-
Cruz is born on 1960 to Tina (his mother) and Nilo (his father) Cruz Sr, in Matanzas, Cuba. -
-
-
In 1970, Cruz's family immigrates to Little Havana in Miami, Florida and eventually naturalized. -
By the early 1980's, Cruz became largely interested with theatre where he studied at the Miami-Dade community college before moving to New York to pursue his interest. -
In 1988, Cruz directed "Mud" by Maria Irene Fornés which at the time he was studying under her. -
-
Cruz later moved to Brown University after multiple directions where also received an M.F.A degree in 1994. -
By early 2001, Cruz was hired as a playwright for the New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida. From here he wrote "Anna in the Tropics". -
-
Artist and director, Rafael de Archa, produced and directed the world premiere performance of "Anna in the Tropics" which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Steinberg award for Best New Play. -
In 2003, he also wrote "Lorca in a Green Dress" which didn't receive very much attention but did obtain a Alton Jones award. -
Cruz's play "Anna in the Tropics" made its way to Broadway where in 2004 it was performed and Tony nominated for Best Play. -
Cruz wrote "Beauty of the Father", as it was meant to pay homage to Federico Garcia Lorca, who was a spanish poet. It was performed in the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in 2006. -
-
Another writing that came from Cruz was the musical of Frank Wildhorn & Jack Murphy, which was set to be premiered at the Pasadana Playhouse but the theatre announced bankruptcy shortly after. -
Cruz translated the script of Hamlet to Spanish where it would be used in the 2012 production at the Asolo Repertory Theatre. -
Frequently between 2013 to 2017, Cruz worked with Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Where they did "Saint Maker", "Journey of the Shadow", "Conquest Requiem" and "Cinco Lunas de Lorca". -
Cruz's most recent (as of today) work is the world premiere of "Bathing in Moonlight" in 2016, where it won the Edgerton Foundation New Play award, and the Greenfield Prize. -
By 2019 to 2020, Cruz had taught drama for Yale, Brown and University of Iowa. Eventually moving onto UCLA School of Theatre where he became a Playwright-in-Residence. -