rev. 1.26.10
20th Century Theater and Performance of the Americas
Spring 2010, ENG 11-01
Tues. & Thurs. 11:30-12:50, Chapin 203
Prof. Jennifer Cayer
jcayer@amherst.edu
Office: Johnson Chapel 5
Office Hours: Tues. 2-4
Description:
This course is an introduction to theater, performance art, and cultural politics in the Americas
since 1960. We will read and discuss U.S. Latina/o, Chicana/o and Latin American theater as
aesthetic and sociocultural practices. We will discuss how identity is performed in the everyday
sense and how historical identities, selves, and others have been performed. Topics may include
political theater, relations to European theatre traditions, experimentation and absurdist theater,
revolution, dictatorship, terror and violence, censorship and self-censorship, trauma and memory,
queerness and gender, borders, latinidad, and indigenous performance.
Texts:
Many readings for this course will be available to you as e-reserves and as hard-copy reserves.
Please factor in the cost of printing, as an engaged and lively discussion depends on your having
these materials with you in class. Please note that many of these readings are challenging, and
may require more than one reading, or a slow and careful first reading. This is also true for plays;
I recommend reading twice.
The following texts are available for purchase at Amherst Books. A few others may be needed,
and I’ll let you know in the event that something needs to be purchased on-line:
Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American Theater and Performance edited by
Diana Taylor and Sarah J. Townsend (2008). (required)
Reframing Latin America: A Cultural Theory Reading of the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries, Erik Ching, Christina Buckley, and Angélica Lozano-Alonso (2007). (recommended/
selection to read is available as e-reserve)
Griselda Gambaro Information for Foreigners in Information for Foreigners: Three Plays / by
Griselda Gambaro; edited, translated, and with an introduction by Marguerite Feitlowitz, (1992).
(required)
Ariel Dorfman Death and the Maiden, New York: Penguin Books, (1992). (required)
Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics, 2003. (will confirm)
Moraga, Cherríe, Heroes and Saints in Heroes and Saints & Other Plays, Albuquerque: West
End Press, 1994. (required)
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Aristotle: Poetics. Translated with an introd. and notes by Gerald F. Else. Ann Arbor : University
of Michigan Press, 1967. (required)
Augusto Boal, Theatre of the Oppressed translated by Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal McBride.
New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1985, c1979. (required)
Requirements:
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Regular attendance and engaged participation in discussion – Absences will begin to
negatively affect your final grade, 6 or more absences constitutes failing the course.
1 in-class presentation – this is a short presentation (7-minutes or so) where you are
invited to prepare 3 discussion questions based on the readings and bring in a related
visual image, song, film/media clip, short article, poem, etc. that helps to expand and
challenge our thinking about the course materials in context.
Routine Writing Assignments and Short Essays (see below). Please name documents
“FirstNameLastInitialAssignment#__.doc” Please note that I will not provide comments
on any late papers. Papers more than one week late will not receive credit.
Attend at least one live theater/ performance event – we will plan one class trip (probably
to NYC in March/April), but keep an eye out for any other local events of interest.
Final Dramaturgical Casebook on a play of your choosing (see full assignment below)
Helpful Resources:
Research Journals:
e-misferica (online), Gestos, Latin American Theatre Review, TDR, Theater,
Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Theatre Topics, Women and Performance
References:
Encyclopedia of Latin American Theater, edited by Eladio Cortés and Mirta Barrea-Marlys.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003.
The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, vol. 2: The Americas, editor, Don Rubin.
London; New York : Routledge, 1994-2000.
The Cambridge History of Latin America, edited by Leslie Bethell. Cambridge; New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1985-2008.
Latin American Dramatists. First series, edited by Adam Versényi. Detroit: Thomson Gale,
2005.
Performance: A Critical Introduction by Carlson, Marvin, 2nd edition (New York: Routledge,
2004).
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Schedule:
* = available on e-reserve
Week One
Defining and Mapping the Americas
January 26
Course Introduction
January 28
*“Post What?! (Not) An Abbreviated Introduction” in Reframing Latin America:
A Cultural Theory Reading of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Erik
Ching, Christina Buckley, and Angélica Lozano-Alonso. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2007, p. 3-38.
