ABSTRACT
Cano describes her experiences traveling and theatre making throughout Latin America, particularly in Peru, where she encounters theatre making traditions unlike those she studied in the US. These include community-centered, political and collaboratively created works. This chapter uses a testimonial format to unravel a personal and professional search for a theatrical identity within a fluctuating movement of Latinidad (“Latinness”) over three decades. The shaping of a US or “American” theater movement did not occur without international influences from the rest of the Americas, borrowing from language, religion, pageantry and culture. Exploring the complex weave of this theatrical tapestry highlights two major strands: the Afro and the Indigenous. Despite the “othering” and alienation from mainstream US theater over the years, there is a constant redefining of Latin American representation. This chapter also discusses how the moving borders (between Spain, Mexico and the US) over the centuries, in addition to the continual waves of immigration from the rest of the Americas and the Caribbean, continue to feed the identity of Latinx/o/a theater in the United States.
