YBOR CITY began with a photograph, an image Anita Gonzalez found on her father’s dresser of three men seated in wicker chairs. This image was her grandfather, Pedro Paulo Gonzalez, an Afro-Cuban cigar roller with his compadres. After researching in archives, and presenting about the Tampa tabaqueros at Williams College and Performance Studies International, Gonzalez wrote the first draft of what would become YBOR CITY at the RockefellerFoundation residency center in Bellagio, Italy in 2003. This first draft, called Cigar Memories, was presented by Dixon Place as a staged reading in Fall 2003.
Book Writer Anita Gonzalez met Composer and Lyricist Dan Furman at a Dramatists Guild “meet and greet” in 2012. Dan and I chose to work together as collaborators because Dan has experience as a union organizer and he has lived and worked in Latin America. His musical style, which combines jazz with BMI musical theatre training, was perfect for the project.
We wrote sporadically for three years and developed the story line and several songs. Our brainstorming sessions took place at the Player’s Clubin NYC where we would hash through plot lines and character arcs about every three months.
In May 2015, the collaborators completed the first draft of the musical book and songs. That August, we began an intensive workshop of the musical which resulted in an equity staged reading at the Strasberg Institute under the direction of Lorca Peress.
In 2017, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor produced a full workshop staging directed by John Seibert and choreographed by Ron De Jesus, which ran from January 27 to 29 in the Arthur Miller Theatre.
In January and February 2018, Ybor City workshopped at Punto Space in Manhattan with a non-equity cast over four Monday night presentations. The production was directed by Sara Rademacher.
