Overview

Three siblings plot to kill their parents in this controversial masterpiece. In the game-playing scenarios the
siblings invent, they play the parts of the parents, policemen and judges. This play provides a dramatic allegory
of the political situation in Cuba in the 1960s, with its call to revolution echoed in the children's need to
overcome their fear and turn convention upside down.

Taken from the collection, Latin American Plays, an essential introduction to the fascinating but largely
unexplored theatre of Latin America, Night of the Assassins by José Triana is both controversial and
compelling.

The full collection features new translations of five contemporary plays written by some of the region's most
exciting writers. Each play is accompanied by an illuminating interview with its author conducted by the
theatre director, Sebastian Doggart, who has also selected and translated the plays and provided an
introductory history of Latin American drama.

Cuban youth, locked away, dead parent, political conflict involving Castro -- sound familiar?
That's the plot of Cuban playwright Jose Triana’s Night of the Assassins, which will be closing
June 25 at the new INTAR 53 Theatre in New York City.

Assassins, by Cuban emigrant Triana, presents the story of three siblings. While locked away in
a basement, the children reenact the brutal murder of their parents. The play, originally produced
in 1965 in Cuba, was invited to an international theatre festival in France, then gained world-
wide critical acclaim. However in Cuba, at a time of radical political change, it was banned for
30 years due to its insurgent undertones. The play endured politics and has since become the
most often performed Latin-American play in the Spanish-speaking world.