Description
Book SynopsisRosa Andújar is Deputy Director and Lecturer in Liberal Arts at King's College London, UK. She has co-edited two volumes which address her research expertise in ancient Greek tragedy and its modern reception: Paths of Song: The Lyric Dimension of Greek Tragedy (2018) and Greeks and Romans on the Latin American Stage (2020).
Luis Alfaro is a Chicano writer/performer known for his work in poetry, theatre, short stories, performance and journalism. Alfaro held a six-season tenure as the Mellon Playwright-in-Residence at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2013-2019). He was a member of the Playwright's Ensemble at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theatre (2013-2020). Alfaro is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as a genius grant, presented to people who have demonstrated expertise and exceptional creativity in their respective fields. Alfaro is a Joyce Foundation Fellow. In 2019, Alfaro was awarded the PEN America/Laura Pels Int
Trade Review
In these plays, Luis brilliantly transplants Sophocles’s Electra and Oedipus and Euripides’s Medea into the modern-day streets of Los Angeles and New York. In doing so, he gives voice to the rich, complex lives of the Chicanx and Latinx communities and neighborhoods that he knows and loves. This book is a must-own for any student and lover of contemporary, American plays. * LA Review of Books *
A Bloomsbury translation: In this way, the entire book constitutes more than a simple collection of Alfaro's plays. Each of the sections of the anthology reiterates the creation of an archive ... Andújar's work thus contributes to the preservation of the memory of these communities which have turned to the theatre as a venue through which to tell and connect their own stories with other cultures, geographies and temporalities, constantly and necessarily crossing all kinds of borders. * Latin American Theatre Review *
Andújar not only offers a richly annotated introduction at the beginning of this volume: each of the three plays also begins with a separate introduction that contextualizes the dramatic work in a way that is both enthralling and enlightening … A must-read for any student and fan of contemporary theatre. And for those of us who have a particular love of Chicanx and Latinx drama, this volume will bring immeasurable reading pleasure and enlightenment. * La Bloga *
From the opening scene, the cultural combination is intoxicating … A fascinating trilogy. * British Theatre Guide *
Equipped with Andújar’s excellent introduction to Alfaro’s work generally and to each adaptation, plus a production history and interview with Alfaro, this book not only makes the scripts of three very successful plays available for the first time for everyone, but also presents a unique and fascinating way of engaging with the ancient Greek dramas of which Alfaro’s plays are adaptations. * Skenè: Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies *
A welcome addition to the bookshelves of those with an interest in the afterlives of Athenian tragedy ... The volume as a whole exemplifies the way in which collaboration between academics and practitioners enhances classical reception studies: this reviewer would be delighted to see more contemporary classical reception texts being given similar treatment. * Greece & Rome *
Table of Contents
Editor’s Acknowledgements List of Illustrations 1. Luis Alfaro’s Griego Drama: An Introduction 2. Electricidad: A Chicanx Tragedy between Family and Feminism 3. Electricidad 4. Blind Love and the Chains of Destiny: Oedipus el Rey 5. Oedipus el Rey 6. Mojada: Dramatizing Latinx Migrations 7. Mojada 8. Production History 9. Glossary 10. Interview with Luis Alfaro 11. Further Reading
