Award-winning Broadway Crossover to direct adaptation of Pulitzer Prize winning Play
Hollywood, CA—Mankind Entertainment announce director George C. Wolfe has come on board to direct their upcoming film adaptation of playwright Nilo Cruz’s Broadway hit, Anna in the Tropics.
‘Anna’ is Nilo Cruz’s signature piece; and a major breakthrough for Hispanic theatre in America. A first-of- its- kind drama, the play is set in Tampa, Florida and takes place during the 20th century around the time of the Great Depression—in a Cuban cigar factory. Inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s bestselling novel, ‘Anna Karenina,’ the original work follows the lives of a family of factory-employed Cuban cigar rollers whose lives are changed forever through the power of literature. The emotionally charged, character-driven play took two of the most coveted prizes for drama: the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and that year’s Steinberg award—and later landed a Broadway premiere. The play received two Tony award nominations.
Anna in the Tropics has become one of America’s widest produced plays, having been translated and/or produced in Australia, Spain, Belgrade, Germany, France and Shanghai—it was also listed as one of America’s favorite plays in the Wall Street Journal, in 2010. Oscar nominated director, Lee Daniels (Precious, The Butler) developed the screenplay with Cruz.
Wolfe, a well-known film crossover, was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his HBO Film Lackawanna Blues; and for directing the Warner Bros hit, Nights in Rodanthe, which was a box office hit starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane.
‘Anna’ was acquired, developed and will be produced by Mankind’s John Martinez O’Felan and Joe Lamy, who are re-teaming with Cruz. Filming will take place in Puerto Rico as a follow up to their recently announced green lit film, Castro’s Daughter; which is directed by Sarah Siegel Magness. Cruz co-wrote Castro’s Daughter for Mankind with Oscar winner, Bobby Moresco (Crash).
“We are very excited at the opportunity to work with Nilo again on our next project,” O’Felan commented. “As the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, he’s proven to crack the cross-culture code on the live theatre platform and we are very honored to work with him to take his one-of-a-kind play to the next level. As part of our company’s focus is to develop films for the 51 million and growing Hispanic audience in America, this is the perfect follow up to Castro’s Daughter.”
The film is expected to shoot early 2015.
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