By Nilo Cruz, Directed by Larissa Kokernot
Set Design
The play focuses around the arrival of a new Lector in a cigar factory. He arrives at a pivotal time of transition for the factory and the workers. Will the factory leave the process of hand rolling behind and move to machines? Will the characters give into their passion, live with reason, or find a balance of both?
The proscenium arch became a frame of rolled pages, like cigars, allowing the audience to glimpse through into a world of posable stories waiting to be told. The pages continued on the large shutters that open and closed throughout the show, occasionally breathing with the breeze as it blew through the characters’ lives. It was very important that the shutters make no sounds when moving so they would not be seen as taking the side of mechanizing the factory.