An emotionally conflicted wife. A charming outsider. A bitter outcast determined to get revenge.
While the character types featured in the play “Anna in the Tropics” may sound familiar, the characters themselves are layered and, this weekend, will be brought to life onstage for Spanish-speaking audiences in metro Atlanta.
After completing six English-speaking performances in August, the Doraville Civic Center will return to the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama for three performances done fully in Spanish.
Set in 1929 Tampa, Florida, a family-owned cigar factory places out an advertisement for a lector to read to factory workers as they manually roll cigars.
When the attractive and well-spoken Juan Julián is hired for the position, he begins to read the Russian novel “Anna Karenina” to the workers, who slowly start to see similarities in the literature with the realities of their own lives.
Rose Bianco, an Atlanta-based actress and director best known for her recurring role of “Rosa” in Netflix’s “Cobra Kai,” was originally attached to the project as assistant director when it was to be performed in spring 2020.
The production didn’t move forward due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the story remained close to Bianco’s mind and heart.
“It’s a good story first and foremost … it makes you think about elements about it that relate to you,” she told WABE.
And having the opportunity to work with an all-Latino cast and several crew members of Hispanic descent has proven to be the cherry on top.
“It’s so fulfilling that I can’t even explain it,” Bianco said. “It fills my heart with joy. It makes me want to cry.”
Miami native Cesar Pichardo, who portrays the antagonist Cheché, agreed with the director’s sentiments.
“It’s a beautiful thing to finally, as an actor, not worry if I belong in a project. I know I belong because it’s a story rooted and it’s close to home.”
The actor and comedian, who most recently starred in the titular role in the 2023 short film “El Reggaetonero,” added that working with a cast and director who have shared some of his same life experiences allows for a “looser” environment to get into character.
“It allows you to be yourself and add to the character,” he notes, describing Cheché as “a regular guy…who gets pushed too far.”
Actor Nicolas Teixieira, who plays the lector Juan Julián, says the play comes as quite a contrast to the way more recent projects feature Latino characters.
“From what I’ve seen … there’s a little bit of a weirdness that I found where they want so badly to have Latino representation, but sometimes it comes across as inauthentic,” he said.
“They’ll say an entire sentence in English and then they’ll just say one word in Spanish, I’m like, ‘That’s not reactive to how we speak’… it’s like just this idea that you randomly drop something in Spanish to say “Remember, we’re still Latino!’”
While rehearsing the Spanish version of the play, he says that the story not only offers more liveliness but also “almost another kind of flow and rhythm.”
“When you hear it in Spanish, it is like a whole different personality for every character,” Pichardo added. “Whoever’s the villain, they sound even meaner … whoever’s in love, they sound even more in love.”
Bianco is excited to showcase the twists and turns that the play offers but is even more enthusiastic about reaching out to audiences who may not be used to seeing themselves onstage.
“I want them to see that theater can be fun, engaging and thrilling, and in general, I want people who are not used to seeing seven Latinos onstage to be able to say… ‘I see myself.’”
And, much like his director, Teixeira is optimistic that “Anna” will be the beginning of many more stories that can touch the lives of Hispanic Atlanta residents.
“I hope that they can see this, and it’s not just something that’s a good time … [but that] they take away how important stories are … and how they can inspire so much love and beauty in the world.”
The Spanish-speaking version of “Anna in the Tropics” will play at the Doraville Civic Center on Friday-Sunday.
