Jesusa Rodriguez
Encyclopedia
Jesusa Rodríguez is a Mexican
director, actress, playwright, performance artist, and social activist.
Her "espectáculos" (a Spanish
word that can mean both spectacle and show) do not necessarily adhere to traditional genre classification: they can reflect elite styles or popular; draw on Greek tragedy, cabaret
, pre-Columbian
, opera
tic traditions; take the form of a revue, sketch, "carpa
", or political performance art. She and her wife, Argentine singer/actress Liliana Felipe, operated El Habito and Teatro de la Capilla, alternative performances spaces in Mexico City, until 2005.
In the 1980s Rodríguez notably directed an adaption of Mozart's Don Giovanni
, featuring an all-female cast, entitled Donna Giovanni (1983), and Oskar Panizza
's El Concilio de Amor (The Council of Love) in 1988. Rodríguez won an Obie for Best Actor in Las Horas de Belén, A Book of Hours (1999) along with Ruth Maleczech and New York-based Mabou Mines
.
Rodríguez also contributes regularly to Mexico's most important feminist journal, Debate Feminista.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
director, actress, playwright, performance artist, and social activist.
Her "espectáculos" (a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word that can mean both spectacle and show) do not necessarily adhere to traditional genre classification: they can reflect elite styles or popular; draw on Greek tragedy, cabaret
Kabarett
Kabarett is a form of cabaret which developed in Germany from 1901, with the creation of the Überbrettl venue, and that by the Weimar era in the mid 1920s was characterized by political satire and gallows humor...
, pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic traditions; take the form of a revue, sketch, "carpa
Carpa
In Mexico and the Southwestern United States, the carpa theater flourished during the 1920s and 30s. Like its American counterpart vaudeville, performances were varied, including comedic sketches, puppet shows, political satire, acrobatics, and dance.Some well-known carpas include Carpa Valentina...
", or political performance art. She and her wife, Argentine singer/actress Liliana Felipe, operated El Habito and Teatro de la Capilla, alternative performances spaces in Mexico City, until 2005.
In the 1980s Rodríguez notably directed an adaption of Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, featuring an all-female cast, entitled Donna Giovanni (1983), and Oskar Panizza
Oskar Panizza
Leopold Hermann Oskar Panizza was a German psychiatrist and avant-garde author, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and literary journal editor...
's El Concilio de Amor (The Council of Love) in 1988. Rodríguez won an Obie for Best Actor in Las Horas de Belén, A Book of Hours (1999) along with Ruth Maleczech and New York-based Mabou Mines
Mabou Mines
Mabou Mines is an avant-garde theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City.-History:Mabou Mines is a collaborative, avant-garde theater company based in New York City...
.
Rodríguez also contributes regularly to Mexico's most important feminist journal, Debate Feminista.