Perambulations

This critical play anthology brings together twenty-three plays by seventeen playwrights from the Frontera/Borderlands of Texas and Mexico, offering readers the first-ever critical play anthology from this geographical region. Perambulations preserves the invaluable work of the Teatro Chicano de Laredo through a compilation of comedies and dramas. Original bilingual plays are provided alongside their translation, as well as performance notes and accompanying scholarly discussion from Laurence Wensel. This collection continues the tradition of Chicano theatre, expanding upon its themes and focusing on the struggles of migration. By applying the critical lens of space, place, and non-place to each of the plays, the book explores movement, border issues, and reveals the universality of experience along the border. Grouped by location, the plays examine people, language, culture, and identity across Laredo (Texas), in-between places, imaginary spaces, land dramas, and returning home. The compilation challenges what it means to be a citizen of the Frontera/Borderlands and reveals migration to be an activity that is often undertaken without consideration. This collection provides an invaluable contribution to students and scholars of Chicano and Latinx theatre and performance, as well as those interested in theatre of the borderlands.

Laurence Wensel, PhD, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, USA, in visual and performing arts. His research concentrations are in Chicano performance, borderland studies, fine arts critical theory, and holocaust studies. Wensel is a theatre director with over twenty-eight years of experience and has produced more than sixty productions at community, college, and university settings. He is a graduate of Goddard College with a degree (MFA) in creative writing (playwriting) and holds an MA in theatre directing and a BFA in performance and production from Texas State University. He is a biracial (German-Mexican American) individual who is bilingual (English/Spanish) and was born and raised in Laredo, TX.

Foreword Preface Introduction 1 Traversing to Laredo, Going From Here to There Section 1.1 The Interethnic Plays "My Little Mexican" "Spaghetti is Straight... Until it's Hot" "Fashionably Late" Section 1.2 Death Becomes Them "El Novenario de Tía Mine / Aunt Minerva's Nine Days of Mourning" "La Visita / The Visit" "Terminal Velocity" Section 1.3 The Shape of the Other "Julio's Night in the Dark" "Corn Nuts" "Border Grammar" "Especial Delivery From Spain" 2 The In-Between Plays "Bridges" "Nothing to Declare" "Abduction" "Manila Folder" 3 The Imaginary Plays "El Sombrero / The Hat" "La Mascara de el Chivo / The Mask of the Goat" "Breakfast Tacos" 4 The Land Plays "El Cabrito / The Goat" "Una Lucha de Apuesta / A Betting Match" "El Partido / The Game" 5 The Pilgrimage Plays "Canary in the Coal Mine" "Tu Amor Secreto / Your Secret Love" "A Que no Sabes Who is Coming to Merienda? / What? Do You Not Know Who is Coming to Brunch?" Conclusion: What Is Home?