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Tri-State Theater

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Tuesday, October 01, 2013

On Stage This Week: "Anna in the Tropics"

   Marshall University kicks off its new theatre season this week with Anna in the Tropics, and Paul Sebert gives us a great preview right here in today's Herald-Dispatch.

   Here's an excerpt:

   The Marshall Theater Alliance is gearing up for the start of its fall season with a production of Anna in the Tropics starting Wednesday, Oct. 2.

   The play will run through Oct. 5. All shows will take place in the Joan C. Edwards Playhouse and begin at 7:30 p.m. Guests are also invited to the Joan C. Edwards lobby for coffee and conversation at 6:30 p.m.
   Set in a Florida Cigar factory in 1929, the play focuses on the lives of Cuban immigrants who work there. At the time it was common for factories to employ “lectors” who entertained and educated workers by reading passages of literature to them. In the play, a new lector chooses “Anna Karenina” as a work, and unwittingly sets off a change in the worker’s lives.  The Russian and Cuban revolutions along with the change to from handcrafted work to mechanization in factories are all touched upon.  Playwright Nilo Cruz won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2003 for the play.
   “It is special to perform this play during Hispanic Heritage Month,” said Nicole Perrone, Marshall professor and the director of the production. “The Cuban-American culture is so rich, and we are lucky to have an opportunity to examine and celebrate these traditions. But anytime our students work on a play, they are walking in someone else’s shoes. The stage is a training ground for sensitivity and empathy. We’re learning what it means to be human.”

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