Tropical Secrets
Dates : December 2, 2026 — December 27, 2026
Duration : 1 hour 30 minutes
DEC 2 – 27, 2026
Tropical Secrets
By LM Feldman
Based on the novel Tropical Secrets By Margarita Engle
Directed by Elena Velasco
Daniel, a young German Jewish refugee, finds himself on the shores of Havana and meets Paloma, a young Cubana with some painful secrets of her own. The two children on the verge of adolescence try to save themselves and others in a world of borders, violence, and family separation. TROPICAL SECRETS is a dark and beautiful theatrical quest for audiences ages 9 & up about the families we lose and the families we make, about how the world changes us and how we change the world, and about oranges and drums and becoming someone new.
Based on the multi-award-winning book Tropical Secrets by author Margarita Engle, the first Latine author to receive the Newbery Award, LM Feldman’s theatrical adaptation crafts the poetic literature into a world for the stage where the visual playfulness illustrates the powerful wisdom of our world through the eyes of children and how small human moments can contain enough hope to change the world.
About the Production
Run Time: 1 hour and 30min, no intermission
Marta
Daniel
Miriam
Papa
David
Paloma
*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater, Theater J, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
Director: Elena Velasco^
Set Design: Debra Kim Sivigny+
Costume Design: Colin Franz
Assistant Costume Designer: Christina Toth
Lighting Design: Adam Mendelson
Sound Design: Justin Schmitz+
Props/ Puppet Design: Cecilia Cackley
Dramaturg: Sonia Fernandez
Dialect Coach: Susan Lynskey
Casting: Manna-Symone Middlebrooks
Production Stage Manager: John Keith Hall*
Assistant Stage Manager: Zora Allison
*Appearing through an Agreement between this theater, Theater J, and Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
+Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829
^Member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers
Rae Grad and Manuel Schiffres
Barry Kropf
The Leshowitz Family Foundation, Terry Singer
Marion Ein Lewin
Ellen & Gary Malasky
Creative Connections and Special Performances
Join us for powerful pre and post-show conversations with expert guests to deep dive the themes of Tropical Secrets
Creative Connections events are free.
We will be offering closed captioning for selected performances.
Closed captions powered by CCTheater™ from AccessTech, LLC (www.cctheater.com)
Theater J offers Pay-What-You-Choose performances for the first two previews of each show. You can buy tickets online or in person. For this show our PWYC performances are on the following dates:
Wednesday, December 2 at 7:00 PM
Thursday, December 3 at 7:00 PM.
Hester Kamin’s pre-show conversations are a Theater J favorite! Join us to discuss the themes of our plays and how they relate to our own experiences and the issues of our times. Pre-show conversations are a great way to meet other theater fans and thinkers and to be ready to engage with the play more deeply
We will offer captions on the following performances:
Sunday December 13 at 2pm
Sunday December 20 at 2pm
Sunday December 27 at 2pm
To access captions, you can reserve a tablet before the show by calling the box office or pick up a tablet the day of the show. For more information you can email or call the box office.
Schedule
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