Daniel Capote News Today

Cuban-American playwright Nilo Cruz joins host Carlos Frías as his play "Anna in the Tropics" is showing at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach for its 20th anniversary.

In his best-known play, Nilo Cruz blends vivid imagery, Cuban-American history and tradition, the imagination-inspiring power of great literature, and a sensuality so electric you can almost hear it sparking.

Rogelio Martinez’s “Elián” is revisiting that moment in time when the 5-year-old was at the center of an international custody battle. The fight was between Elián’s father in Cuba and his relatives in Miami. But in truth, at least as the play sees it: Castro knew a child could be a powerful propaganda tool.

In the moment, the battle over Elián González was a hugely impactful struggle for those who lived it and for Miami’s Cuban exile community.

If you lived in South Florida then, if you followed what happened after Elián’s rescue, you know that the boy who had just lost his mother became a high-stakes symbol, or a pawn, in an escalating tug-of-war. But 23 years after the painful battle played out, Miami New Drama is providing fresh insight into a saga that continues to sting.