“Marginality Beyond Return takes marginality as a keyword in part because of the ways in which Cuban theater and its historiography falls out of the teleo- logical understanding of Latinx/e theater, which is itself based more clearly on Chicane or Nuyorican models of transformation. The contribution of the book is less one of learning something new about Cuban identity and more Manzor’s contribution to thinking about how theater was important to and registered many shifts in Cuban identity over the years, which changes the history/ historiography of Latino theatre history.” Patricia Ybarra, Professor of Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown University “Groundbreaking and deeply researched, Marginality Beyond Return’s compre- hensive study of US Cuban theater and performance uncovers little-k nown archival ephemera and moves skillfully between theory, sociocultural context, theater historiography, and textual and performance analysis to show how per- formance enacts a US Cuban ‘identity- in- difference.’ The book is an invaluable contribution to Latino cultural studies.” Camilla Stevens, Rutgers University Marginality Beyond Return This study is an exploration of US Cuban theatrical performances written and staged primarily between 1980 and 2000. Lillian Manzor analyzes early plays by Magali Alabau, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, María Irene Fornés, Eduardo Machado, Manuel Martín Jr., and Carmelita Tropicana, as well as these playwrights’ participation in three foundational Latine theater projects— INTAR’s Hispanic Playwrights- in- Residence Laboratory in New York (1980–1 991), Hispanic Playwrights Project at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, CA (1986–2 004), and The Latino Theater Initiative at Center Theater Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles (1992– 2005). She also studies theatrical projects of reconciliation among Cubans on and off the island in the early 2000s. Demonstrating the foundational nature of these artists and projects, the book argues that US Cuban theater problematizes both the exile and Cuban-American paradigms. By investigating US Cuban theater, the author theorizes via performance, ways in which we can intervene in and refor- mulate political and representational positionings within the context of hybrid cultural identities. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in Performance Studies, Transnational Latine Studies, Race and Gender Studies. Lillian Manzor is an associate professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Miami’s College of Arts and Sciences, Faculty lead for Latin American and Caribbean Research at the University of Miami Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas, USA, and founding director of the Cuban Theater Digital Archive. Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies This series is our home for cutting-e dge, upper- level scholarly studies and edited collections. Considering theatre and performance alongside topics such as reli- gion, politics, gender, race, ecology, and the avant- garde, titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established subjects and innovative studies on emerging topics. Live Visuals History, Theory and Practice Steve Gibson, Donna Leishmann, Stefan Arisona, Atau Tanaka The Celestial Dancers Manipuri Dance on Australian Stage Amit Sarwal Marginality Beyond Return US Cuban Performances in the 1980s and 1990s Lillian Manzor Staging Rebellion in the Musical, Hair Marginalised Voices in Musical Theatre Sarah Browne Shakespeare and Tourism Valerie Pye, Robert Ormsby Contemporary Chinese Queer Performance Hongwei Bao Rapa Nui Theatre Staging Indigenous Identities in Easter Island Moira S. Fortin Cornejo For more information about this series, please visit: www.routle dge.com/ Routle dge- Advan ces- in- Thea tre- - Perf orma nce- Stud ies/ book- ser ies/ RATPS Marginality Beyond Return US Cuban Performances in the 1980s and 1990s Lillian Manzor First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Lillian Manzor The right of Lillian Manzor to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 9781032138107 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032138718 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003231196 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003231196 Typeset in Bembo by Newgen Publishing UK Contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction / Introducción 1 1 Uno. “Mister, Don’t Touch the Banana”: Transculturation, Networks of Proximity, and US Cuban Theater 22 2 Dos. “Momento renacentista”: US Cubans and Latine Off- Off- Broadway 68 3 Tres. “¡Ay mama Inés!”: Gender, Ethnicity, Blackness, and Racism 119 4 Cuatro. “La vida en rosa”: Carmelita Tropicana’s Performative Excess 190 5 Cinco. “Todos por lo mismo”: From Bridges to Greater Cuba 239 Index 295 Acknowledgments This book started outside of Duo Theater in March 1990, after the premiere of Elías Miguel Muñoz’s L.A. Scene. In a post- performance conversation with playwrights Pedro Monge Rafuls and Manuel Martín Jr., they asked me why my research only focused on narrative. They encouraged me to write about what I had seen, which I did and eventually published in Gestos. I owe this book to both. On the West Coast, I thank Juan Villegas, for giving