Mexican ‘History’ in and as Theatre in the Classroom and Beyond

Abstract

Since Rodolfo Usigli’s El gesticulador (1938), the theaters of Mexico City and elsewhere have served as a staging ground for the re-thinking and re-presentation of past episodes of Mexican history. Over the years, I have developed a course titled “Contemporary Mexican Theatre: Staging the Past,” in which graduate students and advanced undergraduates read and discuss plays that revive certain historical entities and episodes as part of this creative re-opening and critical inquiry into the past. The objective of the class is threefold: to instill an appreciation for theatre as a means of revis(it)ing history; to convey the important role that history has played in the formation of contemporary Mexican consciousness; and to familiarize students with theoretical approaches that range from Hayden White’s concept of metahistory to Hans-Thies Lehmann’s “postdramatic” theatre. The overall objective of the class is to create an awareness of the complexity of Mexican history, of the power of the written word, and of the power of theatre in particular as a means of setting the story straight, giving voice to the vanquished as well as the vanished, demanding the truth and an end to impunity, and ultimately avoiding the repetition of past errors.