From the Rio Grande to the Rive Plate: Readings in Contemporary Mexican & Argentine Theatres

The main goal of this course devoted to Spanish American contemporary theatre is to pursue a comparative study of the historical, political, cultural, and artistic trajectories followed by Mexican and Argentine theatres during the 20th- and 21st-centuries. The course will center on the examination of the two most distinguished and prolific theatrical expressions of Spanish American theatre—those of Mexico and Argentina—with the purpose of exploring the factors and trends that have determined their respective developments. The course will be divided into four segments: 1) Introduction to Spanish American theatre; 2) Examination of selected works of contemporary Mexican theatre focusing on historical and social theatre (i.e. Usigli, Carballido, Garro); 3) Examination of selected works of contemporary Argentine theatre centering on its relation the country’s political history (i.e. Gambaro, Pavlovsky, Cossa); 4) A comparative discussion of the elements that have shaped the respective evolutions of Mexican and Argentine theatre. (1 unit)

Required texts: Stuart Day ed., Las fronteras míticas del teatro mexicano: Sabina Berman, Entre Villa y una mujer desnuda. Vicente Leñero, Todos somos Marcos. Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda, La mujer que cayó del cielo (LATR Books, University of Kansas, Colección Antología Frank Dauster No. 2); Rosario Castellanos, El eterno femenino (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica 1992 or most recent); 9 dramaturgos hispanoamericanos: Antología de teatro hispanoamericano del siglo XX: Tomo III (Yo también hablo de la rosa), eds. Frank Dauster, Leon Lyday & George Woodyard (Ottawa: Girol Books2nd ed., 1983 or most recent); Roberto Cossa, La nona (Buenos Aires: Corregidor 2006 or most recent).