Susana Alexander's One-Woman Show
Rosa Linda Fregoso speaks with the Mexican actress Susana Alexander about her one-woman show “Si me permiten hablar” (If you allow me to speak), which dramatizes the writings of Latin American woman. Alexander, who is best known for her work on Mexican soap operas, has been working with Mexico’s department of education since the early 1970s, developing an educational production for the nation’s schools. She explains that she wanted her show to portray the reality of women’s lives and their interactions with men, and she does so through the dramatization of a variety of women’s writings, including those of Violeta Parra and Elena Poniatowska. This episode features several clips from her show during which she acts out excerpts from indigenous poetry and writings as well as the story of Domitila, a Bolivian peasant.
Alexander explains that U.S. audiences always ask her about women’s liberation, and she answers that women in Latin America often suffer from problems different than those faced by women in the U.S. She explains that the former worries about survival in the face of poverty and political repression. Many U.S. and Latin American middle class audiences also criticize her for neglecting to consider the lives of middle class women, although Alexander says they are present in her work.
Alexander also discusses her efforts to raise people’s awareness about social injustice and her show is geared towards complacent Anglos and middle class society. She also explains that while she neglected to include Chicana women in this show, she will include their work in a future production.
of contemporary writers.
KEYWORDS
ActivismActivist Art
Actress
Alicia Steinberg
Amnesty International
Argentina
Audience
Bolivia
Chicano Literature
Chile
Consciousness Raising
Curanderas
Domitila
Domitila Chungara de Barrios
Drama
Dramatizations
Education
Elena Poniatowska
Feminism
Guatemala
Inca
Latin America
Maya
Melodrama
Mexican Government
Mexico
Middle class
Poetry
Poverty
Repression
Si me permiten hablar”
Soap Operas
Social Justice
Socially Conscious Art
Soldaderas
Students
Susan Alexander
Telenovelas
Television
Theatre
Third World Feminism
Torture
Tupac Amaru
Underdevelopment
Uruguay
Violeta Parra