2000s

2000 LETTERS FROM CUBA

CAST

SYNOPSIS

Fran, a young woman who understands herself via music and movement, is a dancer in Manhattan where she shares a student apartment with Joseph and Marc, two earnest youths, who believe themselves to be in love with Fran. A janitor, Jerry, visits for dance lessons. Fran exchanges letters, which drift down to her from the roof, with her older brother, Luis, who is present above on a horizontal Cuban rooftop with his son Enrique, and family friend, Gerardo, under a star lit sky. Fran and Luis’ correspondence recounts everyday experiences of their lives philosophically and with a longing tenderness. Fran reads of her nephew Enrique’s birth early in this ninety-five minute play and towards its close he is a young man excitedly stepping through a magic panel into Fran’s apartment to be joined in dream-like sequences by his father. The play closes as the cast assemble in the apartment to joyously sing Guantanamera. [MM]

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Directed by Fornes in 2000 at the Signature Theatre, 555 West 42nd Street, NYC it was – along with Drowning, Mud, and Enter The Night which were directed by others – part of a season devoted entirely to Fornes’ works when she was Playwright-in-Residence. Costume Design was by Teresa Snieder-Stein, Lighting Design by Matthew Frey, and Set Design was by Donald Eastman. Cast: Luís – Chris de Oni, Fran – Tai Jiménez, Marc – Matthew Floyd Miller, Joseph – Peter Starrett, Jerry/Gerardo – Peter van Wagner, Enrique – Rick Wasserman.
2010 – Halcyon Theatre, Lincoln Square Theatre, Chicago IL (dir. Juan Castañeda)

PUBLICATION HISTORY

Fornes, Maria Irene. Letters from Cuba and Other Plays. 1st ed. New York : [Saint Paul, MN]: PAJ Publications ; Distributed to the Trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, 2007.