Optional: “To Heal Haiti, Look to History, Not Nature” Mark Danner, January 22,
2010, NY Times
 Assignment #1: DUE IN CLASS 1/28
How have you encountered images and imaginings of “the Americas” or “South America” in the media,
popular culture, film, etc.? What do the authors’ mean by “imagined geographies” and how do you make
sense of the statement: “Latin America does not exist”? Respond in a 2-page reflection that makes direct
reference to the text and to your own experiences. Goal: to integrate personal experiences/reflections
with course readings and broad concepts
Week Two
Transculturation
February 2
*Emilio Carballido, I, Too, Speak of the Rose
*Diana Taylor, Chapter 4 “Theatre and Transculturation” in Theatre of Crisis:
Drama and Politics in Latin America, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of
Kentucky, 1991.
 Reflection for Class Discussion: How do you connect the play with the ideas presented in
“Post What?!”?
February 4
***NO CLASS MEETING TODAY***
READ: “Introduction” Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American
Theater and Performance edited by Diana Taylor and Sarah J. Townsend;
translation coordinator, Margaret Carson. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 2008, p. 1-28.
*“Introduction: Understanding the Americas: Insights from Latina/o and Latin
American Studies” in Perspectives on Las Américas: A reader in culture, history,
and representation, edited and introduced by Matthew C. Gutmann [et al.]
Maden, MA: Blackwell 2003, p. 1-15.
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 For Class Discussion: Take note of one key insight/passage in the introductory articles to
share in class on 2/9.
Week Three Narratives of Discovery
February 9
*at-home screen: Coco Fusco and Guillermo Gómez-Peña's The Couple in the
Cage: a Guatinaui Odyssey, directed & produced by Coco Fusco, Paula Heredia.
New York, NY: Third World Newsreel, 1993. (31 minutes)
February 11
*Coco Fusco, “The Other History of Intercultural Performance” in TDR vol. 38
no. 1 Spring 1994 p. 143-167
 Assignment #2: DUE FRIDAY FEB. 12th VIA E-MAIL BY 10:00 AM
Reading critical theory is often a daunting and challenging task. First, use the model provided for reading
and analyzing a theoretical text. Jot down responses to the questions after you have carefully read (and
perhaps re-read) the essay. Then, choose one important passage from Fusco’s essay that strikes you as
provocative, convincing, or challenging. Type it at the top of the page and write a 2-page analysis that
explores Fusco’s meaning and its implications for our study of theater in the Americas.
Goal: to practice reading and writing about critical theory
Week Four
Thinking Theater Histories
February 16
Aristotle: Poetics. Translated with an introd. and notes by Gerald F. Else. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, [1967]
February 18
*Yuyachkani, Antígona and “Fragments of Memory” in Holy Terrors: Latin
American Women Perform, edited by Diana Taylor and Roselyn Costantino.
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2003).
*Jill Lane, “Antígona and the Modernity of the Dead” in Modern Drama Volume
50, Number 4, Winter 2007
Week Five
What Does Theater Do? Theater, Social Change & Revolution
February 23
*“A Short Organum for the Theater” in Brecht on Theatre: The development of an
aesthetic, edited and translated by John Willett. New York: Hill and Wang;
London: Eyre Methuen, 1978.
*“Theatre & Culture” Enrique Buenaventura and Joanne Pottlitzer. The Drama
Review: TDR, Vol. 14, No. 2, Latin American Theatre (Winter, 1970), pp. 151156
“Documents from Hell,” Enrique Buenaventura in Stages of Conflict
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February 25
Augusto Boal, excerpts (t.b.a.) from Theatre of the Oppressed translated by
Charles A. & Maria-Odilia Leal McBride. New York: Theatre Communications
Group, 1985, c1979.
José Triana, Night of the Assassins (1965) in Stages of Conflict
Optional: *José Triana: An Interview, with Ricard Salvat, introduction and
translation Joanne Pottlitzer in TDR: The Drama Review Volume 51, Number 2
(T 194), Summer 2007
 Assignment #3: DUE FRIDAY FEB. 26th VIA E-MAIL BY 10:00 AM
Aristotle, Brecht and Boal offer distinct perspectives on the relationships among theater, society, politics,
and history, spectatorship. Compare their views on one of the following: spectatorship, social change,
history, politics, or the moral/ethical value of theater. Focus your 3-page essay on particular quotes from
each that speak most powerfully to your selected point of comparison, and to the contrasts between these
thinkers. Goal: to compare work of 3 critical theorists in a focused manner
Week Six
Theater, Terror and Disappearance
March 2
Griselda Gambaro Information for Foreigners (written 1973) in Information for
Foreigners: Three Plays / by Griselda Gambaro; edited, translated, and with an
introduction by Marguerite Feitlowitz, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University
Press, 1992.
