Cartas de Cuba by María Irene Fornés (performance in Spanish w/ subtitles)

Madison, WI—The Department of Spanish and Portuguese and Teatro Décimo Piso at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are pleased to announce their upcoming production of María Irene Fornés’s Cartas de Cuba (Letters from Cuba), directed by Paola S. Hernández and Sabina Madrid-Malloy, running May 1-2 at the UW-Madison’s Play Circle Theatre. Inspired by the playwright’s own correspondence with her brother spanning three decades, Fornés’s final play of her career explores familial bonds, separation, and (dis)connection across space and time. The lyrical structure and narrative of the play revolve around the epistolary communication between siblings Fran and Luís after Fran immigrates to New York City from Cuba. Luís’s letters lament their physical absence from each other’s lives and express dreams to reunite while he updates Fran on local reports and events, both grand and mundane. Meanwhile, in New York, Fran’s roommates and fellow artists, Jo and Marcy, express their own feelings of love and longing. The oneiric scenes and structure of the play seamlessly blend the artistic, the poetic, and the quotidian in Fornés’s piece. Cartas de Cuba includes indirect references to exile and economic crisis during The Special Period in Cuba (1990-1994) that was triggered by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The resulting economic insecurities prompted a wave of migration and an intensified longing for suturing familial ties. María Irene Fornés’s intimate drama “invites us into a world of imaginative artistry while exploring themes of separation, belonging, and nostalgia” says co-director Paola S. Hernández. The cast includes Ireide Calero Caballero, Carina Astrid Carlson, Jan Díaz Hernández, Tanneh Haeberlin, Alba Martín Bafalluy, María Paula Restrepo, and Tyler Sampson. The production team includes Ruby Dudasik, Anna Gebarski, Pedro de Jesús Gonzales Durán, Anthony Ippolito, David Logghe, Isabel Martín Sánchez, Anna D. Novak, Kehinde Olukayode, and Rebecca Schmitt. Performances will take place on Friday May 1 and Saturday May 2 at the Play Circle Theatre located in Memorial Union at UW-Madison, 800 Langdon Street. Doors will open 6:30 pm, and performances will begin at 7:00pm. The play runs approximately one hour. Tickets are free but should be reserved online through our ticketing page. We expect the performances to sell out and recommend reserving tickets early. If you have any questions, please contact our Producer Anna at novak22@wisc.edu