ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the mobilization of musical theatre cultural capital as represented by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and community-based programming led by the San Juan theatre collective Y no había luz, as acts of first response to disaster. Through relief efforts following Hurricane Maria and during the COVID-19 global pandemic, Miranda and Y no había luz transform expectations of trauma through an aesthetic of defiant joy in which artmaking in the face of disaster is not only about survival but a transformation of forces that attempt to stamp out or devalue joy. Each of these artists engages in self-healing as they reimagine events like hurricane, migration, and quarantine. This chapter will show that for Miranda, his journey toward self-healing and negotiation of his Puerto Rican identity are carried out simultaneously with his transformation into a “healer” figure. Finally, this chapter will show a relationship between stateside and island artists that creates diasporic sites of healing, as well as a dialogue between American musical theatre and theatre-making on the island.
