Mexican theater Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

With its penchant for dissecting and criticizing imperialism, authori-tarianism, consumerism, and patriarchal structures, contemporary Mexican political cabaret (MPC) has captured the attention of progressive scholars and performers in... more

With its penchant for dissecting and criticizing imperialism, authori-tarianism, consumerism, and patriarchal structures, contemporary Mexican political cabaret (MPC) has captured the attention of progressive scholars and performers in the US. This is not surprising as, from its start in the late 1970s, MPC has aimed to connect Mexican concerns to larger political issues using a multifaceted approach that combines academic theatre techniques and popular culture, as well as the personal and the political. The visibility of MPC as an art movement that may take place both on stage and in the streets, and its enormous potential to bridge the gap between social classes and groups by appealing to diverse audiences, makes it a rare phenomenon even within openly anti-establishment art movements. This characteristic alone should be enough to make MPC worthy of examination in US classrooms, even before considering our significant national interest in Mexican life and culture. Whether in theatre and performance courses, gender studies, Latin American studies, or Spanish language courses, the intrinsic connections between Mexican political cabaret and pressing global issues offers fruitful ground for research and practice. In this article, we propose two pedagogical approaches that introduce MPC to students in the US. Our goal is not to theorize this genre of theatre but to offer practical guidelines to teach Latin American theatre in the US, using MPC as a starting point. One of the positive effects of MPC's popularity, mainly among formally trained actors, has been that in the last decades several MPC practitioners have started offering workshops, which vary in scope and approach. To provide an overview of actor training in MPC that may be inspiring for theatre instructors in the US, we will start with a brief history of this trend, followed by the specifics of such training. The second part of the essay addresses so-ciopolitical issues in contemporary Mexican political cabaret.