Anna in the Tropics is a 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Nilo Cruz. Set in a Cuban-American cigar factory in 1929 Florida, the story follows the lives of workers whose daily routine includes listening to a lector—a reader hired to entertain and educate them as they roll cigars. When a new lector arrives and begins reading Anna Karenina, the novel’s themes of love, passion, and betrayal begin to mirror and influence the workers’ lives in unexpected ways. The play explores tradition, change, and the power of literature to ignite transformation.