Voices of Change in the Spanish American Theater

<p>The aim of this anthology is to present a selection of plays that are representative of a fresh spirit and of societal pressures and changes in Spanish American culture. The plays shun the earlier realistic sentimental and melodramatic conventions of Spanish American theater. Instead they reflect the tenor of the dramatic imagination of the mid-to-late twentieth century-an imagination that sought new forms and ways of expressing a new awareness of the Spanish American dilemma.</p> <p>In selecting these plays William I. Oliver looked for more than mere illustrations of these changes. As a practicing director and playwright he sought works that are effective on the stage as well as on the page. As an editor and translator he sought works that could be translated culturally as well as linguistically. The six plays in this varied and vigorous anthology are the measure of his success.</p> <p>The plays included are <i>The Day They Let the Lions Loose</i> by Emilio Carballido (Mexico); <i>The Camp</i> by Griselda Gambaro (Argentina); <i>The Library</i> by Carlos Maggi (Uruguay); <i>In the Right Hand of God the Father</i> by Enrique Buenaventura (Colombia); <i>The Mulatto's Orgy</i> by Luisa Josefina Hernández (Mexico); and <i>Viña: Three Beach Plays</i> by Sergio Vodánovic (Chile).</p>