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Katy Polowczuk

ESP 300

Spring 2025

Dr. Marcos Campillo-Fenoll

Staging the Continent

​ Latin American theater throughout history has gone through many changes and

adaptations yet still hold onto key themes and aspects even from long ago. The overall theater

scene in Latin America is made up from indigenous rituals, many colonial influences and

political messaging changing all the time as the years went on. From pre- columbian ritualistic

and ceremonial performances to appease their Gods to the modern day contemporary theater and

dramas spreading the message of social justice, religion has always been a crucial theme within

theater. This paper will explore this recurring theme and how in each major era of Latin

American history religion was utilized in performance and shaping narratives passed down for

generations.

​ Starting with some of the first few indigenous groups living and building empires in Latin

America. These groups would use theater as both a means of entertainment and passing on folk

legends for their younger generations as well as celebrations and prayers for the Gods. Author

Diana Taylor writes in her book “These ‘theatrical’ performances were staged within the context

of a ‘larger’ performance, the many religious festivals that took place routinely in the expansive

cityscapes. Celebrations required their own design and conventions of participation. Spaces

were transformed—cleansed and adorned. Human bodies too became purified sites through

fasting, sexual abstinence, piercings, sacrifice, ritual feasting and drinking.” Many of these

religious ceremonies were performed with the intent to repay or please the Gods. These rituals
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often included human sacrifices of either war captives or women and children. The priests who

would perform these sacrifices would appear in the temple dressed in large, colorful outfits, their

bodies and faces painted. They adorned themselves like the god, “whom they represented on

that day”. At the beginning of the ceremony, the priests “humbled themselves before the idol”.

The victims ascended the temple stairs in the nude. The “high priest” quickly cut out the heart,

held it to the sun, and rolled the body down the steps of the temple. The bodies were then

collected and taken back by the owner. Author Taylor states “They were carried away,

distributed, and eaten, in order to celebrate the feast”. Multiple forms of human sacrifice were

carried out in the Americas with regional variations. While the practice sounds cruel in nature, it

reflected the people's belief that there was no firm division between life and death. Being alive

was not considered stable, but a transitive condition between here and there. The victims would

be joining the gods. (Taylor Scenes of Cognition: Performance and Conquest)

​ The next big shift is after the Conquest of most of Latin America. With this invasion

came a wave of Christianity and Catholicism and forced conversion onto these indigenous

groups. This conversion also started taking over the theater scene as well and we see a shift from

the folk tales and sacrifice to the Gods to combining and telling stories of patron saints and other

martyrs with the tribe's original culture. The Conquistadors from Europe established a church in

every town, and it served as a point of control. In converting to Catholicism, the Europeans were

able to include the indigenous religions, and also tacitly acknowledge the fact that the native

beliefs never really died. Author Susan Nash wrote in their paper “Each community had a patron

saint, which not only corresponded to a saint in the Catholic Church, but also often took on

attributes of indigenous gods. Thus, the parades, dances, and performative enactments

represented a profound fusion of European and indigenous belief systems.” These celebrations
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took place once a year, and were typically a week long, and were filled with parades, rituals,

dances, and end with fireworks that included religious symbols. One of the biggest and most

important celebrations came the week before Easter. In Europe, the major festival called Mardi

Gras took place, with parades and performances that centered around the idea of the penance for

sins. In Latin America, the traditional celebration incorporated personae who resemble many of

the ancient deities, namely sun gods, feathered serpents, and animal spirits. One of the more

unique fusions of indigenous and Catholic beliefs were the performative rituals of the colonial

mining town of Oruro, Bolivia. This celebration included the famous dances with the devil,

which dramatically enacts the conflict between good and evil, light and dark. Author Nash writes

“The performances include extremely elaborate and colorful costumes. La Diablada (Dance of

the Devils) emerged from the miners who revered and feared “El Tio” (god of the underworld)

would punish them for sharing their devotion with the Virgin Mary. So, to honor and please El

Tio, the miners decided to dress as Diablos (devils) and dance in the festival. The Diablo

costumes feature horned masks, velvet capes, and costumes with sequins and gold embroidery.

Their boots contain elaborate designs of snakes. (Nash LATIN AMERICAN THEATRE)

One of the biggest and most influential playwrights of this time was that of Sor Juana

Inés de la Cruz; a poet, nun, dramatist, and scholar. Being promised in marriage, Juana did not

enjoy the lifestyle and soon joined a convent where she lived until her death. In 1690, a private

letter Sor Juana had written to the bishop, Manuel Fernández de Santa Cruz, in which she

criticized the sermon of a Jesuit priest, began to spread around the convent and other ministries.

