Playwriting in context I: dialogue with 20 playwrights of the mexican northeast

Rocío Judith Galicia Velasco

UNAM-Dirección General de Publicaciones y Fomento

CONACULTA / INBA-CITRU / Fondo Regional para la Cultura y las Artes del Noreste
México, 2007
407 p.

(Theatre and Dramatic Literature Collection)

This first volume contains interviews with 20 playwrights of the north-east of Mexico, all within the framework of a long reach project with the intention of writing the history of dramatic literature in the northern states of Mexico. These playwrights go beyond their individual trajectories, generations, motivations and professional training, and they take part in a theater writing movement that has created an extraordinary repertoire which is committed to certain topics linked to the geographical locations and historical conditions of the north: frontier themes such as immigration and illegal aliens, social protest such as resistance against marginalization or crimes against women in Ciudad Juárez; and topics on cultural heritage items, such as characters from the Mexican Revolution like Pancho Villa and Madero, local non-canonical saints like The Boy Fidencio and Jesús Malverde, or remarkable individuals such as the Revueltas brothers, to quote a few examples. The playwright testimonials —gathered by application of a flexible questionnaire, during personal or internet interviews— are preceded by a file with biographical and career data on the people interviewed. These testimonials make us participate in the playwrights’ reflections on the topic, stylistic and aesthetic proposals which are present in their written or staged work, and in general they involve us in the northern and frontier theater movement. The authors selected —all of them published, with a constant career on stage and with the significant presence of Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda, Enrique Mijares and Medardo Treviño— are originally from Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.