T-Th 2:40-3:55 Seabury 4
Professor Gustavo Remedi (ext. 2148)
Office hrs.: T-Th 4:00-5:00 PM
Conducted in Spanish. Pre-req.: SPAN 291, or another 300-level course or the equivalent, or permission of the professor.
I. Description and objectives of the course
The goals of this course are: (1) to help students to get acquainted to a series of traditions, debates and forms of Latin American Theater in the 20th Century; (2) to understand the technical, aesthetic and cultural issues related to these theatrical representations; (3) to discuss them in terms of the social and political questions they raise (that is, the way playwrights translate social and historical problems into theatrical representations in order to approach these issues from other angles, and in order to influence the spectator's conciousness and actions—and ultimately, society itself); (4) to be able to identify and discuss the way most representations of reality (narrative, film, soap-opera, TV news, etc.) are constructed drawing from a limited spectrum of dramatic conventions, as well as their 'effects' on spectators; (5) to be able to identify and critically discuss 'social theatricality' in every day life; (6) to provide a place and occasion for reading, writing and discussing in Spanish.
II. Materials, authors and issues.
Playwrights to be studied include Eduardo Gutiérrez, Florencio Sánchez, Francisco Arriví, Agustín Cuzzani, Egon Wolff, Augusto Boal, Luis Valdés, Rosario Castellanos, Sergio Vodanovic, Mercedes Rein, Jorge Curi, Guillermo Gómez Peña. The course also discusses teatro gauchesco, Realism, Anti-naturalism, Teatro Campesino, Teatro Poblacional, Carnivalesque Theater, Testimonial Theater, Invisible Theater, Boal's theory of Latin American Theater (el sistema comodín and various "techniques of popular theater")—as responses to Aristotle, Medieval Theater, Machiavelli, Hegel and Brecht—; theater in the context of capitalist military dictatorships—Chile, Uruguay, Brasil—; performance, rituals and social theatricality in everyday life.
Finally, the choice of plays and themes reflect an intention to explore "the question of [capitalist] modernization" of Latin America; issues of nationality, borders, class, race, and gender; the need to create alternative forms of representing and problematizing reality; the need to device means of expression and communication to be used by "the common people"; theater as a form to challenge the symbolic order of power, and as tool to build an alternative society out of the experience of the crisis and failure of peripheral modernity.
III. Students' obligations and grades.
Students are expected to read one play per week—in advance—, take notes, analize and make a scheme of the play, be prepared to answer any question about the plays, actively participate in class discussions, make frequent weekly team presentations, make one individual analytical and critical presentation, write weekly entries ("reflexiones personales") in the Personal Log ("La carpeta personal") on issues related to the plays and the class discussions. Also, there will be a midterm and a final paper.
Except for very extraordinary and grave circumstances—which will require a letter from the Dean of Students—, absences will not be excused. Every 3 absences lowers the final grade significantly.
Final Grade:
Attendance and participation in class 10%
Individual presentation 10%
Team Presentations 10%
Personal Folder 30%
Midterm 20%
Final Paper/Project 20%
IV. Course Plan.
setiembre
1
Martes 31 Introducción al curso / La expresión teatral.
Jueves 2 El teatro gauchesco y la modernidad
Juan Moreira (1886) de Eduardo Gutiérrez (Argentina).
2 El teatro como instrumento de socialización
7-9 Augusto Boal (Brasil) y cómo funciona el sistema trágico coercitivo (“STC”) de Aristóteles
en Teatro del oprimido (1974), pp. 105-153.
3 La modernidad y la tradición (el otro lado de Juan Moreira).
Martes 14 M'hijo el dotor (1903) de Florencio Sánchez (Uruguay)
4 Melodrama: Articulación de género, raza y los EEUU
Martes 21 Vejigantes (1958) de Francisco Arriví (Puerto Rico)
5 La poética de "la virtud" y "el efecto de extrañación"
Martes 28 Boal discute a Maquiavelo (pp. 157-189)
Jueves 30 Boal discute a Brecht (pp. 193-220) y propone el sistema comodín (pp. 70-104)
6 Farsa anti-realista: Crisis de la modernización capitalista
Martes 5 El centroforward murió al amanecer (1955), farsátira de Agustín Cuzzani (Argentina)
(1a. Entrega de la carpeta personal Due Friday 8)
7 11-15 Mid-session week
Take Home Mid-Term Exam Due Friday 15
8 Los marginados de la modernidad capitalista.
Martes 19 Los invasores (1963) de Egon Wolff (Chile)
9 Aztlán "ocupado": El teatro chicano y los derechos civiles.
Martes 26 Actos (1965-1971) de Luis Valdéz y el Teatro Campesino de Aztlán (California)
10 Las mujeres en la modernidad.
Martes 2 El eterno femenino (1986), farsa de Rosario Castellanos (México)
11 Respuestas a la dictadura militar (I)
Martes 7 Cuántos años tiene un día (1978), Sergio Vodanovic/ICTUS (Chile)
12 Respuestas a la dictadura militar (II)
Martes 16 El Herrero y la Muerte (1981), Jorge Curi y Mercedes Rein,
Teatro Circular (Uruguay)
13 Técnicas de teatro popular /Teatro de Carnaval
Martes 23 Boal: "Formas de teatro popular (1975) (pp. 22-59) y Teatro de Carnaval (texto y video)
Thanksgiving Week
(Elaboración de Proyecto Final)
diciembre
14 Teatralidad social y performance
Martes 30 Culturas híbridas. Estrategias para entrar y salir de la modernidad (1993), Néstor García Canclini Argentina/México).
Jueves 2 "El discurso del cuerpo" (pp. 39-45), El arte de la performance (1986), de Jorge Glusberg. Análisis y re-presentación de la teatralidad social en la vida cotidiana.
15 Subculturas de frontera
Martes 7 "Border Brujo"/"The Re-Discovery of America" (1992),
en Warrior for Gringostroika, Guillermo Gómez-Peña (México)
(Entrega de la carpeta personal)
Finals: Entrega examen final
V. Textos primarios
1. Eduardo Gutiérrez, Juan Moreira (1886).
2. Augusto Boal, "El sistema trágico coercitivo de Aristóteles" (1974)
(Teatro del oprimido, 105-153).
3. Florencio Sánchez, M'hijo el dotor (1903)
4. Francisco Arriví, Vejigantes (1958).
5. Boal, "Poética de la virtud" de Maquiavelo (1974) (Teatro del oprimido, 157-189)
Boal sobre "el efecto de extrañación" de Brecht (1974) (Teatro del
oprimido, 193-220) y el "sistema comodín" (70-104).
6. Mid-Session
7. Agustín Cuzzani, El centroforward murió al amanecer (1955)
8. Egon Wolff, Los invasores (1963).
9. Luis Valdéz, Actos (1965).
10. Rosario Castellanos, El eterno femenino (1986).
11. Spring Vacations
12. Sergio Vodanovic-ICTUS, Cuántos años tiene un día (1978).
13. Jorge Curi y Mercedes Rein, El Herrero y la Muerte (1981).
14. Boal, Nuevas técnicas de teatro popular (1975) (22-59).
Eduardo Di Lorenzo, Murga Don Timoteo (1988) y Jorge Esmóris, Anti-
Murga BCG (1988), en Remedi, El teatro de los tablados (1996).
15. Néstor García Canclini, Culturas híbridas. Estrategias para entrar y salir de la modernidad (1993).
Jorge Glusberg, "El discurso del cuerpo", El arte de la performance (1986).
Guillermo Gómez Peña, "Border Brujo" y "The Re-Discovery of América",
Warrior for Gringostroika (1992).