*“Percepticide” in Disappearing Acts: spectacles of gender and nationalism in
Argentina's "dirty war," Diana Taylor. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997.
March 4
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden, New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
*at-home screen: Death and the Maiden [videorecording] screenplay by Rafael
Yglesias and Ariel Dorfman; directed by Roman Polanski. New Line Home
Entertainment, 2003.
 Assignment #4: DUE FRIDAY MARCH 5TH VIA E-MAIL BY 10:00 AM
Writing about plays is a bit different than writing about other genres of literature. Choose one play and in
2-3 pages analyze how one particular theme is manifest, enacted, embodied, or challenged in your piece.
Draw upon textual evidence in order to substantiate your claims. Pay particular attention to images,
metaphors, and the ways that concepts shift and change. Be sure to quote directly from the play, and
interpret your pieces of evidence. Bear in mind that the goal is a revised 6-page essay that compares 2
plays (see assignment #5). Goal: To conduct a close textual analysis of a play
Suggested Themes (you may also provide your own):
Revolution
Memory
Collective Memory
Terror and Torture
Gender
Spectatorship
Theater and Political
activism
Economics and class
Discovery, encounter
Transculturalism
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Writing, status of
written language
Embodied Knowledge
The Local and the
Global
Cultural specificity/
universality
Form and Content
Testimony
Character,
characterization and
identity
Liminality
Violence, as spectacle
Victims, victimization
Witnessing
Week Seven Performing Memory
March 9
Yuyachkani, Adiós Ayacucho in Stages of Conflict
*Francine A’ness, "Resisting Amnesia: Yuyachkani, Performance, and the
Postwar Reconstruction of Peru," Theatre Journal 56 (2004).
*Taylor, Diana “Staging Traumatic Memory” in The Archive and the Repertoire:
Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas (Durham: Duke University Press,
2003).
March 11
*Mary Louise Pratt: “Why the Virgin of Zapopan Went to Los Angeles,” in Jens
Andersman, ed, Images of Power (2005)
***SPRING RECESS March 13th -21st***
Week Eight Borders
March 23
*“A Forum on the State of Latin American Theatre and Performance Studies in
the United States Today” Theatre Journal 56 (2004) 445–477
 Reflection for Class: Select key passages and prepare remarks for a Roundtable Discussion
March 25
Dramaturgical Casebook Library Workshop: Meet at Frost Library
 Assignment #5: DUE FRIDAY MARCH 26th VIA E-MAIL BY 10:00 AM
The goal for this 6-page essay is to conduct a close comparative analysis of 2 works. Although this point
of comparison may be broad on the surface (e.g. revolution, spectatorship, gender), you are invited to
construct an argument or thesis based on your close reading of the works that will provide thematic focus
and formal structure. The paper itself is an exploration of the ways in which your chosen point of
comparison works (is manifest, enacted, symbolized, embodied, or challenged) in each piece. Choose 2
works that together, help you to think about multiple dimensions of a particular theme.
Goal: To expand single textual analysis into a comparative analysis and to refine argument
Week Nine
Intro to U.S. Latino/a, Chicano/a Performance
March 30
Latino/a Theater on Broadway, reading/viewing t.b.a. Possible Trip to NYC March 26th or 27th.
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April 1
*“Introduction: Contemporary Latina Theater” and Botánica by Dolores Prida in
Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology (2000).
Week Ten
Foundations: Teatro Campesino/ Luis Valdez & Maria Irene Fornes
April 6
“El Teatro Campesino: Historical Overview” in Restaging the Sixties: Radical
Theaters and Their Legacies, eds. Harding and Rosenthal (2006)
*at-home screen and read Zoot Suit (1981)
April 8
Maria Irene Fornes, The Conduct of Life
“Maria Irene Fornes: Acts of Translation” by Andrew Sofer in A Companion to
20th Century American Drama, edited by David Krasner
Week Eleven: The Next Generations
April 13
Moraga, Cherríe, Heroes and Saints in Heroes and Saints & Other Plays,
Albuquerque: West End Press, 1994.
