Politics and History in Contemporary Latin American Theatre

This course will offer a panoramic view of Latin American theatre of the twentieth and twenty first centuries in the light of two interdependent discourses: the role played by politics in Latin American theatre, and its persistent interest in documenting historical events as a mechanism to simultaneously speak about the political past and its present. The intention is to explore how, through theatre, the representation of historical events has shed light on the present political conditions of Latin America.

The playwrights and plays will be chosen from the following list: Rodolfo Usigli’s Corona de sombra (México); Vicente Leñero’s El juicio (México); Luis Rafael Sánchez’ La pasión según Antígona Pérez (Puerto Rico); Rascón Banda’s Todos somos Marcos (México); Griselda Gambaro’s El campo (Argentina); José Triana’s La noche de los asesinos (Cuba); Alberto Pedro’s Mar nuestro (Cuba); Sabina Berman’s Aguila o sol (México); Eduardo Rovner’s Cuarteto (Argentina); and the Grupo Yuyachkani (Perú).