Note from the Editor

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Note from the Editor
• Jacqueline Bixler, Editor

As LATR approaches its 60th year, it seems to be a good time to think about our field of study and its future. With dwindling enrollments in the Humanities, the growing tendency to replace tenure-track positions with instructorships, and the retirement of many of our colleagues, we need to do all we can to promote the teaching and study of Latin American and Latiné theatre.

Of course it’s easier to dwell on the good ‘ole days, when every few years we would descend on Lawrence, Kansas, for the LATT (Latin American Theatre Today) conference/festival started in 1982 by George Woodyard. Here we reconnected with friends and colleagues, forged new connections, attended play performances and roundtables of dramatists, and presented our own scholarly work.

While waiting for the stars to align for another LATT conference and concerned by what seemed to be a dwindling number of Latin American and Latiné theatre scholars, a few of us decided to stage a mini-LATT at this year’s Kentucky Foreign Language Conference. While this event could not compare with the earlier LATTs in scope or number of participants, we all nonetheless came away convinced and happy that the study of Latin American and Latiné theatre is still alive and thriving.

The articles in the current issue follow diverse lines of inquiry. Gustavo Carvajal centers his study on a play that María Paz González wrote following the 2015 eruption of the Chaitén volcano. The weak response of the Chilean government to the catastrophe, both in the play and in real life, points to the isolation, oppression, and abandonment of those who live in rural areas that are politically and geologically unstable. In her study of Los negros pájaros del adiós (1986), Claudia Gidi pays tribute to one of Mexico’s most complex and least understood playwrights, Oscar Liera, whose theatrical production [End Page 5] has yet to receive the critical attention that it deserves. Focusing primarily on stage directions, Gidi stresses Liera’s use of them to weave a complex web of spaces and voices. Finally, Orion Risk offers a thought-provoking study on César Enríquez’s political cabaret piece La Prietty Guoman (2016), looking at the play from the angle of trans-performance and temporality studies.

Readers will notice a new feature in this issue: an original play by Ramón Griffero and Adam Versényi’s translation of it. The decision to include a play and translation in this issue responds to the growing number of translators and translations, to the relative lack of publishing venues for theatrical translations, and to the keen interest expressed at the Kentucky mini-LATT in the theory, practice, and teaching of translation. We are keen to know the reaction of our readers to this addition. If it is well received, we plan to include texts and translations in future issues as space allows. At the same time, if you have any suggestions regarding the present as well as the future of LATR, let us know! (jbixler@vt.edu, kunruh@ku.edu, and day@ku.edu)

We thank you for your lasting support of the journal and look forward to hearing from you. [End Page 6]

Jacqueline Bixler, Editor LATR Copyright © 2024 The Center of Latin American Studies ...