Book Description

This book chronicles three decades of social and political disintegration in a nation marked by violence, paradox, and hyperbole, a country both blessed and cursed by its wealth of natural resources, its culture, and its strategic location in the western hemisphere. The plays (Soldiers [C. J. Reyes et al.]; Old Baldy [Jairo Nino]; Lucky Strike [Santiago Garcia]; Roadhouse [Teatro La Candelaria]; Pilot Project [Enrique Buenaventura]; Femina Ludens [Nohora Ayala et al.]; and The Orgy [Enrique Buenaventura]) reveal the historical, economic, and social roots of Colombia's tragic circumstances. They are vehicles of critical analysis for making sense of both the causes and the consequences of the violence, as they examine the role of the army, the roots of the drug wars, the situation of women and victims of conflict, and the poisoning of a common ethos. The translations and introductory notes make the works and their subjects equally accessible for staging in the theater and for readings and discussion by groups interested in Latin American Studies. Judith A. Weiss is Professor of Hispanic Studies at Mount Allison University in Canada.