*“The Miracle People” Heroes and Saints and Contemporary Chicano Theater”
in The Wounded Heart: Writing on Cherríe Moraga, Yarbro-Bejarano, Yvonne.
Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
*short excerpt, “Refugees of a World on Fire” in This Bridge Called My Back
*at-home screen short film: Safe food and justice for all [videorecording] / United
Farm Workers of America; produced by Lenny Bourin, Deborah Ellman, Lorena
Parlee.
April 15
*Caridad Svich, Alchemy of Desire in Out of the Fringe
*“Home, Desire, Memory” Caridad Svich, p. 317-324 in Puro Teatro: A Latina
Anthology (2000).
 Assignment #6 [see complete dramaturgical casebook assignment below]
By now you should have chosen your play. Prepare drafts of the first two components for your casebook:
 A letter to the director (1-2 pages, single spaced)
 A summary of the play (no more than 1 page)
Week Twelve: Caribbean Performance
April 20
*Carmelita Tropicana, Milk of Amnesia (Leche de Amnesia) TDR (1988-) Vol.
39, No. 3 (Autumn 1995) pp. 94-111.
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*"No es Facil: Notes on the Negotiation of Cubanidad and Exilic Memory in
Carmelita Tropicana's Milk of Amnesia." TDR (1995).
April 22
*Stuart Hall “Negotiating Caribbean Identities” in New Left Review I/209,
January-February 1995
in-class viewing: performance and visual art of Ana Mendieta
Week Thirteen: Indigenous Performance & Parody
April 27
*Spiderwoman Theater “Winnetou’s Snake Oil Show from Wigwam City” in
Footpaths & Bridges: Voices from the Native American Women Playwrights
edited by Shirley A. Huston-Findley and Rebecca Howard. (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 2008).
in-class screen: “Sun, Moon & Feather” Spiderwoman Theatre;
videocassette (30 min.)
April 29
at-home screen: John Leguizamo Freak on YouTube, pts. 1-9
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=John+Leguizamo+Freak&aq=f
*David Román, “Latino Genealogies: Broadway and Beyond – the Case of John
Leguizamo” in Performance in America: Contemporary U.S. culture and the
Performing Arts, Durham: Duke University Press, 2005, p. 109-136.
 Assignment #7
By now you have identified 3 critical works about your play. Draft this component of your casebook.
 3 critical works about the play and brief summary statements/ analysis
Week Fourteen: Revisiting the Mainstream & Casebook Presentations
May 4
Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics, New York: Theatre Communications Group; St.
Paul, MN: Exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales
and Distribution, 2003.
May 6
Course Wrap-Up & Casebook Presentations
Final Dramaturgical Casebooks are Due Monday May 10th
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Final Project: Dramaturgical Casebook
The assignment is a mini-dramaturgical casebook for a specific production of a play of your
choosing (one that we have not already read for class). It is meant for the use of a real or
hypothetical director, actors, designers, etc. in preparing for a production. You are invited to
imagine a particular and contemporary performance context, and to gather information that is
most pertinent to your chosen U.S. region, director, and theater. Part of the dramaturg’s job is to
give the play texture through both objective and subjective information about the play, as well as
critical and historical context. This information is carefully chosen and arranged to aid in the
process, and should be made easily accessible and coherent to all involved, including those who
prepare the program, write press releases, conduct post-show discussions, etc. Your goal is to
provide a vivid and coherent context for the play. The casebook is an original document,
designed by you to help realize a theatrical production of your play within our contemporary
space and time. Be sure it is easily accessible to your imagined readers; a table of contents is
recommended.
In compiling your casebook, be as specific and selective as possible. It is not a scrapbook of
loosely related and random information, but an organized and thoughtful cross-section of
available material that is aimed toward the realization of your specific production. The best place
to begin organizing your research for this project is in a three-ring binder with section indices.
Please note that successful completion of this assignment requires a great deal of advanced
“invisible work” – that is to say, part of the project is culling, selecting, and interpreting the most
relevant and exciting components of your more broad-based research. This cannot be put
together overnight; begin working on it now so that you do not find yourself in an overwhelming
predicament.
