Almost death, almost life: Theatrical expressions on the north border of Mexico

Compilers: Rocío Galicia y Gabriel Yépez

CONACULTA / INBA-CITRU / Libros de Godot
México, 2011
290 p.

In the framework of the Third Theater Book Fair (Mexico City, October 2010) playwrights, directors, and actors were asked to participate in a session of reflection on the duty of theater in the context of issues such as migration, drug dealing and the violence happening on the northern border of Mexico. They analyzed the reach of the theater into these topics from several standpoints, as well as its impact in that geographical region —territorial and symbolic space at once. The focus was on the cities of Tijuana, Hermosillo, Durango and Ciudad Juárez. The cycle comprised the conference “Insights on the Border Issue”, by the political expert Gerardo Ávalos Tenorio, and by three discussion panels, all of them moderated by Rocío Galicia: “Theater of the Border”, with content creators from frontier cities who have been influenced by the culture in the region: Enrique Mijares, Cutberto López, Jorge Celaya and Roberto Corella; “Theater and Border”, proposals composed of internal and external visions with border related themes, the distance or closeness of the border issue: Antonio Zúñiga, Humberto Robles, Dana Stella Aguilar, Edberto “Pilo” Galindo; and “Theater at the Border”, with content creators who perform their plays in this part of the country: Perla de la Rosa, Virginia Hernández, Perla Bonilla and Carlos Iván Cruz. The transcripts of the presentations and the discussion panels are included with the publication of three plays with diverse approaches on the border issue: The Desire, by Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda; Wet Crimes, by Hernando Garza, and The Hope of the Evil Souls, by Medardo Treviño. An interview is also included along with images of the exhibition “Blades”, by Rosa María Robles.