Cuban dramatist Abelardo Estorina, who won his country’s 2002 National Theater prize, died Friday at age 88. The news came as a particular shock to off-Broadway’s Repertorio Español, where Estorino was a playwright in residence from 1996-98.

Best known in his home country for the 1960s plays “La casa vieja” and “Las Impuras”, Estorino wrote some of his most popular pieces for the New York repertory, including “Parece blanca” and “El baile”.

Reviewing "Parace blanca" ("She Looks White") for the New York Times in 1998, D.J.R. Bruckner wrote that the play, which bordered on the "baroquely operatic" is "not nearly so grim. Mr. Estorino's relentlessly self-referential script can be quite funny as characters try to escape."

Robert Weber Federico, executive director of Repertorio Español, issued a statement in Spanish that essentially said Estorino’s works for the company weren’t just successful but were lovely productions that have been treasured memories for many years.

Repertorio Español's website has a full bio of Estorino here: https://www.repertorio.org/education/index.php?area=sg&id=31