"Theater helps us understand politics, culture, and their place in the world. To me, it is the beauty we need in times of crisis," says Analola Santana. A professional dramaturg and member of Mexico's famed Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes (Certain Inhabitants' Theatre), she teaches courses about Latin American theater and performance.
How did your upbringing inform your interest in theater?
I'm from Puerto Rico and was raised in Mexico City. In most Latin American countries, theater isn't as much of a luxury as it is in the United States. People go to the theater two or three times a week. Because of that, the theater produced there is an integral part of understanding what is going on in those parts of the world. When I teach, I show my students what artists have done all throughout Latin America.
Can you describe your research in Latin American theater?
I work with Latin American theater and performance to understand the effect that it has on political moments and cultural moments. For my first book, I examined the effect of mass media on the way we produce theater in Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. One of the lingering questions I had after finishing that book was about a persona I kept on seeing, a "freak figure." Why are we obsessed with this notion of the outcast? More specifically, why is it always a woman who is considered a freak? I've thought a lot about how we can study this. To me, it is through the arts.
What is distinct about studying theater at Dartmouth?
For one, we have a very close relationship with Northern Stage, a professional theater company in nearby White River Junction, Vermont. Students can spend an experiential term working and learning in that professional theater setting. At Dartmouth, you aren't competing with graduate students for opportunities in the theater program—that is not always true at other institutions.
How do you view your role as a teacher and mentor to undergraduates?
I've always understood my primary job to be teaching. The relationships we develop with students are truly profound. I always try to be the professor I felt I never had when I was in undergrad. I want my students to understand that anybody can write, anybody can perform, anybody can act. It is our job to teach you, to make you feel comfortable and secure enough to get there.
Photograph by Don Hamerman
