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Annotated Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Cuban Theatre after 1959 TERRY L. PALLS THE SOCIOPOLITICAL SITUATION IN CUBA since 1959 has attracted the attention of numerous scholars interested in examining the effects of a radical ideological shift-from capitalism to Marxist-Leninism-on a given society. Included among these scholars are humanists wishing to investigate the effects of this phenomenon on artistic development. There is no doubt that the Cuban Revolution has been a determining factor in the pattern and nature of cultural activity in Cuba, and that this in turn has influenced the development of the arts in Latin America. The cultural restructuralization which took place in the revolutionary government as an integral part of the political revolution stimulated creative activity within the country and an awareness of this activity throughout the contemporary world. This was accomplished by means of the institution of contests and festivals attended by writers and artists of Latin America, and by the publication of their works by new publishing houses, journals, and newspapers devoted to the arts. However, the blockade of Cuba by numerous countries has made regular acquisition of this material difficult, thereby hampering the study of cultural activity in Cuba since 1961. Nevertheless, a sufficient body of material does exist in libraries in the continental United States, although widely dispersed, to provide a basis for preliminary research in the area. It is by no means adequate to assess fully the impact of the Revolution on the arts, but it is sufficient to provide the basis for further research. 391 During the past eight years, I have carefully examined the material available in the United States on the subject of theatrical activity in Cuba since 1959. In my opinion, of all artistic manifestations, the theatre is the most dependent upon society for its existence. It is the most immediately sensitive to ideological changes which affect society. Inherent in the study of the effects of the Revolution on dramatic activity in Cuba since 1959 is the question: did this sociopolitical phenomenon alter the nature of the theatre in that country? My research indicates that it did, but not in the manner which one would expect. The cultural restructuralization initially stimulated theatrical activity by patronizing the arts through government subsidy in the forms of space, equipment, and salaries, and by not mandating socialist realism as the only acceptable form of artistic expression, thus bringing the national playwright out of anonymity. It is true that many dramatists chose socialist realism as a form of expression and used the Revolution as a thematic basis for their plays; however, others chose to express their artistic rather than their political commitment in their works, and they were free to do so. In 1968, when militant factions gained control of key cultural positions, there was apparently a shift in direction which affected the character of dramatic activity in Cuba. However, there is not at this time enough material available in the United States to evaluate the extent to which these changes affected the theatre. The following annotated bibliography is the result of extensive research over a period of several years in the field of theatre in revolutionary Cuba. While it is not intended to be comprehensive, it is designed to provide scholars with information accessible in the United States as a basis for further research and study in the field. The 121 entries include books and artides which contain bibliographical information on contemporary Cuban theatre or critical studies concerning the effect of the Cuban cultural revolution on the nature of the dramatic activity there, and a list of seventy-four plays written, staged, and published after 1959 (excluding musicals or children's theatre) which are available in libraries in the continental United States. These are listed in alphabetical order by author with number of acts, parts, or scenes, significant prizes or awards conferred on each, and a short statement regarding theme and/ or technique. In cases where plays appear in more than one source in Spanish or in English, the appropriate bibliographical data is provided in brackets after each entry. I have not included critical studies on individual playwrights, play reviews , and works which either examine the cultural poliCies...

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