Anna in the Tropics kicks off Orlando Shakes 25/26 Season, Are you ready to step into the heat?
- Alastair Mac
- 23 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Don’t miss this Pulitzer-Prize-winning drama at Orlando Shakes from August 27 – September 21!
Cuban cigars. Forbidden passion. Hidden truths. Something sultry is rolling into Orlando…and it’s more than cigars.
“Anna in the Tropics” kicks off Orlando Shakes 2025/26 Season, opening August 27 and running select dates to September 21, 2025. Are you ready to step into the heat?
“Anna in the Tropics” tells a sensual, poetic story of love, literature, and longing — where the arrival of a new lector awakens desires that have long been buried. This evocative play by Nilo Cruz is a tribute to the power of storytelling and the danger of change.
Shimmering with passion, poetry and hailed by The New York Times as “a hymn to the transforming and potentially dangerous powers of art.” This Pulitzer Prize-winning drama weaves the tale of a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929 Ybor City, Florida, where cigars are still rolled by hand and “lectors” are employed to inspire the workers as they toil on the factory floor.
As a handsome and debonair new lector reads the words of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the lives of the workers begin to parallel the novel. Old traditions and new ways collide with longing, betrayal, and love.
Meet The Cast
Meet the Cast and Understudies for “Anna in the Tropics.”
Cigars. Secrets. Seduction. Now’s the time to get your tickets — before the heat rises. To purchase tickets, please call 407-447-1700 or visit https://www.orlandoshakes.org/show/anna-in-the-tropics/.
The 2025-2026 mainstage season will kick off in August with Anna in the Tropics, the Pulitzer Prize winning drama of love, longing and betrayal set in a Cuban cigar factory in Ybor City, 1929.
In September, the ‘fang-tastic,’ hilarious Off-Broadway hit, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors opens and runs through Halloween, while the first children’s show of the season, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, begins in October.
The Orlando Shakes annual holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol closes out calendar year 2025 with performances from late-November through Christmas Eve.
2026 kicks off in January with Shakespeare’s tragic story about forbidden love, Romeo and Juliet, followed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning sizzling cookout comedy, Fat Ham, an uproarious southern-fried take on Hamlet. in March. the season ends in April 2026 with the popular Fire and Reign series, a Bare Bard / Original Practices production of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VI Part 3: The Rise of Richard, and the final children’s show, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
PlayFest, Orlando Shake's popular two weekend festival of new plays that features several readings of raw, unproduced works, also returns to Orlando Shakes the weekends of October 31-November 2 and November 7-9. And the Concert Series brings regionally-and-nationally-known entertainers to the Margeson Theater stage with four weekend performances throughout the season, including a special Valentine’s weekend schedule of events.
Orlando Shakes’ 37th Season | 2025-26
SIGNATURE SERIES
ANNA IN THE TROPICS
By Nilo Cruz
August 27 – September 21, 2025
DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS
By Gordon Greenberg & Steve Rosen
September 24 – November 2, 2025
ROMEO & JULIET
By William Shakespeare
January 14 – February 8, 2026
FAT HAM
By James Ijames
March 4 – March 29
HENRY VI PART 3: THE RISE OF RICHARD
By William Shakespeare
April 1 – 19, 2026
CHILDREN’S SERIES
THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR SHOW
Based on four of Eric Carle’s timeless stories
October 14 – November 9, 2025
DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS!
Based on the book by Mo Willems
April 14 – May 8, 2026
SPECIAL PRODUCTIONS AND EVENTS
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
By Charles Dickens | Adapted by Jim Helsinger
November 26 – December 24, 2025
MASSEY SERVICES OPENING NIGHTS
Every opening Friday night of the season becomes a not-to-miss party starting 90 minutes before the curtain goes up! Featuring a live musical guest, a delicious restaurant partner for small bites, and an exclusive pre-show chat with each production’s creative team. Entering its fourth season as a staple of Orlando Shakes’ Opening Nights, the party continues bigger and better in its 37th season.
37TH SEASON GALA
Save the date now for the Orlando Shake's annual fundraising extravaganza – Sunday, March 22, 2026.
For more details on thd Orlando ahke's 2025/26 Season, click here.
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