Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin American Theater and Performance (review)

{ 254 } Book Reviews tion and emerging performance contexts. Thus, Dramaturgy and Performance, written in an accessible style and format, could be a very useful instructional tool for courses in dramaturgy, as well as advanced courses in theatre production , contemporary theatre, and performance studies. Valleri J. Hohman — University of Illinois \ \ Stages of Conflict: A Critical Anthology of Latin Ameri­ can Theater and Perfor­ mance. Edited by Diana Taylor and Sarah J. Townsend. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008. 325 pp. $39.95 paper. This impressive volume is a long-­ awaited anthology of plays and performances from Latin America in English translation beginning with pre-­ Columbian times to the beginning of the twenty-­ first century. Following an excellent introduction by Taylor and Townsend, each play or performance is preceded by thorough introductions, divided between the two coeditors.Although the introduction provides an overview of the subject through the centuries, the individual introductions expand on those histories, placing each play, performance, and playwright(s) in its national historical and sociopolitical contexts. There is some redundancy, but information repeated from the initial introduction is a useful reminder that makes each essay complete. This book is the first of its kind and should be read and studied by any serious student of theatre and performance in Latin America. Taylor and Townsend have given themselves (and the reader) quite a challenge , as they state in their preface: “How do we go about selecting fewer than twenty plays that span five centuries and supposedly represent twenty-­ six countries ?” (xi). Indeed. Theirs is not a rhetorical question, and their honesty and forthrightness sets the tone for what is the essential question when attempting to anthologize (and thus “canonize”) any national performance standard, let alone the theatre of so many distinct countries, cultures, and genres. Thus they avoid overgeneralizations at every turn, pointing out the distinctions between the plays and periods and supplementing their scholarship with thorough and useful bibliographies after each introductory essay. The plays are presented in chronological order beginning with the Rabinal Achi, a Maya-­ Quiché dance-­ drama presumed to be of pre-­ Columbian origins due to the subject matter (a warrior sacrificed) and concluding with a one-­ act, { 255 } Book Reviews based on improvisations by the two Mexican creator-­ performers, Petrona de la Cruz and Isabel Juárez Espinosa, circa 2003. Carefully placed in between these two very different pieces are seventeen plays or performances from other Latin Ameri­ can countries. Some of the plays have never been translated into English, while others, like the Rabinal Achi, translated from the French by Richard E. Leinaweaver for the Latin Ameri­ can Theatre Review in 1968, remain the standards . A recurring theme throughout the collection is the idea of performance and the performative nature of all human interaction, here set in the frame(s) of ritual, theatre, discovery, and rediscovery about a continent that was “discovered ”five centuries ago. The coeditors make it clear that all the pieces they have chosen are just the tip of the iceberg, their ideas of what their readers (and audiences ) should know about the cultures represented. They never let the reader forget that the pieces they have selected have all been performed on a stage, in a plaza, in a union hall—wherever people have gathered to explore, assess, and discuss their condition. The essays encourage the reader to visualize each piece. Further, some of the plays (along with others not included in this collection) can be witnessed online at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics Web site, www.hemisphericinstitute.org. This online accessibility is an excellent supplement that the editors promise will be updated with plays, essays, videos, bibliographies, and articles. This service to the field is unprecedented and to be commended. Some of the plays are old standards, such as the much-­ produced and frequently anthologized Night of the Assassins, by Cuban playwright José Triana (1965); The Camp, by Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro (1967); and the seventeenth-­ century Mexican classic The Loa for the Auto Sacramental of the Divine Narcissus, by Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz. Other offerings, such as the little-­ known nineteenth-­ century New Mexican folk play Los Comanches or the sixteenth-­ century...