Alina Troyano, better known as Carmelita Tropicana, is a Cuban-American stage and film actress who lives and works in New York City. In 1999, she received an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Performance. She is the sister of the independent film director Ela Troyano, who directed Carmelita Tropicana: Your Kunst Is Your Waffen. Both form part of the alternative arts scene in the East Village and Lower East Side. Tropicana started her career in the early 1980s performing at the WOW Café Theater and now performs extensively in spaces such as Performance Space 122 and Dixon Place. In 2010, Tropicana served as a co-hostess to Vaginal Davis' performance piece "Speaking from the Diaphragm" at Performance Space 122. Tropicana often collaborates with her sister and with other performers such as Marga Gomez. Tropicana is openly lesbian. She is the author of a collection of performance pieces and short essays called I, Carmelita Tropicana: Performing between Cultures.
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