Performances that Change the Americas

This collection of essays explores activist performances, all connected to theater or performance training, that have changed the Americas—from Canada to the Southern Cone. Through the study of specific examples from numerous countries, the authors of this volume demonstrate a crucial, shared outlook: they affirm that ordinary people change the direction of history through performance. This project offers concrete, compelling cases that emulate the modus operandi of people like historian Howard Zinn. In the same spirit, the chapters treat marginal groups whose stories underscore the potentially unstoppable and transformative power of united, embodied voices. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of theatre, performance, art and politics.

List of Figures Chapter 1: Introduction Case Studies in Activist Performance Stuart A. Day, the University of Kansas Chapter 2: Playing Creole: Circus Dramas, the Theater Marketplace, and Urban Society in Argentina and Uruguay William Acree, Washington University in St. Louis Chapter 3: BASTA: Reactivating Bodies and the Dramaturgy of Femicides in Argentina Paola Hernández, University of Wisconsin–Madison Chapter 4: Carnival in Hell: Kinetic Dissidence and the New Queer Carnivalesque in Contemporary Brazil Pablo Assumpção Barros Costa, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil Chapter 5: Absent Bodies and Melted Weapons: Art and Social Change in Contemporary Colombia Gastón Alzate and Paola Marín, California State University, Los Angeles Chapter 6: Queering Abiayala: Personal and Political Cartographies of the Indigenous Americas Tiffany D. Creegan Miller, Colby College Chapter 7: Music, Poetry, and Créolité in the Songs of Carole Demesmin, Singer, Troubadour, and Activist Cécile Accilien, Kennesaw State University Chapter 8: An Island in Crisis: Theater Groups and Social Change in Puerto Rico in the New Millennium Priscilla Meléndez, Trinity College Chapter 9: Performing the Revolution: Castro’s Cuba Marta M. Caminero-Santangelo, University of Kansas Chapter 10 The Queer/Muxe Performance of Disappearance: Lukas Avendaño’s Butterfly Utopia Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico Chapter 11 "Why Are the Canadian Authorities Afraid of This Play?" Eight Men Speak and Section 98 of the Criminal Code of Canada Alan Filewod Index

Stuart A. Day is Professor of Spanish at the University of Kansas. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, The University of Arizona, and Cornell University, Day’s recent books include Outside Theater: Alliances That Shape Mexico and Modern Mexican Culture