Community theater. Research notebook
Coordination: J. Israel Franco S.
Design and Programming: Alberto Figueroa
CD
The notebook documents the stage practice of groups from various states in Mexico – which in the last few decades have been driven by official institutional programs, civil organizations and/or independent groups – where theater is conceived as a communicative and reflective tool of a community and/or as a cultural performance event, that acts in itself as a space for reflection and esthetic pleasure. In one of the sections some studies are gathered, which in its majority are speeches, that offer a perspective on the history and stage events of these groups: “Conflict between Migration and Culture in some Community Theater Plays in the Interweaving of the Centuries” by Israel Franco, also the compiler of the notebook; “Contemporary Mayan Theater: Indigenous or Intercultural?” and “The Representation of the Mestiza in three Yucatecan Plays of the 21st Century” by Tamara Underiner; “Traditional Stage Experiences in Five Totonacan Dances of the Papantla Region, Veracruz” by Francisco Acosta; “Community Theater in Mexico: Theory and Praxis” by Donald Frischmann; “¿A Focused Reunion or Each to Their Own Celebration? by Elizabeth Araiza; “The Community Theater and its Parties”; “The Man Who Converted into a Vulture: a Legend in the Indigenous Community Theater of the Nineties” by Alejandro Ortiz; the testimonies “Community Theater and TECOM” by Susana Jones, “On History and Poetry” by Juan Carlos Canseco; “The Dramatic Writing from the Point of View of the Director” by Marco A. Petriz; “Oral Tradition, the Theater of Life” by Eduardo Barrera; and the interviews “Bases and Fundamentals of Community Theater” with Roberto Villaseñor; and “They Say That We Are Bandits”, with Maribel Mena Ku and Nelsi Ku Chay. In the “Archive” section, a descriptive catalog displays 298 files, 15 of which have complete texts, along with diverse audiovisual material: photographs, posters, videos, audience programs and invitations.