DRAMATURGAS CHILENAS: A Staged Reading and Dicussion

Please join us for a staged reading of scenes from Sentiments by Carla Zúñiga M., in a new English-language translation by Susan E. Bowen and Yael Prizant. Set in 2013 Santiago, Chile, Zúñiga’s play considers a teenage girl as she confronts her sexual identity, and the conservative adults in her life, while being targeted by an online scandal.

The reading will be followed by a conversation about Dramaturgas Chilenas: Plays by Chilean Female Writers in the Early 21st Century (Methuen Drama, 2026) a collection of five new, English-language translations of works by prominent and award-winning, female playwrights from Chile, moderated by Anne García-Romero.

This event is co-sponsored by The Understudy and the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame.

Cast

Nelly María Charín Álvarez

María Teresa Sandra Delgado

Miss Francisca Meighan Gerachis

Pato Piñata Liam Bouza Díaz

Playwrights:

Ximena Carrera is a Chilean actor, playwright, producer, screenwriter and teacher. In 1997, she founded the theatre company, The Trumpet, with actor and director Sebastián Vila. Her works include Por encargo del olvido, Naturaleza Muerta, Medusa, and Ningún pájaro canta por cantar. She’s the 2010 winner for Best Play from the Chile Drama Critics Circle.

Nona Fernández is a Chilean actor, playwright and novelist. Her plays include El Taller, winner of the 2012 Altazor y Nuez Martín prizes, Liceo de niñas, and Paren la Música, winner of the 2021 Best Play from the Chilean Drama Critics Circle. Her award-winning novels include Mapocho, Space Invaders and Chilean Electric.

Leyla Selman is a Chilean actor, poet, and playwright. She is a member of the Colectivo Frío, a collective focusing on art, theatre and film. Her plays include El mejor truco de magia jamás visto, Ifigenia, Otra Muerta Anunciada, La Ciudad de la Fruta and Los Ojos de Lena. She’s the 2024 winner for Best Play from the Chile Drama Critics Circle.

Isidora Stevenson is a Chilean playwright, director and teacher. Her works include Campo, Hilda Peña, Réplica, Guerra, Bernarda, El nudo, Informe de una mujer que arde, Soledad Escobar, Niebla, Mi corazón es un ancla, Fin, and Amanda Labarca. She’s the 2014 winner of the Chile National Theater Festival.

Carla Zúñiga M. is a Chilean actor, playwright and teacher. In 2012, she founded the company, La Niña Horrible, with Javier Cassanga. Her works include Sentimientos, La trágica agonía de un pájaro azul, and El amarillo sol de tus cabellos largos. She’s the 2020 winner for Best Play from the Chile Drama Critics Circle.

Translators:

Susan E. Bowen is a director, translator and devisor. She has served as Artist in Residence at the Pritzker Pucker Studio Lab at Northwestern University, and as the Workshop Coordinator for the Physical Theater Festival Chicago. Susan has trained with Adam Versényi, Wynn Handman, and SITI Company. She holds an M.F.A. in Directing from Northwestern University, and a B.A. in Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Constanza Brieba is a Chilean director, actor, translator and arts administrator. She studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. She has served as a theatrical translator in Chile for the British Council, the North American Institute of Culture and the French Institute of Culture. Her theatrical translations have been produced in Chile, England and Switzerland.

Yael Prizant is an adapter, translator, devisor, and dramaturg. She holds a Ph.D. in Theatre, an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy and has taught at UCLA, the University of Notre Dame, and Johns Hopkins SAIS. Her book, Cuba Inside Out: Revolution and Contemporary Theatre, investigates effects of politics and globalization on the stage. She has translated works of Cuban playwrights and is the dramaturg for Máscaramentos at the Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.

Alexandra Ripp is a dramaturg, translator and arts administrator. She has worked at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Carolina Performing Arts, Five College Dance, and most recently with movement-based artist nora chipaumire. She served as co-editor of Imagined Theaters: Chile. She holds an MFA and DFA from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University.

Andrea Thome is a Chilean/Costa Rican-American playwright and translator. Recent plays: Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes); Cymbeline (modern English ‘translation’); A Dozen Dreams (installation); Pinkolandia (multiple U.S. productions; translated into Russian). Spanish-English translations include Guillermo Calderón’s Neva (Public Theater, CTG) and Rodrigo García’s You Should Have Stayed Home, Morons (Radar LA).

Editors:

Dr. Coca Duarte is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile School of Theatre. She’s the author of Writing the Scene, Tracing the Present: Dramatic Strategies of the Chilean Theater 2007-2017 (2023). Her plays include Juana de Arco, Mala Leche, Mal and Plaga.

Dr. Anne García-Romero is Professor of Theatre at the University of Notre Dame. She’s the author of The Fornés Frame: Contemporary Latina Playwrights and the Legacy of María Irene Fornés (2016). In 2018, she received a Luksic Foundation grant to teach in Chile. Her plays include Paloma, Juanita’s Statue, Earthquake Chica, and Santa Concepcíon. www.annegarciaromero.com

Dr. Inés Stranger is Professor of Theatre at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile School of Theatre. She’s the author of Playwriting Notebook: Theory, Technique and Exercises (2011). Her plays include Cariño, Malo, Malinche and Tálamo. She received the Fondo del Libro award from Chile’s Council on Art and Culture.