The Hawkeye

Ybor City's cigar rolling heritage is being brought back to life with the HCC Ybor theater department's production of "Anna in the Tropics."

The play will be the first production in the Black Box Theater in the new performing arts building. The performance dates are April 24, 25, and 26 and May 1, 2, and 3.

The theater department also has a new coordinator to go along with its new building;

Dr. Sybil Barnes-Johnson began working at the campus in August of 2007.

Johnson’s Intro to Theater class chose the play. She agreed with their choice.

“I thought it was accessible even though I didn’t have a whole class full of Hispanic students. I wanted to challenge those who weren’t; to do something outside of them selves,” Johnson said.

She also wanted to give something back to the Ybor community. “I also wanted to do something that meant a lot to this area because this is a beautiful area. The cigar industry made a difference in the town,” Johnson said.

The play was written by Nilo Cruz and it won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

It’s set in 1929 in a cigar factory in Ybor city. A lector by the name of Juan Julian is hire by the factory to entertain the workers while they work. He reads them the book “Anna Karenina.” The workers lives are permanently changed by the arrival of the new lector and the book.

Luis Gonzales is a Ybor student and plays the role of Juan Julian. The play will be his first performance in the Black Box Theater.

“This is our first time in the Black Box Theater, which we are so happy to have now. It gives us a little creative freedom and you can basically paint any picture with your mind on the curtain,” Gonzales said. The creative freedom he attributes to Johnson.

“She’s planning to a very environmental theater type thing where she basically transforms this little chunk of the campus into a real life 1920’s Ybor City,” Gonzales said.

Johnson has a family connection to the Ybor campus. Her mother was one of the charter faculties at the campus and she new from an early age that she wanted to work at the Ybor campus. She said that the new theater building’s smart class rooms are great and make her job easier. She doesn’t have to remember to call someone to bring equipment to the class room; it’s all ready in the room.