Tania Verafield and Matias Ponce in A Noise Within’s production of ‘Anna in the Tropics.’ [Photo by Craig Schwartz]
In a very small family cigar factory in Tampa, Florida, in 1929, family members are grappling with the everyday machinations of their little shop.
As A Noise Within’s production of “Anna in The Tropics,” opens, patriarch and factory owner Santiago (Leandro Cano) struggles with a gambling addiction. His wife and daughters—Ofelia, played by Rose Portillo, daughter Marela, played by Katie Rodriguez, and daughter Conchita, played by Tania Verafield—eagerly await the arrival of a new “lector,” a book reader who soothingly reads to the factory workers as they go about their day. It’s a longtime tradition in cigar factories, and the right lector can make or break the workplace, in more ways than one.
The play, written by Nilo Cruz, is directed briskly by Jonathan Muñoz-Poulx, with a simple execution of the sometimes windy plot.
When the dashing new lector, Juan Julian, played stylishly and smoothly by Jason Manuel Olazábal, arrives, the obvious implications and opportunities descend upon the family like the tobacco leaves that fall from the factory ceiling and scatter themselves about the stage.
The women are aglow, and the men are torn between appreciation, dismissiveness and outright hatred.
Thus, when the first book, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is introduced, you can taste the tension. Throw in a soupçon of Latin temperament, and watch things boil.
Tolstoy’s story centers on an extramarital affair between Anna and dashing cavalry officer Count Alexei Kirillovich Vronsky that scandalizes the social circles of Saint Petersburg. As if the little cigar factory didn’t have enough internal dynamics
Art imitates art imitates life in the little factory. Let’s leave that right there.
Leandro Cano’s Santiago is impressive as we see the pressure on the outside, matched by his tender way inside with wife Ofelia. Cano deftly shows us his weakness and pride at the same time.
Half-brother CheChé, portrayed by Gabriel Bonilla, is a powderkeg. He plays the role with a perfect amount of quiet rage and an eye on the factory’s mechanized future— clearly a 2022 CEO in the making.
Palomo, played by Matias Ponce, clearly has a handful of pressure to deal with.
Portillo’s Ofelia, is brave and wise. She takes nothing from her proud husband, and does her best to advise her impressionable daughters. Katie Rodriguez as the young romantic Marela is sweet and sensitive, and like her older sister, is deeply moved by the sweeping novel.
Older sister Conchita, is played confidently and wisely by Verafield, with firm control of her own destiny.
‘Anna’s’ production design, by Tanya Orellana is simple and effective, with a large wooden work table center stage that serves as the family living room, as well as the factory workplace.
Despite Tolstoy’s documented struggles with his own novel, he would be proud of this tropical connection to his saga.
“Anna in the Tropics” runs through April 17, 2022. A Noise Within Theater, 626.356.3100. 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., East Pasadena. ww.anoisewithin.org.
