Maria-Irene Fornés’ play, Letters from Cuba, is a semi-autobiographical play that explores the themes of family and enduring a connection between siblings separated by distance. The play centers on communication between Fran and Luis through letters. Although this play does not have a lot of “action”, I believe the letters give us a direct window into each character. For instance, in Scene 7 when both Fran and Luis read Luis’ letter, it states “Awhile ago, Ana said to me, ‘Write a long letter to your sister Fran.’ And here I am now writing to you some of the many thoughts, ideas, and words I have spoken to you in my mind” (Fornés 14). While this line seems to be direct, it still means so much. Not only does Luis directly tell Fran and the audience why he is writing these letters “[for] some of the many thoughts, ideas, and words I have spoken to you in my mind”, but it also symbolizes a way to be there with her spiritually. In Scene 1, Marc emphasizes this when explaining why poetry is made “[…] I’ve been saying words in my head to see if word spirits would come, like move in, like to join other words that were there. […] As if words had desires, and they want to join other words to express something… of beauty or longing or despair” (Fornés 10). This is not just about ‘words’, what Joseph is trying to get at when he talks about why poetry gets written, and why Fornés decided to include poems in her play, is that ‘words’ are a symbol to people. The “word spirits”—as Joseph states—are supposed to embody the person who writes them; they allow for the writer—in this case Luis—to be with the person they miss or are away from, and allow for that past connection to continue forward, along with letting them grow and learn with them despite if they are there physically there or not. 

Another moment that helps captivate this idea is when the letter gets dropped from Cuba to New York, “As FRAN starts to enter the apartment through the hallway door, LUIS tosses a letter down to her. She catches it and enters the apartment, reading the letter as LUIS read softly in the background…” (Fornés 14). The act of tossing the letter down symbolizes the effort to not only bridge the gap between Fran and Luis but also represents the tangible thread of their relationship; carrying out Luis’s emotions, thoughts, and memories across the physical distance, and for Fran to be able to experience them with her brother like she did before she moved to New York. Moreover, if we were to envision this scene being acted out, I think it emphasizes the feeling of separation more heavily than through reading the script. In other words, when this scene is translated on stage, we would get to see the dual perspective between Fran and Luis. From Fran’s perspective, her silent reading would reflect how she takes in Luis’ letter and allows us to see her reaction, unlike with the script where we are limited to only knowing she is reading the letter silently. As with Luis, his soft reading would give us a sense of his physical emotions, more than what the script can provide, and highlight the sincerity of his thoughts from when he wrote that letter. 

Although I found this playwright difficult to understand from the beginning, rereading it a second time and trying to envision each scene being acted out, I now understand that Fornés intended to include letters and poems in her play to not only show the internal struggles and emotions Luis deals with but also show that no matter how far one may be with someone they cherish, the connection between them can remain and continue to be strong like they never left.

Fornes, Maria Irene. “Letters from Cuba,” in Letters from Cuba and Other Plays. First edition., PAJ Publications, 2007.