Fornés, María Irene, 1930–2018, Cuban-American playwright and director; she emigrated from Cuba with her family after her father's death in 1945. An early experimental work, Promenade (1965), a musical collaboration with Al Carmines, was first presented at the Judson Poets Theater in Greenwich Village. Her best-known work, Fefu and Her Friends (1978), is a feminist piece about eight women and their friendships and rivalries. The Conduct of Life (1985) tells the story of a Latin-American military officer and torturer. Other works include Mud (1983), Abingdon Square (1987), And What of the Night? (four one-act plays, 1989), Enter the Night (1993), and Letters from Cuba (2000), an autobiographical work based on letters she received over the years from her brother in Cuba. Although her innovative work never achieved mainstream success, her Off-Broadway plays earned eight Obie awards.
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