Theatre History Studies

Noe Montez's Memory, Transitional Justice, and Theatre in Postdictatorship Argentina joins the rich archive of theatre and performance scholarship on politics, memory, and state violence in Argentina. A substantial study of theatre produced in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the book engages with the legacy of Argentine theatre criticism from the dictatorship and democratic transition, namely, works from Catherine Boyle, Jean Graham-Jones, Ana Elena Puga, and Diana Taylor. Montez anchors and contextualizes each chapter within Argentina's post-dictatorship history, giving an illuminating account of the complex shifts in approaches to transitional justice, which he defines as "the practice of responding to human rights violations and state-sanctioned violence through governmental action" (5). The detailed analyses of productions draw on the author's background as a theatre historian, director, and dramaturg and comment on venues, audiences, "directing, design, and performance, in addition to the text" (13). Written with English-speaking readers and audiences in mind, Montez presents an accessible compilation of archived, filmed productions and pieces that toured internationally. The selected repertoire also foregrounds emerging artists from the last few decades and introduces readers to innovative practitioners and techniques. Together, the chapters consider how theatre producers have used the stage as a space for negotiating policies, memory, and modes of memorializing those lost to violence.

The first chapter turns to the Menem administration (1989–1999) and their attempts to reunify the nation through policies centered on "reconciliation and forgetting" following the nation's transition to democracy (1982–1983) (17). Through an analysis of four plays and productions by El Periférico de Objetos, Javier [End Page 221] Daulte, Marcelo Bertuccio, and Luis Cano, Montez illustrates how a new generation of theatre producers subverted official discourses of reconciliation through experimental, postmodern forms and nonlinear narratives. Montez examines how the performances explore approaches to representing violence and the unreliability of memories while developing spaces for critical reflection by placing "interpretive responsibilities on spectators" (54).

The second chapter depicts the work and legacy of Teatroxlaidentidad (Theatre for Identity), a play festival and workshop founded in 2000 by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, an NGO dedicated to reuniting children kidnapped during the dictatorship with their birth families. Montez traces the lineage of the festival from its positioning as a descendent of the antiauthoritarian Teatro Abierto (Open Theatre) through its expansion to international tours.

The majority of the chapter is dedicated to productions by Patricia Zangaro, Héctor Levy-Daniel, and Mariana Eva Pérez that emphasize the centrality of heredity and biological identity in the Grandmothers' collaborations with artists. Montez's compelling discussion of Pérez's Instrucciones para un coleccionista de mariposas (Instructions for a Butterfly Collector) (2002) exemplifies a shiftin recent productions to challenge the Grandmothers' strong use of genetic language and idealized kinship narratives (99).

In the third chapter, Montez takes up theatre produced during the Cristina Kirchner presidencies (2003–2015), a period marked by increased legislative and judicial reforms and accountability for state-sanctioned violence. Montez maps a turn in theatre to address the experiences of children raised during the dictatorship and the aftermath of collective societal harm as seen in productions by Damiana Poggi and Virginia Jáuregui, Federico León, Mariano Pensotti, and Lola Arias. In response to the inconsistent and muddled accounts of the dictatorship and the years following it, Montez recounts how cultural producers of this era frequently used forms of self-documentation and personal artifacts to explore the construction of memory and the self (109–10). He argues that the theatremakers of this generation do not merely provide subjective testimonials but also "speak to a larger cultural need to document the self" amid histories of disappearance (111). The plays of this period reflect the transitional policies and practices centered by the Kirchner administrations as the artists explore the relationship between personal memories, self-documentation, and the archive.

The fourth chapter considers how performances have contributed to and disputed narratives surrounding...