PULITZER PRIZE WINNER NILO CRUZ

July 2003
		Nilo Cruz, winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, takes your questions on his plays, playwriting and how winning the coveted prize may affect his life and work. RealAudio: Jeffrey Brown talks with Nilo Cruz, Pulitzer Prize winner for drama.

Forum introduction How much do you rely on intuition when you're composing dialogue? How much do you rely on formulas, and which do you use? Why did you feel you had to open up to the world and share your stories? Was it difficult? How did you prepare? Can I get a print copy of Anna in the Tropics? Did the idea [for the play] come to you during or soon after reading Tolstoy's masterpiece? Browse the NewsHour's coverage of Arts and Entertainment	Allan F. Amaya of South Richmond Hill asks: Obviously you read Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina before writing your Pulitzer Prize winning play "Anna in the Tropics" but when did you actually get the idea of writing it? Did the idea come to you during or soon after reading Tolstoy's masterpiece? Nilo Cruz answers: I read the novel in my early twenties. But the idea of using Tolstoy's novel came when I questioned what book was being read to the workers. A lot of the cigar workers were socialists and they looked up to Russia, so they were fascinated by anything that was Russian. All the best, Nilo