Migdalia Cruz
“…As a Puerto Rican girl growing up in the South Bronx during the violent and heartbreaking times of the civil rights movement in America, I felt I needed to show that I knew about current events so that things would change rather than repeat.”
Playwright Biography
Migdalia Cruz was born and raised in the Bronx, though both of her parents were born in Puerto Rico. She first knew that she was a storyteller at age six, when she created a puppet show about the KKK and Black people, which she performed with puppets made of tissue paper and Spaulding rubber balls, respectively. Of this play, Cruz said, "The balls bounced back and the tissues burned.” At age eight, after her best friend was raped, murdered, and thrown off of the roof of their building, Cruz began writing to help her process the event. She wrote a story, which allowed her to both record the event, and express her emotions about witnessing it.
“[Storytelling] was a way for me to cope with the violence I grew up with all around me, in my neighborhood, my school, and my country. And which country was that? Where exactly was home? Not Puerto Rico. Not the United States. The Country of the Bronx was my territory. The only place I can truly call home.”
Photo by Deborah Lopez
Cruz received her B.F.A. in playwriting from Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, and her M.F.A. from Columbia University, also in playwriting. She credits much of her voice to her teacher and mentor, Maria Irene Fornes. She has said, “I decided to become a playwright when I met Irene Fornes and she terrorized and inspired me to tell the truth about who I was and where I came from because it was a story that needed to be told as I could tell it. She helped me to believe not only in my work, but also, and more importantly, in my history. After two degrees in playwriting, I still did not know who I was or who I could be. Then I studied with Irene Fornes and finally became Migdalia.” Cruz worked with Fornes at INTAR as a member of their Hispanic-Playwrights-in-Residence-Laboratory from 1984-1989, and again in 1991. Her first professional production was in 1985, as a part of “The Box Plays,” a night of one-acts devised by Fornes, where each student had to write a play that literally took place in a box.
Since then, Cruz has written over 50 plays, operas, screenplays, and musicals, which have been produced both across the United States, and abroad.
Highlighted Play: El Grito Del Bronx
Synopsis
The play opens on Lulu's wedding day, as she stands in front of her dressing mirror. On the precipice of marriage, which in her own words would erase everything she is, Lulu revisits her traumatic past through a series of flashbacks that reveal the emotional and physical violence her family has endured. She has to reconcile herself particularly with her brother Papo's history of violence, which culminated in him becoming a serial killer, in order to move on with her life. In this memoryscape, we see both Lulu and Papo - in childhood known as Magdalena and Jesus - wrestle with ghosts that have tormented them throughout their respective lives, as well as their conflicting relationships with their home, the South Bronx, a place filled with love, anger, and fear for the both of them.
Photo by Stephanie Davis
How this play can be used
El Grito del Bronx is a play full of mature and graphic content, grappling with challenging questions and themes, making it an ideal play to discuss with high schoolers. This play, at first glance, may appear to be a work of magical realism. However, under more careful scrutiny, it reveals itself as a member of a related, yet decidedly different genre, poetic realism. This text could provide an entry point into making distinctions between nonlinear, emotionally structured works by Latinx playwrights, and understanding the nuances of various genres of heightened realism (magical realism, spiritual realism, supernatural realism, poetic realism, etc.) This could also lead to a larger conversation of how white and Western audiences, scholars, and critics view works by playwrights of color, and interrogate the way the work by Latinx artists is labeled under the umbrella term of magical realism.
Production Photo from elsahintler.com
Discussion Questions
- Since the work of many Latinx playwrights is lumped together under the term magical realism, was El Grito del Bronx an example of magical realism? Why or why not?
- What about the work of Latinx playwrights, or about El Grito del Bronx, lends itself to being characterized as magical realism?
- Can a play or a story be magical if it is real?
- What is the distinction between magical realism, spiritual realism, and poetic realism?
- What are these forms of heightened realism emerging in the wake of for Latinx playwrights, specifically for Puerto Rican and Nuyorican playwrights?
- Did the nonlinear, emotional structure affect your reaction to, or understanding of the violence these characters had grown up with? How?
- Is it a memory play or supernatural realism? Is it both? Can it be both?
“My country is really the Bronx. I’m a Nuyorican, so my work always reflects that search for home. It’s about not being at home on the island and not feeling at home in America. The people I write about are always in search of home.”
Annotated Plays
Fur
Synopsis
Fur is the story of a love triangle between a pet shop owner, a hirsute woman, and an animal trapper. Michael purchases Citrona from a freak show, who he claims is “the love of his life.” At this same freak show, he meets and hires Nena, an animal trapper, to feed Citrona. Nena does so out of love for Michael, and in the hope of him redirecting his love toward her. Citrona, however, falls in love with Nena, and the three of them continue on, each desiring the most the one that desires them the least.
How this play could be used
On her website, Cruz’s play is described as: “A tragi-comic triangular retelling of the Beauty & the Beast.” Reading this play along with other adaptations of the fairytale could begin a study of adaptation. Citrona’s treatment throughout the play provides a very clear metaphor for how those who are Other are treated by those in the mainstream. The play could provide an entry point into discussions of diversity, and the destructiveness of the exoticization, as well as the fear of those who are different.
