Trends and fragmentations in Colombian theater

Abstract

This lecture was presented at the international seminar “Challenges of Colombian Theater,” held as part of the 31st Manizales International Theater Festival on September 9, 2009. It is structured into a prologue and three acts that provide a broad overview of the historical trajectory of Colombian theater—contrasted with developments in Western theater—from its consolidation as a movement in the 1950s, a period marked by a forced push toward modernity, occurring precisely at the moment of that modernity’s own crises or fissures. These seventy years have been intense, defined by vigorous debates and creative achievements, as well as a wide array of trends and fragmentations; all of this is explored and recounted in this provocative text, which highlights several key milestones in the nation’s theater