Writers Institute Hosts Cuban-American Playwright and Documentary Filmmakers

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Cuban-American Playwright Nilo Cruz

• Documentary film writer and producer Ronald Blumer
• Documentary film producer/director Muffie Meyer

Nilo Cruz, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cuban American Playwright to Offer Afternoon Seminar, November 17, 2008

Nilo Cruz, Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban-American playwright, recipient of a 2004 Tony nomination for Best Play for "Anna in the Tropics," will discuss his work in an informal Q&A session on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. The event is sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and Capital Repertory Theatre, and is free and open to the public.

Cruz received the Pulitzer Prize-the first and only Latin American ever to receive the award in playwriting-for his 2002 play, "Anna in the Tropics." Set during the Great Depression, the play tells the story of Cuban immigrants who have come to Florida to work as cigar-makers. The play made its Broadway debut with Jimmy Smits in the lead role, and received a 2004 Tony nomination for Best Play. The "Miami Herald" reviewer said, "The words of Nilo Cruz waft from a stage like a scented breeze, they sparkle and prickle and swirl...." Desmond Ryan of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" called the play "exquisitely written and imaginatively crafted... at once moving and magical."

Cruz was born in Matanzas, Cuba. During his early childhood, his father served out a prison sentence for attempting to flee the country. When Cruz was nine, his family emigrated to the United States, making their home in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami.

Cruz's other plays include "The Beauty of the Father" (2006), "Lorca in a Green Dress" (2003), "Two Sisters and a Piano" (1998), and "Night Train to Bolina" (1995).

NOTE: Nilo Cruz's play "Anna in the Tropics" will be performed at Capital Repertory Theatre, 111 North Pearl Street, Albany, October 31 - November 23. On Monday evening, November 17, Cruz will also speak at a benefit for Capital Rep. For ticket information call 518-445-7469 or go online at http://www.capitalrep.org.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620.

Bringing Literature to Life with Performance of Sherman Alexie's Novel "Flight," November 19, 2008

American Place Theatre will present an adaptation of Sherman Alexie's novel "Flight" on Wednesday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany uptown campus. The show is directed by Wynn Handman, the company's Artistic Director, and performed by Robert Spaulding. The performance is cosponsored by the University at Albany Performing Arts Center in conjunction with the New York State Writers Institute. Tickets for the public performance are $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and UAlbany faculty-staff, and $10 for students. For reservations and further information, contact the Box Office at (518) 442-3997 or visit the Performing Arts Center website at http://www.albany.edu/pac.

Based on the 2007 Sherman Alexie novel of the same name, "Flight" is a one-man performance presenting the story of a Native American youth nicknamed "Zits"- a likeable, self-deprecating survivor of innumerable foster care families - who acquires the ability to travel through time after he is shot dead during a botched bank robbery. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, this hilarious and tragic portrait recounts this orphaned Indian boy's travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his own true identity.

Based in New York City, American Place Theatre is committed to producing high quality new work by diverse American writers and to pursuing pluralism and diversity in all its endeavors. Its Literature to Life series offers professionally staged theatrical adaptations of significant American literary works. In addition to "Flight", the series includes Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner", Frank McCourt's "Teacher Man", Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451", and Richard Wright's "Black Boy".

Filmmakers Muffie Meyer and Ronald Blumer, Creators of the Recent PBS Documentary "Alexander Hamilton" (2007), to Discuss New York History on Film, November 20, 2008

Producer/director Muffie Meyer and writer/co-producer Ronald Blumer, who have collaborated on numerous historical documentaries for PBS, including "Alexander Hamilton" (2007) and "The Crash of 1929" (1990), will screen excerpts of their work, offer commentary, and answer questions about documentary filmmaking on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. [NOTE EARLY START TIME] in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the University at Albany's uptown campus. The free event, which is open to the public, is a featured presentation of the 10th annual "Researching New York" Conference, held at the University at Albany on November 20-21 and is cosponsored by UAlbany's Documentary Studies Program, the New York State Writers Institute, and the Department of History. Additional information on the conference is available at http://nystatehistory.org/researchny/rsny.html.

Muffie Meyer co-founded the renowned documentary company Middlemarch Films, which since 1978 has produced more than 100 programs for public television. She and Ronald Blumer will present excerpts of three very different approaches to New York history. "Alexander Hamilton" (2007), a widely-praised documentary that aired on the PBS series, "American Experience," uses dramatizations (featuring Tony Award-winning actor Brían F. O'Byrne), interviews with leading scholars, and digital re-creations of 18th century life to present a compelling portrait of Hamilton, the original (and controversial) architect of our nation's banking system.

"The Crash of 1929" (1990), also an "American Experience" program, uses archival footage, including Hollywood features, to capture the unbounded optimism of the 1920s and the shocking consequences when the party on Wall Street comes to an end. "An Empire of Reason" (1988) asks what it would have been like if television cameras had been present to cover the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, with Walter Cronkite anchoring CTN, the "Continental Television Network."

Other collaborations by Meyer and Blumer have included the NOVA special, "Saving the National Treasures" (2005); the PBS mini-series, "Benjamin Franklin" (2002), which earned Meyer the 2003 Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special; and the PBS series "Liberty! The American Revolution" (1997), which earned Meyer a Director's Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620.

"My Man Godfrey" to be Screened on November 21, 2008

"My Man Godfrey" (United States, 1936, 94 minutes, b/w, DVD directed by Gregory La Cava) will be shown on Friday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany's downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the screening is free and open to the public.

"My Man Godfrey" is a screwball comedy classic that balances gags and romance with Depression-era social commentary. Carole Lombard is a wealthy young socialite who is a few cards short of a full deck. William Powell is a vagrant she meets at the city dump during a "high society" scavenger hunt. Sparks fly when the heiress hires the bum as her personal butler, then proceeds to fall in love with him. Alice Brady, who plays Lombard's mother, and Mischa Auer, who plays the mother's "protégé" round out the cast that was the first film to receive Oscar nominations in all four acting categories.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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