The theater of these days: a first essay of political theater in Mexico

Coordinators: Israel Franco y Antonio Escobar

CONACULTA / INBA-CITRU
México, 2011
380 p.

Juan Bustillo Oro and Mauricio Magdaleno —by that time young writers of 27 and 25 years of age respectively—, who supported Vasconcelos during the struggle for the presidency in 1929, were greatly inspired by the vanguard experiences of political theater in Meyerhold, USSR, and in Piscator, Germany. Between the years 1931 and 1933 they conceived of and put forth a stage and dramaturgic proposal which they called Theater of These Days. The movement was defined by them as an example of a drama essentially political, realistic, anti-individualistic, and therefore anti-psychological, simplistic, anti-nationalistic, anti-folkloric and a revolutionary fight in defense of the people, workers, farmers and Mexican indigenous people. The texts gathered are grouped in three sets. In Theater of These Days: A First Rehearsal of Political Theater in Mexico, historical, critical and playwright analysis aspects of the movement are studied from diverse standpoints and focus. They talk about the political, historical, cultural and artistic context of that time. They especially refer to plastic arts, music, dance and theater of the period. They recover testimonials and quotes in the first person by Mauricio Magdaleno and Juan Bustillo Oro on the theater of these days. It includes the CD Documents for the History of the Theater of These Days. For the most part, it includes items from the Marcela Magdaleno Deschamps file. It is organized in sections related to significant moments in the history of the movement and the life of its members: the reading of four plays in the Friends of Theater Society (Sociedad Amigos del Teatro), the first cycle of Theater of These Days in the Hidalgo Theater, the attempt at organizing a second cycle, their participation in Roberto Soto’s Company and with the group Workers of the Theater (Trabajadores del Teatro). It also includes a binder with documents —with official and personal mailing, press articles, presentations, posters, invitations and pictures compiled by Mauricio Magdaleno.