Cuba and His Teddy Bear

Reinaldo Povod (1960-1994) was an American playwright of Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Russian descent, raised on New York City's Lower East Side. He gained prominence with his first full-length play Cuba and His Teddy Bear, which premiered on Broadway in 1986 starring Robert De Niro and earned him the George Oppenheimer/Newsday Award, followed by the 1987 Whiting Award for Drama. His works, including the La Puta Vida Trilogy, depicted gritty life in Hispanic communities, and he died at age 34 from TB and AIDS complications.