‘Anna in the Tropics’ may get to perform in Washington, D.C.
Last fall’s USU theatre arts department production of “Anna in the Tropics” was recently honored by a national organization and may get the chance to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C.
“It’s one of the most prestigious awards we could have,” said Lynda Linford, director of “Anna” and a theater professor at USU.
The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival is a national theater organization that involves more than 18,000 students from more than 600 colleges and universities.
“The festival is not a competition,” said Richard Bugg, chairman of USU’s region at the festival. “We’re here to celebrate the work that everyone does.”
Bugg said the festival aims to reward creative plays and offer a full theater experience, with great design and costuming and strong acting with character arcs.
“All of those things were present with ‘Anna and the Tropics,'” Bugg said.
In addition to national awards and recognition, the festival also gives regional awards for each of its eight regions. “Anna” was recognized as one of the top three productions from its region, along with two productions from California schools, at the regional festival held in Cedar City, Utah, in mid-February of this year.
USU’s region includes colleges from California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada in addition to Utah.
“Anna and the Topics,” by Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz, won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for drama. The play tells the story of a cigar factory in Tampa in 1929 as the Great Depression is beginning. The owners of the factory are looking to modernize and mechanize the factory while many workers strive to maintain the traditions of their trade and lifestyle, particularly the tradition of having a lector who reads them literature, news and religious writing as they work.
Linford said the factory workers’ struggle against losing the traditions of their trade serves as a metaphor for the struggle to retain poetry, art and culture against the often-homogenizing force of modernization-a message that was particularly interesting to festival adjudicators.
“People in theater embrace the play on an entirely different level,” Linford said, because of the film’s message about the importance of the arts. And the struggle to maintain their importance in modern life mirrors contemporary theater’s struggle to remain significant with the increase in film and television’s popularity.
The cast and crew of “Anna” traveled to Cedar City in February to stage a special performance of the play for festival audiences and adjudicators. For several students, this meant driving back from Cedar City early on Thursday in order to make it back to Logan in time to perform in the theatre department’s production of “Tartuffe” that night.
Already, several of the members of the cast have received honors from the festival. Caress Bergado won the national award in set design for “Anna” and was invited to study at the Kennedy Center under Ming Cho Lee (a leading set theatrical set designer). Costume designer Anne Benson also received a regional award.
Performing for festival audiences also gave students the opportunity to be exposed to other professionals and educators, Linford said. Following the Cedar City
performance of “Anna”, three lead cast members-Leticia Minharo, Brandon Pearson and Mark Wayne-were offered apprenticeships at the prestigious Actors Theatre of Louisville.
“Nothing better could happen for them,” Linford said about the apprenticeships.
The festival honors were not unexpected for “Anna and the Tropics.” Linford said they could tell during the play’s production and performance that there was something special about it. The play captured festival adjudicators’ attention, literally, the moment they walked in the door to the theater as they were met with the smell of cigars and the sound of Cuban music that filled the theater.
“The play succeeded in building the tropics in the midst of winter in Logan, helping you get into this different kind of world in an emotional and sensual sort of way,” said Maria Cordero, an associate professor of Spanish at USU. Cordero was born in Matanzas, Cuba, near Havana, and worked with the cast and producers to help the play have an authentic Cuban feel.
Cordero said “Anna” helped give her “a way to connect with (Cuban) culture in Utah and teach about it to other people.”
The festival recognition helps to add prestige to the USU’s theatre department and helps with recruiting, Linford said. “(The festival’s recognition shows) we do productions that qualify as national representatives of the best.”
The cast and crew of “Anna in the Tropics” should find out shortly if they will be invited to perform in the national festival in April at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.