Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas
Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas
edited by Analola Santana and Jimmy A. Noriega contributions by Gustavo Ott, Gad Guterman, Brian Eugenio Herrera, Diana Taylor, Migdalia Cruz, Diego La Hoz, Virginia Grise, Katherine Zien, Carlos Cortez Minchillo, Concepción León Mora, Debra A. Castillo, Elaine Romero, Beatriz Rizk, Roxana Avila Harper, Diego Aramburo, Ana Correa, Violeta Luna, April Sweeney, Astrid Hadad, Eberto B. García Abreu, Claudio Valdés Kuri, Jean Graham-Jones, Alma Martinez, Natalie Alvarez, Jorge Dubatti, Josefina Báez, Jorge Huerta, Guillermo Verdecchia, Ileana Diéguez and Patricio Vallejo Aristizábal translated by Paul Carranza, Armando Garcia, Kevin G. McDonald, Gad Guterman, Judith Iliana Villanueva, Martha Herrera-Lasso, Hector Garza, Anna White-Nockleby, Alejandra Marín Pineda and J. Engel Szwaja Franken
Southern Illinois University Press, 2018 Paper: 978-0-8093-3631-9 | eISBN: 978-0-8093-3632-6 Library of Congress Classification PN2309.T476 2018 Dewey Decimal Classification 792.098
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
From the colonial period to independence and into the twenty-first century, Latin American culture has been mapped as a subordinate “other” to Europe and the United States. This collection reconsiders geographical space and power and the ways in which theatrical and performance histories have been constructed throughout the Americas. Essays bridge political, racial, gender, class, and national divides that have traditionally restricted and distorted our understanding of Latin American theatre and performance. Contributors—scholars and artists from throughout the Americas, including well-known playwrights, directors, and performers—imagine how to reposition the Latina/o Americas in ways that offer agency to its multiple peoples, cultures, and histories. In addition, they explore the ways artists can create new maps and methods for their creative visions.
Building on hemispheric and transnational models, this book demonstrates the capacity of theatre studies to challenge the up-down/North-South approach that dominates scholarship in the United States and presents a strong case for a repositioning of the Latina/o Americas in theatrical histories and practices.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Jimmy A. Noriega, an associate professor of theatre at the College of Wooster, has directed over thirty productions in English and Spanish. He has published essays on Latinx theatre and performance and is the recipient of the 2013 Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy from the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.
Analola Santana, an assistant professor at Dartmouth College, works as a professional dramaturg and is a company member of Mexico’s famed Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes. She has published books and articles on Latin American and Latinx theatre and performance, including Teatro y Cultura de Masas: Encuentros y Debates.
REVIEWS
“With great expertise, the editors arrange a contrapuntal discourse as each subsequent essay is a productive foil for a previous one or introduces a new wrinkle to the hemisphere’s theatrical landscape.”—Eric Mayer-García, Theatre Journal
"This compilation is a major contribution to the field of Latin/o American theatre and performance. With almost half of the contributions in translation, this edited volume succeeds in remapping our knowledge by offering theatre directors, historians, scholars, and other artists a space to share their own point of view about creation and reception.Thus this book is a gem for scholars and theatre practitioners interested in learning and teaching about the wide array of theatrical practice in the Latino/a Americas."—Paola Hernandez, Theatre Topics
“This book brings into conversation many of the world’s most important Latin American theatre scholars and practitioners. Noriega and Santana present fresh themes and innovative, cutting-edge theories and artistic practices, expanding conceptions of Latin American and Latinx theatre.”—Gail A. Bulman, author of Staging Words, Performing Worlds
“By including the work of cutting-edge artists alongside theatre theorists and historians, the editors also unmask the hierarchy that has often worked against the recognition that Latina/o American artists are important critical thinkers about power, representation, and violence in the Americas. I can’t wait to introduce this volume to my students and colleagues.”—Patricia Ybarra, author of Performing Conquest
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Subverting the Theatrical Map Jimmy A. Noriega and Analola Santana
Part 1. Crafting Theoretical Frameworks from beyond the US Borders
Photo Performance: Transient Corporalities Violeta Luna
The Liminal as Constitutive of the Theatrical Event and the Concepts of Teatro-Matriz and Liminal Theatre Jorge Dubatti Communitas of Pain: Performativities in Mourning Ileana Diéguez
Crisis, Tension, and Freedom: Theatre and the Baroque Patricio Vallejo Aristizábal
A Personal Map/Living Hieroglyphs Gustavo Ott
Part 2. Rethinking Histories of Geography
Remapping Bogotá: Fernando de Orbea’s Invented Narrative of Conquest Gad Guterman
To Imagine a Nuevomexicano Theatre History Brian Eugenio Herrera
Radical Exposure: Regina José Galindo’s Earth Diana Taylor
Searching for Home in All the Wrong Places: Why My Nuyorican Reality Is Stateless Migdalia Cruz
The Ambiguity of a Country That Does Not Think: Cartographic Exercise of a Gay(?) Theatre in Peru Diego La Hoz Siempre Norteada Virginia Grise
Part 3. The Historical Body: Race and Ethnicity
Minstrels of Empire: Blackface and Black Labor in Panama, 1850–1914 Katherine Zien
Conquering a Territory, Occupying the Stage: Notes on Black Theatre and Activism in Brazil Carlos Cortez Minchillo
From My Universal Village: The Winged Word Conchi León
Repositioning Migration: Trabajadores desde Otro Mundo Debra A. Castillo
The Power of Space Elaine Romero
Part 4. Rewriting the Nation: Theatrical Methodology and Experimentation
Modernity in Crisis: Enrique Buenaventura and the New Theatre Beatriz J. Rizk
Experiences from the Center of Abya Yala Roxana Avila Harper
Contemporary and Andean Authorship Diego Aramburo
The Flight of the Golden Falcon: A Road into War’s Profound Sorrow Ana Correa
Cabaret as a New Muralism Astrid Hadad
Cuba: Changing Stages? Eberto García Abreu
Part 5. Theatre in Motion: Global Networks and Production Practices
Breaking the North-South Paradigm Claudio Valdés Kuri
Buenos Aires Artists and Contemporary Transnational
Performance Networks: Lola Arias Transports the Real Jean Graham-Jones Zoot Suit in Mexico City: Mapping a New American Theatre Alma Martinez
Latina Performance North and Transnational Acciones against Feminicide in the Americas Natalie Alvarez
Inner Dance. Outer Joy. Autology. A Route. Josefina Báez
The Geopolitical Challenges of Directing Bilingual Plays: From the Mainstream to the Streets Jorge Huerta
Notes from a Geographer Manqué Guillermo Verdecchia