Both Professor Cayer and the research librarians are available for you to consult at all stages of
this process. Ideally, in addition to producing the casebook, you will learn a great deal about
your own research process and the current tools available to you beyond those that you may
already be familiar with (Google, MLA, J-Stor, Project Muse, etc.).
The assignment is similar to a course paper in that it must be typed and fully documented (using
a consistent style: MLA or Chicago). The final submitted form will be a scanned pdf of the
paginated casebook.
Components of the casebook:
Please note that page numbers are only estimates. Keep in mind that different plays have
different demands and that you are invited to adapt accordingly.
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A letter to the director (1-2 pages, single spaced)
This is a personal essay about why the play interests, attracts, and involves you. Why is it
important to produce at this particular time? Consider practical, as well as political,
social, and historical reasons. What are the play’s strengths and weaknesses as a work of
art? Imagine your ideal theater or performance space: why here? Why now? What
special challenges might attend this production?
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A summary of the play (no more than 1 page)
This is not a point-by-point plot summary, or a he said/she said summary, but a statement
of the main action of the play. Think of the concise statement that you might see in a
press release or in a season brochure. This requires you to interpret what is most
important/ relevant about this particular production – Is this production of Hamlet about
a man who can’t make up his mind? Or, is this production of Oedipus a murder mystery?
Consider where the play is set, who its main characters are, what they want, the
relationship of the main plot to the subplots, etc.
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A production history (length depends on play)
Briefly describe the presentations and productions of considerable importance, in terms
of historical moment (politically, socially, and theatrically – a premiere, revival,
outstanding actor/director, a production that changed our way of looking at the play)
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A chronology of the playwright (1-3 pages, single spaced)
This is not a list of names and place, or a regurgitation of the playwright’s published
bio, but a selection of important works (not only plays) and significant life events. The
information that you choose should be directly related to the play – do any other plays
treat similar material, have similar structures? Is this play based on another version by
another author? If so, discuss the similarities and differences with the play you are
focusing on. This section may be longer if your play is an adaptation.
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A chronology and account of the historical context (3-5 pages)
Consider when the play was written, and when it was first produced. This isn’t a
collection of dates pulled from a general reference book, but a thoughtful assemblage
that is edited and explicated by you to provide a vivid, relevant, and coherent historical
background.
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3 contextual works not directly related to the play, author, theater, etc.
This is a carefully selected set of material that has to do with the different social,
political, historical, and other relevant contexts for the play as it is being presented
today. Introduce each choice with a brief statement that states its application to the
current production. Newspaper and magazine articles are OK here. If the play is set
during Argentina’s “Dirty War,” then you need to research that, and also consider how
to render that material for a contemporary, perhaps U.S. based audience. Choose
vivid materials that enrich your historical chronology and context. Include these works in
your submission of the pdf casebook itself (you may either scan hard copies and/or attach
pdf’s of electronic resources). You may want to label these as appendices and clearly
delineate in casebook when they should be referenced.
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A glossary of annotations for any unfamiliar references in the script
Organize and concisely explain any unfamiliar or culturally specific terms or phrases.
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3 critical works about the play and brief summary statements/ analysis
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Include these works in your submission of the pdf casebook itself (you may either scan
hard copies and/or attach pdf’s of electronic resources). Selecting 3 works will first
require you to peruse a good amount of the critical material on the play. This will help
you to recognize the ways in which the play has been interpreted and evaluated over
time. From this research, choose 3 pieces that are most central to this production, its
realization and interpretation. Provide a brief introductory statement of each that says
why this work is useful to this particular production process. Be specific. Show that you
have done something beyond choosing the first J-Stor or Google articles that you come
across. You may situate works within this critical history of the play. Don’t use press
reviews unless they are particularly illuminating and show thought beyond the norm.
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3-5 images or other materials that provide critical, historical, or subjective context
These are materials that you consider relevant to how the play looks, sounds, feels,
moves, etc. with a brief written rationale for each along with a bibliographic note as to
where the image, etc. comes from. Consider pictures, photographs, art works, sound
recordings, etc. This is where your imagination takes over – move beyond the literal, and
provide a selection of materials that provide sensory and subjective context for the play.
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Bibliography
Keep track of all references that you directly cite, or which contribute to your overall
understanding of the play. Cite all of these consistently in the bibliography, perhaps
separating works directly cited from recommended bibliographic sources. All materials
throughout the casebook itself should also be clearly cited.
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