Actor-Network Dramaturgies The Argentines of Paris

This book provides key critical tools to significantly broaden the readers’ perception of theatre and performance history: in line with posthuman thought, each chapter engages Actor-Network Theory and similar theories to reveal a comprehensive range of human and non-human agents whose collaborations impact theatre productions but are often overlooked. The volume also greatly expands the information available in English on the networks created by several Argentine artists. Through a transnational, transatlantic perspective, case studies refer to the lives, theatre companies, staged productions, and visual artworks of a number of artists who left Buenos Aires during the 1960s due to a mix of personal and political reasons. By establishing themselves in the French capital, queer playwright Copi and directors Jorge Lavelli, Alfredo Arias, and Jérôme Savary, among others, became part of the larger group of intellectuals known as “the Argentines of Paris” and dominated the Parisian theatre scene between the 1980s and 90s. Focusing on these Argentine artists and their nomadic peripeteias, the study thus offers a detailed description of the complexity of agencies and assemblages inextricably involved in theatre productions, including larger historical events, everyday objects, sexual orientation, microbes, and even those agents at work well before a production is conceived.

1. Introduction: Theatre Actor-Networks between Argentina and France.- 2. Copi, Savary, the Grand Magic Circus, and Other Actors: The Actor-Network Dramaturgy of Good Bye Mister Freud.- 3. A Tale of Two (and Other) Cities: The TSE Group from Buenos Aires to Paris.- 4. The Argentine Network in Paris: Lavelli, Copi, the TSE Group, and Other Stealthy Actors at the Top of French Decentralization.- 5. Conclusions: Developing an Actor-Network Dramaturgical Vision.- Synoptic Chronology of Relevant Events, 1930–1993

Stefano Boselli is Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Dramaturgy in the Theatre Department at the University of Nevada, USA, and Resident Dramaturg at the Nevada Conservatory Theatre. Stefano is also a Las Vegas and New York based theatre scholar and stage director who enjoys combining theory with practice. His book chapters on Latin American and French drama, theatre, and performance are forthcoming in collections. His articles on Italian, British, and US theatre have been published in several peer reviewed journals.