ABSTRACT
Jesusa and her Argentine companion, Liliana Felipe, first established the theater-bar El Cuervo (1980) and then, in 1990, the theater-bar El Hábito with an adjacent theater, La Capilla, in Coyoacán, Mexico City, which together they own and manage. In 1983 they formed the theater cooperative Divas (the name a play on the female sex symbols of revue, cabaret, and carpa), a mixed group of mainly females, some males, and a variety of sexual preferences. Directed by Jesusa, they have produced some 200 shows from 1990 to 1997, including sixtyeight farsas (farces) and seventy-five espectáculos músicales (musicals). From 1993 to 1995 Rodríguez directed thirty cabaret shows, for which Felipe wrote and performed the music. Printed scripts of some works, such as the Christmas pastorelas (a shepherd’s play) and episodes of telénovelas (soap operas), appear along with other satirical and parodic writing by Rodríguez and songs composed by Felipe in Debate feminista, an important feminist journal in Mexico, the editorial board of which she is a member.