Production Photo by Lisa Helfert
Miriam’s Flowers
Synopsis
After the death of her 7-year-old brother, 16-year-old Miriam finds herself and her family unraveling before her eyes. She turns to sex, self-mutilation, and her confused understanding of Christianity to try to process and comprehend the pain she’s experiencing. Meanwhile her stepfather wrangles with his guilt, and her mother quickly loses her mind, drinking more frequently and spending more and more time in the bathtub, leaving Miriam to care for her.
How this play could be used
Miriam’s Flowers could be used as an entry point into talking about the grieving process, mental health, and the importance of addressing these issues in a positive and healthy way. The play could also be used to shed light on the accessibility of adequate mental health services, or lack thereof, in disadvantaged communities.
Promotional Photo retrieved from migdaliacruz.com
Comprehensive List of Works
1. NEVER MOSCOW (works in progress)
2. SATYRICOÑO
3. TWO ROBERTS: A PIRATE BLUES PROJECT
4. EL GRITO DEL BRONX
5. FUR
6. ANOTHER PART OF THE HOUSE
7. SKY ON THE SKIN (with Edgar Chías)
8. TELLING TALES
9. SONG FOR NY: WHAT WOMEN DO WHILE MEN SIT KNITTING
10. X & Y STORIES
11. THE HAVE-LITTLE
12. YELLOW EYES
13. PRIMER CONTACTO
14. MIRIAM’S FLOWERS
15. HAMLET: Asalto a la Inocencia
16. FEATHERLESS ANGELS
17. MARILUZ’S THANKSGIVING
18. DANGER
19. SALT
20. ¡CHE-CHE-CHE!
21. DYLAN & THE FLASH
22. SO…
23. CIGARETTES AND MOBY-DICK
24. DREAMS OF HOME
25. LOLITA de LARES
26. WINNIE-IN-THE-CITIE
27. FRIDA: The Story of Frida Kahlo
28. RUSHING WATERS
29. LUCY LOVES ME
30. RUNNING FOR BLOOD: NO. 3
31. WHISTLE
32. STREET SENSE
33. OCCASIONAL GRACE
34. THE TOUCH OF AN ANGEL
35. WELCOME BACK TO SALAMANCA
36. WHEN GALAXY SIX & THE BRONX COLLIDE
37. LOOSE LIPS
38. COCONUTS
39. SHE WAS SOMETHING…
40. SENSIBLE SHOES
41. NOT TIME’S FOOL
42. LATINS IN LA-LA LAND
43. BROCCOLI
44. GRACE FALLS
45. SAFE
46. THIS IS JUST A TEST
47. DRIPPING DOWN
48. PILLAR OF SALT
Additional Resources
Bibliography
Agustí, C. (2007). "I carve myself into my hands": The body experienced from within in Ana Mendieta's work and Migdalia Cruz's Miriam's Flowers. Hispanic Review, 75(3), 289-311. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/27668800
Delgado, M. M. (2000). From the U.K.: A European perspective on Latino theatre. In Svich, C. & Marrero, M. T. (Eds.), Out of the fringe: Contemporary Latina/Latino theatre and performance (pp. 451 - 461). New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group.
García, A. (2016). Freedom as praxis: Migdalia Cruz’s Fur and the emancipation of Caliban’s woman. Modern Drama, 59(3), 343-362. doi:10.3138/md.0705R
Lazú, J. (2006). Fur or hair: Lʹeffroi et lʹattirance of the wild-woman. In Lesnik-Oberstein, K. (Ed.), The last taboo: Women and body hair (pp. 126-145). Manchester, NY: Manchester University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/j.ctt155j918.12
López, T. (2000). Violent Inscriptions: Writing the Body and Making Community in Four Plays by Migdalia Cruz. Theatre Journal, 52(1), 51-66. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.nyu.edu/stable/25068740
Marrero, M. T. (2000). Manifestations of desires: A critical introduction. In Svich, C. & Marrero, M. T. (Eds.), Out of the fringe: Contemporary Latina/Latino theatre and performance (pp. xvii – xxx). New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group.
Page, P. (2010). Afterword. In M. Cruz (Ed.), El grito del Bronx and other plays (pp. 479 – 494). South Gate, CA: NoPassport Press.
Ramírez, E. C. & Casiano, C. (2011). Widening the repertoire: Migdalia Cruz’s Another Part of the House. In Ramírez, E. C. & Casiano, C. (Eds.), La voz Latina: Contemporary plays and performances by Latinas (pp. 305 – 310). Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Sandoval-Sánchez, A. (2010). Introduction. In M. Cruz (Ed.), El grito del Bronx and other plays (pp. 4 – 28). South Gate, CA: NoPassport Press.
Svich, C. (2000). Out of the fringe: In defense of beauty. In Svich, C. & Marrero, M. T. (Eds.), Out of the fringe: Contemporary Latina/Latino theatre and performance (pp. ix – xvi). New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group.
Web page compiled by Leah Cohen (2017)