Fidel: A Play in Two Acts

Exiled to Mexico, Fidel Castro plots—along with his brother

Raúl and Ernesto “Che” Guevara—to overthrow the

government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. What Fidel

does not anticipate is falling in love with a Mexican school

teacher, Lía Cámara. He must, however, abandon her to

wage revolution in Cuba. Months after consolidating power,

he sends for her. She flies to Havana and is received as a

dignitary. She tours Cuba and decides to stay, where she

throws herself in establishing a rural school system to bring

literacy to millions of Cuban peasants. In short order,

however, she begins to have misgiving as the Revolution

takes a dark, totalitarian turn. Torn between her love for

Fidel, who has asked her to marry him and become the First

Lady of Cuba, and her convictions, she abruptly decides to

leave Cuba. Heartbroken, Fidel goes about his Revolution—

lashing out with anger and terror against his political

opponents—but across the decades, the former lovers remain

very much in each other’s minds—and hearts. The last

contact takes place in November 2015, a year before he died

at the age of 90.

Time: 1955-1961

Place: Cuba