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Charting the Terrain of Latina/o/x Theater in Chicago

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dc.contributor.advisorJenny Spencer
dc.contributor.advisorTreaAndrea Russworm
dc.contributor.advisorHarley Erdman
dc.contributor.advisorWilson Valentin Escobar
dc.contributor.authorPage, Priscilla M.
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.date2023-09-23T21:33:45.000
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-26T15:28:24Z
dc.date.available2024-04-26T15:28:24Z
dc.date.submittedSeptember
dc.date.submitted2018
dc.description.abstractThere is a rich tapestry of Latina/o/x theater in Chicago. Through in-depth interviews, I use first-voice narratives to construct four decades of Latina/o/x theater history with the artists who were founding directors and/or members of these companies: Latino Chicago, Latino Experimental Theater Company, Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, and Urban Theater Company. My aim with this project is to listen carefully to Latina/o/x artists in Chicago so that I can play a role in amplifying their voices as they articulate their experiences in this Midwestern city they call home. I organized my findings into three chapters and have kept the artists’ voices and cultural products at the center. In “Chapter Two: The Contours of Color,” I focus on the color line at the Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens, and examine how Latina/o/x theater artists undo the Black/White racial paradigm that has been traditionally used to theorize Chicago. I focus on production histories, programming initiatives, and the role of theater critics in perpetuating exclusive practices at mainstream theaters. The third chapter, “The Warp and The Woof of Latina/o/x Theater,” centers on approaches to theater making. I share their details about how the artists in this study organized their companies, their approaches to producing theater, and descriptions of their productions. I draw out the ways that Latina/o/x theater is always oppositional and that includes its content, forms, and various contexts. In “Chapter Four: Crafting Culture Through Theater,” I look specifically at the concept of latinidad and examine how Latina/o/x artists use theater to create a cultural identity that is unique to Chicago. The artists in this study define the purpose of theater for themselves, share details about their lives and how they navigate their city, a place that many of them describe as highly segregated. My concluding thoughts about Latina/o/x theater in Chicago rely on the idea that Latina/o/x theater is always political and persistent. It is worthy of study, and our work belongs in theater history books, archives, and on stages as part of the cultural record of the “American experience.”
dc.description.degreeDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
dc.description.departmentEnglish
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7275/12328595
dc.identifier.orcidN/A
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/17673
dc.relation.urlhttps://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2378&context=dissertations_2&unstamped=1
dc.source.statuspublished
dc.subjectLatinx theater
dc.subjecttheater history
dc.subjectChicago
dc.subjectoral history
dc.subjecttheater studies
dc.subjectLatino Studies
dc.subjectOther American Studies
dc.subjectOther Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
dc.subjectPerformance Studies
dc.subjectTheatre History
dc.titleCharting the Terrain of Latina/o/x Theater in Chicago
dc.typeopenaccess
dc.typearticle
dc.typedissertation
digcom.contributor.authorisAuthorOfPublication|email:pmpage@theater.umass.edu|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst|Page, Priscilla M.
digcom.identifierdissertations_2/1453
digcom.identifier.contextkey12328595
digcom.identifier.submissionpathdissertations_2/1453
dspace.entity.typePublication
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