Each month on The Subtext, Brian speaks with a playwright about life, writing, and whatever itches we are scratching.

This month he talks with Migdalia Cruz, the prolific Bronx-born writer with more than 60 works performed in 150 venues across 12 countries, about how María Irene Fornés, Pinocchio marionettes, and violence impacted her writing and life. Of her relentless and expansive practice, she says, “I want to fit into the wheel of world theatre. I want to be a part of the bigger picture of things that were important in its time…in its day.”

Cruz is a 2023 DGF Legacy Playwright and 2025 Refocus@Roundabout Artist. Her awards include the NEA, McKnight, NYSCA, and TCG/Pew, and she was named the 2013 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright. Cruz’s voice was honed by her mentor Fornés at INTAR’s playwriting lab, and her residency at Latino Chicago. Her anthology The Impossible Plays of Migdalia Cruz was published in the Sledgehammer Series of Tripwire Harlot Press, October 2024. Her PlayOn Shakespeare commission adapting Macbeth into modern English verse will be produced at the Magic Theatre in March 2026. 

This episode can also be found here, and on iTunes and Spotify.