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Latinx Theatre

Content in this section is created by or highlights the work of Latinx theatremakers from around the world. Start with the Journal series Taking the Temperature about issues facing Latinx theatre artists in the United States, or with the video series Latinx Superfriends Playwriting Hour. Looking for more? Check out the Latinx Theatre Commons, a national movement to transform the narrative of the American theatre and a flagship program of HowlRound.

The Latest

Sustaining the Flame at the Latinx Theatre Commons Tenth Anniversary Convening
Essay
Sustaining the Flame at the Latinx Theatre Commons Tenth Anniversary Convening
by Olga Sanchez Saltveit
13 May 2024
Sowing Futures at the Latinx Theatre Commons Tenth Anniversary Convening
Essay
Sowing Futures at the Latinx Theatre Commons Tenth Anniversary Convening
by Georgina Escobar
8 May 2024
The Longer We Live
Essay
The Longer We Live
by Iraisa Ann Reilly
7 May 2024
A Cautiously Optimistic Cuban American
Essay

A Cautiously Optimistic Cuban American

22 January 2015

Marissa Chibas weighs both the positive and negative sides of reestablishing diplomatic ties with the Cuban government, and what it could mean for people in both Cuba and the United States.

Cafecito
Essay

Cafecito

Tricklock’s Revolution in the Southwest

13 January 2015

Georgina Escobar talks to Juli Hendren of Tricklock Company about Revolutions, an international festival held each year in Albuquerque, and the exciting symposium this year brings.

Hot off the Presses! The Latinx Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening Book
Essay

Hot off the Presses! The Latinx Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening Book

12 January 2015

HowlRound's Jamie Gahlon spoke with scholar Brian Herrera about what he learned compiling The Latinx Theatre Commons 2013 National Convening book, and his vision for how others may find it useful. 

Properties of Silence
Essay

Properties of Silence

Sor Juana in Phoenix, Arizona

6 January 2015

About Productions has been staging plays since 1988 about historical characters like Joan of Arc and Antonin Artaud. Properties of Silence turned into an exciting flight into the depths of Sor Juana’s legacy.

Café Onda 2014 End-of-Year Roundup
Essay

Café Onda 2014 End-of-Year Roundup

29 December 2014

We hope 2015 activates us all and that we can continue to function as a digital-stage in which to strengthen our conversations, and augment our visibility. For now, we leave 2014 by offering you some of our favorite excerpts from Café Onda this year.

Cafecito
Essay

Cafecito

Frida Kahlo: A Portrait

27 December 2014

University of Kentucky director desires a multicultural environment; writes and directs a theatre piece based on Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Borderfesto
Essay

Borderfesto

22 December 2014

The Border. Where people become ambassadors of culture, of politics, of opinions, of languages, of rituals. We are Fronterizos.

Doing Community-Engaged Theatre Justice
Essay

Doing Community-Engaged Theatre Justice

20 December 2014

South Coast Rep shares model and journey of project El Largo Camino De Hoy with Encuentro 2014 attendees. Roxanne Schroeder-Arce reflects on the overall impact.

Speaking of Words and Other Undoings
Essay

Speaking of Words and Other Undoings

12 December 2014

I found myself asking: Why can’t my works for the stage mix up forms like Butoh dance, spoken word, and projections of sepia-tinted people? Who says it’s not legit to create evening-length shows comprised of non-linear short-form vignettes?

Patricia Ariza speaking on a panel.
Celebrating Colombian Theater Artist Patricia Ariza
Essay

Celebrating Colombian Theater Artist Patricia Ariza

5 December 2014

Ariza spoke in depth about her work in an interview with Diana Taylor, Director of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center at CUNY. She discussed the nature of peacekeeping and cultural change in Colombia and the difficulties she encountered at the beginning, including getting shot at and thereafter having to wear a bulletproof vest.

The Tíaland
Essay

The Tíaland

3 December 2014

Playwright Elaine Ávila illuminates her eye-opening trip to Portugal—wittingly nicknamed Tíaland—as the winner of the DISQUIET International Short Play Competition. There, she is met with historical narratives of overcoming socialized barriers. 

Photo from Zoetrope: Part 1.
Caborca Theatre’s Zoetrope
Essay

Caborca Theatre’s Zoetrope

Part 1

2 December 2014

Carol Kearns writes about Zoetrope: Part 1, a drama set in 1951 Puerto Rico, looking at its multimedia aesthetic, bilingual presentation, and political themes.

