The family immigrated to Little Havana in Miami, Florida, in 1970 on a Freedom Flight, and eventually naturalised to the United States.

Rafael de Acha, artistic director of the New Theatre, produced and directed the world premiere performance of Anna in the Tropics, which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Steinberg Award for Best New Play.

His adaptation and translation of La vida es sueño (Life Is a Dream) in English premiered at South Coast Repertory in 2007.

To date, they have completed a set of orchestral songs, La centinela y la paloma (The Keeper and the Dove), for soprano Dawn Upshaw and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (premiered under the baton of Joana Carneiro in February 2011); The Saint Maker for soprano Jessica Rivera, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and the Berkeley Symphony in May 2013; Journey of the Shadow for narrator and ensemble of eleven players (San Francisco Chamber Orchestra premiering in April 2013); the Conquest Requiem for soprano, baritone, orchestra, and chorus for the Houston Symphony under the baton of Andrés Orozco-Estrada in May 2017 which will be recorded by the Nashville Symphony in November 2022 for the Naxos label; and Cinco Lunas de Lorca (The Five Moons of Lorca) as a digital short for countertenor, choir, and piano for the Los Angeles Opera.

[5] Cruz's most recent work is Bathing in Moonlight, a world premiere featuring Raul Mendez, Priscilla Lopez, Hannia Guillen, Frankie J. Alvarez, Michael Rudko, and Katty Velasquez.

Directed by Emily Mann, Bathing in Moonlight ran September 9 - October 9, 2016, at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey.