Anna in the Tropics

The play is set in 1929 in Ybor City, a section of Tampa, and the center of the cigar industry. When Cuban immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to Florida in the 19th century, they carried with them another tradition. As the workers toiled away in the factory hand-rolling each cigar, the lector, historically well-dressed and well-spoken, would read to them. In this story, the lector reads Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, sparking the characters’ lives and relationships to spin out of control. The play was written, and will be performed, in English.