WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - s4story -- (South Florida – May 16, 2024) Gary Schweikhart, president of the Carbonell Awards, South Florida's Theater & Arts Honors, today announced the recipient of this year's prestigious George Abbott Award which will be presented at the 47^th annual Carbonell Awards Ceremony on Monday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center at 3800 NW 11^th Place, Lauderhill, FL 33311.

The George Abbott Award

for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts

Nilo Cruz

Cuban American Nilo Cruz gained national prominence in 2003 when he won the Pulitzer Prize for drama for his play Anna in the Tropics, a Depression-era tale about migrant Cubans working in a Tampa cigar factory, for which he also received a Steinberg Award and Tony Award nomination. He has become known for his ability to successfully weave strains of magic realism and other literary traditions into his works.

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His plays include A Park in Our House; Two Sisters and a Piano; A Bicycle Country; Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams; Lorca in a Green Dress; Hurricane; Sotto Voce; Bathing in Moonlight; Hotel Desiderium; Kisses through the Glass; and Thirst on Water Street. His work has been seen at numerous theaters around the country and around the world in Canada, England, France, Australia, Germany, Belarus, Russia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Japan, China, Greece, Russia and Spain.

As a lyricist, he is a frequent collaborator with composer Gabriela Lena Frank. He has written the libretti for The Conquest requiem and The Last Dream of Frida and Diego, which just premiered in San Diego and San Francisco. Cruz also adapted Ann Patchett's 2001 novel Bel Canto for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, with Peruvian composer Jimmy López, and he penned the Dreamers oratorio for Cal Performance in Berkeley, Calif.

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Cruz, who received an M.F.A. from Brown University and an honorary doctorate degree from Whittier College, has thrice previously served as a playwright-in-residence: In 2000, for the McCarter Theatre, in Princeton, N.J.; in 2001, for the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Fla., which commissioned Anna in the Tropics; and in 2021, at UCLA through a Hearst Foundation Grant. Cruz has also taught drama at Yale, Brown, the University of Iowa, and the University of Miami. He is a member of the New Dramatists.

Quote from Nilo Cruz

"It is a great honor to be receiving this prestigious award in November," says Nilo Cruz. "Like Mr. Abbott, I have dedicated my whole life to the theatre, and if I had to do it a second time, I would probably do the same thing."

Attached Image:

Nilo Cruz

Media Contact:

Gary Schweikhart

Carbonell Board President

561.756.4298  /  gary@pr-bs.net