written by Cristina García We are fully reserved on 7/30 & 31! World Premiere #68: from the Central Works Writers Workshop
directed by Gary Graves
Produced in: 2022
The waitlist starts at 7:30 at the box office.
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!
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 Cuban, The Agüero Sisters, Monkey Hunting, A Handbook to Luck, The Lady Matador’s Hotel, King 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 Moon, I 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.
Artist Pilar Puente (Thea Rodgers) and her new friend Max (Eric Esquivel-Gutierrez, r) bond over a mural she is painting in Brooklyn.
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.
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.).
Lt. Rojas (Steve Ortiz) leads the Cuban remedial militia.
More photos HERE
“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
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.
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