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Macalester College

Publication Date

Fall 2011

Program Name

Nicaragua: Revolution, Transformation, and Civil Society

Abstract

Since the 1970s, various groups of “oppressed” people have appropriated performance theater, a space that has historically oppressed and excluded everyone outside of the elite ruling class, and have employed it as a social tool. In Nicaragua, as popular theater groups emerged critiquing the government and other institutions, a feminist theater emerged as well during the 1980s in different parts of the country. In this essay, I will examine Nicaraguan feminist theater, its development and its methodology. Simultaneously part of a women’s movement, feminist movement, and a popular theater movement, the Nicaraguan women’s theater proposes a three phase process: concientización, empoderamiento, and liberación. All three processes are part of this theaters methodology. Keeping in mind that some groups identify as women’s theater, others as feminist theater, and others as popular theater that focus on themes relevant to the lives of women, I intend to name the larger theater/movement: a theatrical revolution and a revolutionary theater.

Disciplines

Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Theatre and Performance Studies | Women's Studies

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