Colombian Theaters Interview Series
Colombian Theaters Interview Series (12)
Colombian Theaters, 1999
Interviews by Alma Martinez
This collection showcases interviews Alma Martinez conducted with some of the most prominent "teatristas" in Colombia, during two months of field research in Bogotá, Cali and Villa de Leyva in 1999. With grants from Stanford University, Ms. Martinez went to Colombia to seek out Latin American popular/political theaters (T.E.C. and Teatro La Candelaria in particular) that had direct contact and/or were influenced by Teatro Chicano (El Teatro Campesino in particular) in the United States. The intersection of US Chicano theater and the Latin American Nuevo Teatro Popular is the basis of Martinez's book manuscript and, as such, the questions she poses to her subjects all touch upon their exposure, influence and/or knowledge of Chicano theater. Ms. Martinez's scholarly research undertakes a comparative analysis of performance practices within Chicano and Latino popular/political theater across the Americas. The examination focuses on the impact of shared indigeneity, "mestizaje," postcolonialism and third world economics on national identity formation within the Chicano and Nuevo Teatro Popular theater movements between 1965-1975.
Alma R. Martinez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at Pomona College. She holds a Ph.D. in Critical Theory and Directing in Drama from Stanford University. She attended the prestigious conservatory Centro Universitario de Teatro (CUT) at the Universidad Autónoma de México and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, as well as with master teachers Jerzi Grotowski, Lee Strasberg, Arianne Mnouchkine, Augusto Boal and Anna Deveare Smith. As a professional actor, Ms. Martinez's work spans film, television and stage, and was a member of El Teatro Campesino (ETC), founded by Luis Valdez, for 27 years.