How Teatro Vivo in Austin, Texas Embraces the Talkback
Essay

How Teatro Vivo in Austin, Texas Embraces the Talkback

29 November 2014

Teatro Vivo's mission includes these rich conversations after the performances. Our commitment to bilingual, socially relevant plays that are available to both Latino and Non-Latino audiences allows for these conversations to thrive.

Photo of a UTEP production.
Access and Representation on the Border Stage
Essay

Access and Representation on the Border Stage

24 November 2014

Our art must reflect the communities we serve. As an institution of higher learning, it is our responsibility to serve our students theater that reflects their world—and the world, as we know, is rapidly changing.

Encuentro 2014.
Activating Allyship at Encuentro 2014
Essay

Activating Allyship at Encuentro 2014

24 November 2014

As a Black woman, millennial, playwright, and producer who is not Latina, I felt acutely aware of the gestures of absolute inclusivity, both small and large, that comprised my Encuentro experience.

Photo from Your Problem with Men.
Your Problem with Men? It's You, Not Him
Essay

Your Problem with Men? It's You, Not Him

A Teatro Luna Comedy

18 November 2014

Vickie Vértiz writes about Teatro Luna's production of Your Problem with Men

The cast of Premeditation.
The Latino Theater Company's Premeditation
Essay

The Latino Theater Company's Premeditation

13 November 2014

This long standing collaboration can be felt through and through the ensemble work on display. Premeditation is tantalizing with promise—a talented cast and inventive staging in a noir 1940’s-esque comedy about marriage, infidelity, and murder.

Tertulia Reflection
Essay

Tertulia Reflection

The Cocoon and The Butterfly

12 November 2014

I call the process of creating and performing trauma “spiritual work,” because it feels that way. Embodying trauma is a cathartic experience that transforms specific memory that lives in my body, into story-physical manifestation.

Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers Invades Encuentro Festival
Essay

Aliens, Immigrants & Other Evildoers Invades Encuentro Festival

10 November 2014

In the Latin American tradition, the poet, performer, and artist bears a social responsibility, an almost mythic duty, to document and articulate the people’s struggle—la lucha de la gente—when they are denied effective means to have their voices heard in their fight against oppression and their many oppressors. I am an interdisciplinary artist, and I explore the underbelly of the “American Dream” mythology and the Latino immigrant experience through writings, performance, and visual art practices.

Encuentro 2014.
Encuentro 2014
Essay

Encuentro 2014

Report From the Mellon Fellows, Part 1

8 November 2014

Jose Luis Valenzuela had a vision of a festival that included artists from all over the country. Through seeing his vision realized in the form of this festival, I too am realizing my own vision: To see and support the work of artists that I would not have access to otherwise.

Cafecito
Essay

Cafecito

The Roots and Work of Café Onda

7 November 2014

We want it to be for everybody. I think that we have to make it so that our readership sees us as a chapter in the narrative, not a separate narrative. That Café Onda acts as an archive, as a living conversation, and as a chapter in the story of the American theater. I hope that the present and future readership of Café Onda consists of those who are interested in that greater narrative.

Logo for the Latinx Theatre Commons.
Encuentro 2014 Manifesto
Essay

Encuentro 2014 Manifesto

7 November 2014

This manifesto was delivered by José Luis Valenzuela as part of the opening session of the Latina/o Theatre Commons National Convening held at the Los Angeles Theatre Center’s Encuentro 2014 on Thursday, November 6, 2014.

Encuentro 2014
Essay

Encuentro 2014

Moving Forward, Never Forgetting the Past

2 November 2014

Professor Jorge Huerta gives a short overview about the precedents that led to the historic and revolutionizing event, focusing on the growth of Chicano/a theatre festivals since 1970. 

Collage of theatre artists gathering and speaking at the From Scarcity to Abundance convening.
Call for Submissions for the Summer 2015 LTC Carnaval of New Latina/o Work
Essay

Call for Submissions for the Summer 2015 LTC Carnaval of New Latina/o Work

31 October 2014

The Carnaval endeavors to increase the visibility of work by Latina/o playwrights and to encourage the production of that work in the nation’s theaters. The event will include eight readings of new work representing the four geographical regions of the United States; three pieces by master Latina/o directors devised with DePaul Theatre School students; and conversations between producers and the Latina/o theatermaking community.

Notes from the Latino American Underground
Essay

Notes from the Latino American Underground

30 October 2014

The painful step, though, is realizing that to exorcise those demons is to perhaps challenge the very notion of an identity. Perhaps the solution is to do away with trying to consistently define ourselves as Latina/o theater, and merely say we are Latinas/os or Latin Americans who make work.