VII Conference/Festival Latin American Theatre Today March 26-29, 2008 — Blacksburg, Virginia

FALL 2008 129 VII Conference/Festival Latin American Theatre Today March 26-29, 2008 – Blacksburg, Virginia Timothy G. Compton Because the seventh version of the Latin American Theatre Today conference/festival was held on the campus of Virginia Tech, participants learned that the school’s mascot, a hokie, is a fierce wild turkey. Jacqueline Bixler, who has claimed Virginia Tech as her academic home for several decades, spearheaded the organization and orchestration of festivities, which included securing 15 different sponsorships, bringing performers from all over the Americas, arranging for space, transportation and food, and disseminating information. This edition of LATT had as its theme “Re-thinking ‘Latin American’ Theatre.” It featured 29 sessions of scholarly papers, four workshops, several playwright roundtables, a pair of plenary sessions, an homage to Emilio Carballido, sessions on (and sales of) books, journals, and DVDs, seven main stage theatre productions, several staged readings, and at least one clandestine play performance. The abundance of offerings made it absolutely impossible to take in everything. Events were scheduled from 8:00 AM until late at night, usually with more than one event at a time. No one seemed happier than George Woodyard, who, at least on the surface, had no official role in the undertaking other than to moderate a session. Over 100 scholars presented papers on topics ranging the geography of Latin America to myriad topics dealing with its theatre. Workshops included a focus on theatrical translation by Phyllis Zatlin, psychoanalysis and theatre theory by Gustavo Geirola, classroom uses for acting and its benefits in helping students develop Spanish skills by Mónica Botta and Francine A’Ness, and a focus on masks and “expresión plástica-corporal” by Lowell Fiet. Playwright roundtables included Orlando Cajamarca from Colombia, Gabriel Peveroni from Uruguay, Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya from Puerto Rico, Reynaldo Disla from the Dominican Republic, Kimberly del Busto and 130 LATIN AMERICAN THEATRE REVIEW Frank Disla from the U.S. (he is from the Dominican Republic, but now hails from New Jersey, and spoke on US-Latino theatre), Bárbara Colio, Alberto Lomnitz, and Manuel Talavera from Mexico, and Eduardo Rovner, Héctor Levy-Daniel, and Cristina Merelli from Argentina. The plenary presentations were delivered by Jean Graham-Jones (“Un vacío crítico: los traslados al norte del teatro argentino”) and Jorge Huerta (“From the Margins to the Mainstream: US Latina/o Theatre in the U.S.). Two other sessions were on a par with plenary sessions – a presentation by Migdalia Cruz on her theatre, and the homage to Emilio Carballido, with tributes and memories from Jacqueline Bixler, Beatriz Rizk, Luis Martín, Héctor Herrera, and a video produced by Gisel Amezcua. To my critical eye, the best of the main stage productions was ¡¿Quién te entiende?!, written and directed by Alberto Lomnitz, and performed by members of Seña y Verbo, Mexico’s deaf theatre company. As Lomnitz explained in his roundtable session, this play was the result of an extensive series of interviews he conducted with a trio of deaf people in Mexico City. Based on his interviews, the play represented the essentials of their lives. A pair of deaf actors, Roberto de Loera and Lucila Olalde, along with Haydée Boetto, a hearing and speaking actor, played the parts of a trio of friends who got together to talk about their friends. Intermittently as they told stories about their friends, they would launch into an extensive series of meta-representations,¡¿Quién te entiende?! Photo: Christopher Wells (in Mexico City) FALL 2008 131 taking on numerous roles, always returning to their original roles as friends. Olalde, for example, played more than 20 roles, ranging from a variety of friends, worker in a factory, teacher, actor in a movie, spectator at a movie, actor in a play, spectator at a play, parents, a child, a cousin, kidnapper, and so forth. De Loera and Boetto also played many roles, although I thought Olalde’s range of characters was particularly impressive. The play hinged on the actors’ ability to switch clearly and quickly from role to role so that the audience would be able to follow along with them. And the actors met the...