Analola Santana - Theatre and Cartographies of Power: Repositioning the Latina/o Americas

This anthology is the result of years of travel across the Americas. For over a decade, the two of us have worked and conducted research throughout the hemisphere and have always been amazed by the quality and quantity of the work being created by artists across the many nations of the Americas. These trips and experiences resulted in a number of questions that have provoked so many conversations between us. This book is an attempt to share some of those thoughts.

Of course, the two of us could not do this alone. We are grateful that so many scholars and artists agreed to engage in the questions that we posed as the central concerns of this collection. Without a doubt, it would be impossible to even begin this type of work without the support of these colleagues. We are indebted to all of the participants whose work is collected in these pages for their generosity, time, energy, patience, and friendship. Additionally, we owe a special thanks to all of the translators who volunteered their skills and knowledge to bring the voices of so many important Latin American figures to an English-speaking audience.

As we embarked on research projects in various countries of the Americasalone and togetherwe watched countless performances and interviewed an array of artists who would eventually impact and shape this book. It is our deepest regret that not all of them could be included. One of our main goals with this anthology was to create a collection of voices that we could use to teach our students about the theatrical and performance histories of the Latina/o Americas. It is our sincerest hope that this book will prompt other studies that can help expand and promote interest in Latin American and Latina/o theatre across the Americas.

The groundwork for this project began with two working sessions that we organized for the American Society for Theatre Research conferences in 2012 and 2013. We thank all of the participants who shared their work, passion, and knowledge with us as we engaged in a number of productive and valuableconversations in Nashville and Dallas: Jason Bush, Debra A. Castillo, Honey Crawford, Andrew Gibb, Christopher Goodson, Jean Graham-Jones, Gad Guterman, Eric Heaps, Patricia Herrera, Martha Herrera-Lasso, Jorge Huerta, Aiala Levy, Angela Marino, Teresa Marrero, Eric Mayer-Garcia, Erica Ocegueda, Alexandra Ripp, Leticia Robles, Jon Rossini, Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Claudia Villegas-Silva, and Anna White-Nockleby.

We also thank the Fundacin Joaqun Torres Garca in Montevideo, Uruguay, for permission to reprint Amrica Invertida, created in 1943. This is the image that first inspired us to even imagine what repositioning could look like.

We would not have been able to pursue this project without the generous support of our deans: Heather Fitz Gibbon at the College of Wooster and Barbara Will at Dartmouth College.

This book would not be possible without the enthusiasm and guidance offered by Kristine Priddy and Scott Magelssen. They wholeheartedly supported this project from the beginning and offered much encouragement along the way. We also thank everyone at Southern Illinois University Press whose hands played a part in the making of this book.

Our work as a duo has always been premised on friendship, trust, and a little bit of codependency. We are tremendously happy to see that these ingredients helped guide us through a fruitful collaboration.

Above all, we are grateful to our families for their unwavering support and love.