace productivity, but also in respect to personal relationships. In this play, a culture of male dominance takes precedence — on the surface, at least — but shades of female empowerment emerge throughout the course of the evening, offering glimpses that make it clear that times are, indeed, changing for the patriarchal Cubans.

Santiago (played by Serafin Falcon) is the factory’s owner, while his wife, Ofelia (Iliana Guibert) helps run things and is one of the factory workers and spends her days rolling cigars alongside the couple’s two daughters, young Marela (played by Maria Isabel Bilbao), and older sister Conchita (Christine Spang). Also employed at the factory is Conchita’s husband, Palomo (Guillermo Ivan) and Santiago’s half-brother CheChe (Christian Barillas), who is Cuban-American and grew up in the United States.

As the play opens, CheChe and Santiago are enjoying a night of drinking and betting on cock fights. When Santiago runs out of funds, he convinces CheChe to loan him a sizable amount of cash so he can continue gambling. In exchange, a very drunk Santiago promises to give his half-brother a share of the factory if he doesn’t make good on the loan. In fact, a stake in the factory is very much what CheChe wants, so when Santiago takes an extended leave from the factory as he tries to sort out his propensity for booze and betting, it’s Ofelia who’s left running the show and CheChe finds he must deal with her in his attempts to become a partner in the business.

Meanwhile, the dynamics of the family and factory are further rocked with the arrival of a handsome new lector, Juan Julian (played dashingly by Anthony Michael Martinez). When he chooses Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” as the first classic to read aloud to the workers, the reception is decidedly mixed.

The question soon surfaces: Where does fiction stop and real life begin? Though at first glance, it would seem a Russian novel has little to do with the lives of Cuban immigrants in a Florida cigar factory, as Juan Julian reads the story of “Anna Karenina,” each worker begins recognizing his or her own situation in the plights of the fictional characters, laying bare their hidden passions and shortcomings.

Particularly endearing is the rekindling of a love between Santiago and Ofelia that has faded with the years, but is reignited when the couple is moved by the plotlines in the novel. While young, vulnerable Marela dreams of love and gets swept up in the romantic tale that Juan Julian spins, for elder sister Conchita the novel has a much different effect. Instead of love, it speaks to her troubled relationship with her husband, Paloma. She knows he is having an affair, just as Anna Karenina is in the book, and she confronts him, informing him that she, too, will soon take a lover in return. Jealousy mounts when Paloma begins to suspect that Conchita has her sights set on none other than Juan Julian himself.

Of all the characters in the play, CheChe in particular is a tinderbox of raw and dangerous emotion. American, not Cuban, by birth he has little patience or sentimental affection for the old traditions. The outside world is affecting business and with the advent of cars and fast-paced lifestyles, quick burning cigarettes are becoming the preferred choice of tobacco over cigars, which are best enjoyed at a slow and leisurely pace.

Jilted by his wife who ran off with a previous factory lector, CheChe also has little use for Juan Julian’s flowery language and, in fact, finds his words both threatening and revealing in ways that leave him on edge. Citing stiff competition, he pushes for automation of the factory and brings in new machinery to increase production. But with machines, lectors cannot be heard over the noise. For CheChe, that’s largely the point. His aggressive desires soon become menacing to the point that they threaten to alter all their lives forever.

In terms of production, “Anna in the Tropics” is stunning, both in content and visual impact. The acting is superb and the play features a well-oiled cast that is keenly tuned into one another, not only in terms of dialogue, but also in the subtle, yet meaningful silent messages shared in the form of glances between them, which are almost as impactful as the words in Nilo Cruz’s script. The complicated relationship between Palomo and Conchita is masterfully choreographed and portrayed on stage.

Though the performances themselves are memorable, Bay Street’s “Anna in the Tropics” is particularly impressive in its setting. Luciana Stecconi’s amazing set is beautiful. The wooden floor of the factory is etched with the faded logo of the company family name, Alcalar, and the large windows of the factory look out onto the tropical skyline of Tampa. Simple wooden work stations are stocked with the tools of the trade where the cigars are rolled, while leaves of drying tobacco hang from the ceiling to one side of the stage. Also noteworthy are impressive projections by Milton Cordero that add an element of fantasy and take audiences literally into the pages of Tolstoy’s novel. As the characters are swept up in the emotion of the tale, the scene magically transforms with poignant quotes superimposed on the set in elegant script.

While “Anna in the Tropics” explores difficult terrain over the course of its two acts —and there are scenes that some audience members may find difficult to watch — in the end, it’s a beautiful piece that speaks to the enduring strength of family in the midst of uncertain times. When you get right down to it, in the end perhaps that’s all we really need.

“Anna in the Tropics” creative team includes Rick Sordelet, fight/intimacy director; Luciana Stecconi, scenic designer; Fabian Aguilar, costume designer; Maria-Cristina Fusté, lighting designer; Milton Cordero, projection designer; Andrew Diaz, props designer; Lori Lundquist, production stage manager; and Kate Croasdale, assistant stage manager.

“Anna in the Tropics” by Nilo Cruz, directed by Marcos Santana, runs through July 24 at Bay Street Theater on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. For tickets call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.