2022 Season

Dreaming in Cuban

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written by Cristina García
directed by Gary Graves
Produced in: 2022

We are fully reserved on 7/30 & 31!
The waitlist starts at 7:30 at the box office.

 

World Premiere #68: from the Central Works Writers Workshop
a new adaptation by Cristina García of her celebrated novel

 

A haunting, bittersweet story of the del Pino family, a family divided in the wake of the Cuban revolution. With her characteristic humor and emotional fireworks, García weaves a complex tale of yearning and aspiration, of one child’s longing for the home she left behind, and another’s desire to find a new home in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.

A finalist for the National Book Award, characterized by the New York Times as “Dazzling… Remarkable…A jewel of a novel.”

 

CLICK HERE to listen to the CW Script Club resident playwrights Cristina García & Patricia Milton discuss the script & and this production!

 

 

ALL THURSDAYS ARE PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN
DAY OF PERFORMANCE DISCOUNTS
All remaining seats are available on a sliding scale at noon on the day of the show:
$40-$15 (Fri-Sun)
We reserve seats only for subscribers, it is general seating for all other ticket holders.

Acting Ensemble:
Natalia Delgado
Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez

Anna Maria Luera
Steve Ortiz
Mary Ann Rodgers
Thea Rodgers

Stage Management: Natalia Rivera Ramos
Costume design: Tammy Berlin
Prop design: Debbie Shelley
Sound design: Gregory Scharpen

 

Cristina García (playwright) is the author of eight novels: Dreaming in CubanThe Agüero SistersMonkey HuntingA Handbook to LuckThe Lady Matador’s HotelKing of Cuba, Here in Berlin, and the forthcoming Vanishing Maps (Knopf, 2023).

Additional publications include two Latinx anthologies (Cubanísimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature and Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature); books for young readers (The Dog Who Loved the MoonI Wanna Be Your Shoebox, and Dreams of Significant Girls); and a collection of poetry, The Lesser Tragedy of Death.

García’s  work has been nominated for a National Book Award and translated into fifteen languages. She’s the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and an NEA grant, among others. García has taught at universities nationwide.

Recently, she was a Visiting Professor at University of San Francisco and is now playwright-in-residence at Central Works Theater in Berkeley, where her two adaptations of King of Cuba and The Lady Matador’s Hotel have been produced for the stage.

photo: Gary Aguilar

Artist Pilar Puente (Thea Rodgers) and her new friend Max (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez, r) bond over a mural she is painting in  Brooklyn.

Central Works presents world premiere #68: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García, June 25 -July 24 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.

Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

Matriarch Celia del Pino (Mary Ann Rodgers, l) and her daughter Lourdes, an exile from Cuba (Anna Maria Luera, r), share a rare moment of intimacy.

Central Works presents world premiere #68: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García, June 25 -July 24 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.

Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

Felicia (Natalia Delgado, l) and her son Ivanito (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez, r) eat a special treat as the ghost of her father Jorge looks on (Steve Ortiz, c.).

Central Works presents world premiere #68: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García, June 25 – July 24 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.

Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

Lt. Rojas (Steve Ortiz) leads the Cuban remedial militia.

Central Works presents world premiere #68: Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García, June 25 – July 24 at Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.

More photos HERE

Photo by Cheshire Isaacs

“a haunting, bittersweet, ethereal production” -Berkeleyside

Dreaming In Cuban is fantastic…a moving and beautiful play” -TheatreStorm

“Best bet” … “beautifully and imaginatively conceived” -Theatre Eddys

“Haunting Reflection on La Revelución” -Theatrius

“a provocative theatrical piece that is nicely rendered with great sensitivity” -ForAllEvents

Jean Schiffman featured Dreaming in Cuban in the June edition of SF/Arts.

Download the program here

Listen to the CW Script Club

Resident playwrights Cristina García & Patricia Milton discuss the script & and production!

Click here to download the script.
Click here to hear other CW Script Club episodes.

More Photos

Click images to enlarge
In Cuba:

Celia del Pino (Mary Ann Rodgers), the family matriarch

Felicia del Pino (Natalia Delgado), Celia’s younger daughter

Ivanito Villaverde (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez), Felicia’s 11 year old son

 

In Brooklyn:

Celia’s oldest daughter, Lourdes Puente (Anna Maria Luera), proud owner of the Yankee Doodle Bakery and a member of the auxiliary police

Pilar Puente (Thea Rodgers), Lourdes’ punk artist daughter

Jorge del Pino (Steve Ortiz), Celia’s newly dead husband

Max Aguilar (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez), bakery employee and Pilar’s love interest

All photos by Cheshire Isaacs