Algunas meditaciones sobre la representación de la violencia contra las mujeres: el caso de las mujeres asesinadas de Ciudad Juárez

The on-stage representation of extreme violence in 21^st-century theatre poses many challenges for playwrights, especially in Mexico, where violence has reached extreme proportions. This essay explores some of these challenges in five recent plays that deal with the murdered women of Ciudad Juárez, by looking at specific images of violence suggested by the playtexts. A theoretical concern here is whether the stage representation of the real-life extreme violence experienced by these women can fully capture the reality of these “disappeared lives” without erasing their presence as once-living human beings; this essay suggests that photographs used in performance politics may be more effective in recapturing the “absence” of the murdered women of Ciudad Juárez.