The bishop had solicited the letter and then distributed it to his peers under the gender-bending

pen name “Sor Filotea.” In the process, the bishop also chastises her for a lack of religious

content in her poems. Juana in response to such criticism had written “Respuesta a Sor Filotea”
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which many scholars today consider the first feminist manifesto. In it she defended a woman’s

right to education and freedom of speech. Her work of passion became the subject of even more

criticism. Church officials demanded that she renounce non-religious books and non-religious

studies. The church forced her to relinquish objects and rituals that had become vital parts of her

identity. Under the pressure of the clergy she renounced all her books and maps and musical

instruments the church deemed non-religious and she stopped writing but through her legacy and

note found in her convent after her death which read “Yo, la peor del mundo.” (“Me, the worst in

the world.”) Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is known and revered today for her wisdom, talent, and

bravery. (N/A Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz)

​ Then we shift into the modern day theater in Latin America. Much of the theater today

revolves around heritage and pride for their country. Much of theater today centers around social

commentary and the issues of class struggle, gender inequality, and racial discrimination. Many

plays written in the 20th and 21st century depict economic disparities through contrasting

character lifestyles, explore machismo culture and its impact on women's roles as well as

examine racial hierarchies and colorism in post-colonial societies. One main movement that was

prominent in the theater district in Latin America is The Teatro del Oprimido (Theatre of the

Oppressed) which is a movement that exemplifies the use of theatre for social and political

change. Some participating theaters such as the Forum Theatre allows audience members to

intervene and propose solutions to staged conflicts, the Image Theatre uses body sculptures to

express and analyze social dynamics, and the Invisible Theatre stages interventions in public

spaces to provoke discussion on social issues. The concept of "testimonio" or testimonial theatre

emerged as a powerful form of social commentary which includes the dramatization of real-life

experiences of marginalized communities, the use of documentary materials in performances,

and the blending of personal narratives with broader historical contexts. (Bahr, Becky 15.3 Latin

American and Caribbean Theatre – Intro to Theatre Art)

​ In the book “Words of the True Peoples” edited by Carlos Montemayor and Donald

Frischmann they gather an anthology of plays written over the years, some being as recent as the

1990’s. These are some well known examples of plays written today explaining and talking

about these social issues in Latin America today. One example being "All for All: A Tzotzil

Tragicomedy" by Sne Jtz Bajom, A.C., and Martín Gómez Ramírez. This play explores the

relationship between ecology and political issues in the context of a Tzotzil community,

specifically the Zinacantecos region of Mexico. The play addresses concerns about

environmental damage and social inequalities, ultimately raising questions about responsibility

and the future of the community. Another example is a play by Isabel Juárez Espinosa

“Migration”. The play tackles the issues that result from an increasingly common phenomenon

in which indigenous people leave their subsistence farms in order to seek higher paying jobs in

nearby cities. Unfortunately, the loss of support from communities, the racism and discrimination

indigenous people face in the cities, and the disintegration of relationships in the face of new

hardships are all themes explored within the play. (Montemayor and Frischmann ProQuest

Ebook Central)

​ Latin America has a rich history when it comes to the arts and the art of performance in

general and as history has shown, has gone through many changes as civilizations grow and

change due to who is in charge. Theater today still alludes to their heritage and references it and

still celebrates their ancestors traditions while also modernizing it to match society today.
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Sources:

Fiveable. "15.3 Latin American and Caribbean Theatre – Intro to Theatre Arts." Edited by Becky

Bahr, Fiveable, 2024,

[Link]

y-guide/QqmbIyJ5pEszWooA. Accessed 6 May 2025.

Montemayor, Carlos, and Donald Frischmann. Words of the True Peoples/Palabras de Los Seres

Verdaderos : Anthology of Contemporary Mexican Indigenous-Language Writers/Antología de

Escritores Actuales En Lenguas Indígenas de México: Theater. 1st ed., vol. 3, University of

Texas Press, 2007, ProQuest Ebook Central,

[Link] Accessed 23 Mar.

2025.

N/A. “Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2025,

[Link]/poets/sor-juana.

Nash, Susan Smith. “Latin American Theater.” Humanities Institute, 2009, vol, 1, Number 1, pg

1-3,

[Link]/__static/16a26bbbb85342a40b8f3f1d0f0f649a/[Link]?dl=1.
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Taylor, Diana. “Scenes of Cognition: Performance and Conquest.” Theater Journal, vol, 56,

Number 3, pg 353-372, Pre-Conquest Theatre, 2004,

[Link]/en/stages-of-conflict/[Link].