me the opportunity to participate for several years in UC-I rvine’s Organized Research Initiative on Hispanic Theaters. This initiative, along with the UC-I rvine Humanities Research Institute, UC-I rvine’s Focused Research Group on Woman and the Image, and Chicano/ Latino Studies (SCR 43), funded my earliest research on US Cuban and Latine theaters. I am most grateful to my Irvine colleague and mentor Jane Newman, for reading the first versions of some of these pages, along with the Irvine students who eventually became colleagues and friends: Karen Christian, Grace Dávila López, Carmela Ferradáns, Teresa Marrero, and Alejandro Yarza. I would also like to thank Rosa Ileana Boudet for her willing- ness to share her knowledge about Cuban theater, as well as her materials and her historical memory as a spectator. Last, but not least, I must acknowledge my carnala Alicia Arrizón, Norma Alarcón, and the many other Chicanas comadres with whom I experienced and from whom I learned embodied theory, practice, and praxis. I would not be who I am today if it were not for them. In New York, Iván Acosta continues to connect me with his theatrical networks, as Max Ferrá did while he was artistic director of INTAR. I have had the luxury to attend many performances with Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, Nilo Cruz, Carmelita Tropicana, and Caridad Svich. I thank them for their beau- tiful and important plays and their insightful conversations in many cities in the United States throughout these years. Nilo and Caridad deserve a note of apology. Their important plays in the 1990s were originally part of this book, but I decided to include them in my next book project that will be dedicated solely to their work. A note of gratitude to Marlene Cancio Ramírez, Marcial Godoy- Anativia, and Diana Taylor from the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics who gave me the opportunity to meet countless performers from the Americas and allowed me to share my research throughout the HEMI’s Encuentros. Acknowledgments ix My move to Miami, a city in which I could not live in the 1980s and early 1990s, allowed me to get to know, collaborate, and become friends with numerous artists and producers who have culturally shaped Miami where I have been leaving since 1995. First and foremost, I would like to thank director Alberto Sarraín (many say he is my second husband) and producer Ever Chávez; both have been my partners in crime and have helped transform Miami’s the- atrical landscape in Spanish. A special thanks to Beatriz J. Rizk whose gen- erosity and knowledge of the New York, Miami, and Latin American theater scenes have enriched my way of viewing and writing about theater. Many artists have kindly shared their work and have included me in their difficult theatrical adventures throughout the years. They are the ones who have taught me not only what theater is but what it can be, regardless of the lack of finan- cial support. These include Carlos Miguel Caballero, Micheline Calvert, Nilo Cruz, Eddy Díaz Souza, Juan David Ferrer, Sandra and Ernesto García, Alexa Kuve, Yvonne López Arenal, Lili Rentería, Mabel Roch, Teresa María Rojas, Mario Ernesto Sánchez, Javier Siut, Liliam Vega, Larry Villanueva, and many, many others. In La Habana, Matanzas, Camagüey, and Ciego de Ávila, many artists, friends, family members, and collaborators have shared their work and their homes during my visits, alone, or with my husband and videographer, Daniel Correa. Antón Arrufat, Mariela Brito, Raquel Carrió, Nelda Castillo, Carlos Celdrán and Manolo Garriga, Carlos Díaz, Norge Espinosa, Jennys Ferrer and Juan Germán Jones, Pedrito Franco, Eberto García Abreu, Jaime Gómez Triana, Abel González Melo, Maité Hernández-Lorenzo, Yohayna Hernández, Nieves Laferté, Julio Maitena, Vivian Martínez Tabares, Martica Minipunto, Raul Martín, Sahily Moreda, Odalys Moreno, Freddy Núñez, Ulises Rodríguez Febles, Omar Valiño, and many others have helped us navigate the contem- porary Cuban theatrical scenes throughout these years. I would like to offer a special note of gratitude to Gisela González Cerdera who, despite the polit- ical divide, always facilitated my visits and my projects. We got to know each other folding and stapling hundreds of theater programs in Miami in 2001. She rolled her sleeves till the end and made sure our complicated theater projects could come to fruition. My cousins Selva and Sonia Díaz- Duque (whom my mother loved as the sisters she never had), Manny, Roxanna and Luis Alberto Valdés, Leisy and Libet Alonso, Carlos Alberto Manzor and Chiqui Pérez, and Yamile Manzor gave up the comfort of their homes to host us innumerable times. ¡No tengo cómo agradecerles! The University of Miami has been my intellectual home for the last 25 years, and my colleagues have made me the scholar that I am today. Rebecca Biron and Michelle Warren became my first intellectual and personal friends in 1995. Since then, the publications of and conversations with Hugo Achugar, Susanna Allés-Torrent, Chrissy Arce, Christina Civantos, Steve Butterman, Tracy Devine Guzmán, Viviana Díaz Balsera, Ralph Heyndels, Elena Grau-Lleveria, Gema Pérez-Sánchez, Allison Schifani, Maria Galli Stampino, and Omar Vargas, each in their own way, have offered new insights to my research. Lilly Leyva has