Thesis with 1.5In Margin

ETHICS AND THEATER-MAKING IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICA: MAKING AND AVOIDING UNNATURAL DISASTERS A Thesis Presented to the Honors Tutorial College Ohio University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater By Olivia Rocco April 2020 This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the School of Theater Dr. José Delgado Costa Professor, Spanish Thesis Advisor Mary Rogus Professor, Journalism Thesis Advisor Dr. Matthew Cornish Director of Studies, Theater Dr. Donal Skinner Dean, Honors Tutorial College Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction....................................................................................1 Section 2: Literature Review...........................................................................2 2.1 Colonialism and Nationalism..........................................................2 2.2 Hurricane María..............................................................................9 2.3 Verbatim Theater and Ethical Concerns........................................12 Section 3: Methodology.................................................................................17 3.1 Participants....................................................................................20 3.2 Researcher Positionality................................................................21 3.3 Interviews......................................................................................22 3.4 Workshops.....................................................................................22 3.5 Consent..........................................................................................23 3.6 Data Analysis................................................................................24 Section 4: Research Results..........................................................................25 4.1 Lack of Aid....................................................................................28 4.2 Corruption.....................................................................................30 4.3 Solidarity and Community Action................................................40 4.4 Inequality and Civic Action..........................................................43 4.5 National Identity............................................................................51 4.6 Moving Forward...........................................................................58 4.7 Key Question: Anything else?.......................................................62 Section 5: Analysis of Play Construction......................................................63 5.1 How can theater restate and mobilize history?.............................63 5.2 How can theater represent atrocity?..............................................67 5.3 How can theater open avenues of identification without erasing the specificity of suffering?......................................................74 Section 6: Production Experience.................................................................76 Section 7: Conclusion....................................................................................90 Works Cited Appendix 1 Interview Questions Appendix 2 Workshop Protocol Appendix 3 Consent Documents Appendix 4 Unnatural Disasters Script 1 1. Introduction Americans often imagine themselves as champions of anti-colonial action. The origin of the country was, after all, a story of the British colonies in the soon-to-be United States defeating the great British Imperial force in the name of freedom. Unlike what the story of brave revolutionaries who fought Britain to form a new “land of the free” implies, the United States of America has not vanquished colonialism once and for all. On the contrary, the U.S. has become an imperial-colonial power on a global scale. Challenging citizens in the United States to acknowledge the American empire and turning to subjugated groups for their perspective can provide insight into the real-world consequences of these contradicting narratives. Colonial bias has informed many political decisions in the U.S. empire, which has resulted in devastating consequences for Puerto Rico, a U.S. colony. This was especially true when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and the uneasy Commonwealth status proved insufficient and unsatisfying (Harv. L. Rev. 2017; UN 2006; UN 2018). Constrained by a history of unjust colonialism, confused by a patched together legal relationship, and stunned by such instant devastation, Puerto Rico could not act, and the United States government would not help. That is the narrative that emerges when the people of Puerto Rico tell their story—one that defines colonialism as an ongoing force, articulates the challenges of fighting for rights against an empire, reveals the devastating costs of maintaining the American global power, and asks if Puerto Rico should really have to answer to the United State of America. 2 Through a process of collecting testimony for, writing, and directing a verbatim play, I explore how a verbatim theater project can provide perspective on colonial relationships. A verbatim play is constructed from speech found in court documents, speeches, interviews, personal writings, or other public documents, and has the potential to raise awareness, inspire justice, and encourage empathy. In an attempt to break the pattern of silencing and othering that maintains colonial relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, I examine how verbatim theater can 1) allow creators and audiences alike to question the deeply held colonial beliefs about Puerto Rico; 2) disrupt the dominant discourse about a significant event, Hurricane Maria, by giving a voice to the people who experienced it; and 3) examine how colonial bias can manifest in discussions of ethics and theater. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Colonialism and Nationalism After being first colonized by Spain in 1493, Puerto Ricans fought for independence for nearly 400 years, an effort that culminated in the Charter of Autonomy in 1897 (Pierce Flores, La Carta Autonómica de Puerto Rico). By 1898, Puerto Ricans had full Spanish citizenship, voting delegates in the Spanish parliament, and according to the new Charter of Autonomy, the right to their own legislature, constitution, tariffs, monetary system, treasury, judiciary, and international borders. (Denis 13; Torruella 65). This near-sovereign political status was bolstered by a clear sense of national identity, defined by ancestral diversity including Spanish, indigenous, and African heritage 3 merging into a single ethnicity (Dávila 13). Puerto Ricans had only just completed elections for the new government when United States forces invaded the island in 1898, recolonizing the archipelago in the name of liberation. Conquering Puerto Rico satisfied the U.S. mission of manifest destiny that dominated American foreign policy, but after obtaining new territory, the U.S. had to decide how to rule. Previously in United States history, territory status was always a part of the path to statehood (“Northwest Ordinance”), but in his book How to Hide an Empire, historian Daniel Immerwhar explains that when the demographics of the obtained territory did not fit the white supremacy model, the law changed (Immerwahr 77). As scholar Laura Briggs says, Puerto Rico is where the United States worked out feelings about its own expansion (Briggs 2). According to Michael Gonzalez-Cruz, the United States ensured the transfer of sovereignty with militarization, control over the means of communication, defense of the privileged classes, repression of political movements critical of or opposed to the regime, and the establishment of new local government structures (Gonzalez-Cruz 11). Throughout the 20th century, the United States shifted its governing style in Puerto Rico from a U.S. governed, militarized state to a more democratic, locally operated government, providing more rights to Puerto Ricans (U.S. Congress Organic Act of 1900; U.S. Congress Merchant Marine Act). Despite these steps toward democracy, lawmakers in the United States bought into the colonial stereotypes of Puerto Rican inferiority. Scholars Tisa Wenger and Hilda Lloréns describe how, on the basis of race, 4 language, and locality, the U.S. perpetuated the myth that the people of Puerto Rico were inferior, or otherwise incapable of self-rule (Wenger 86, Lloréns 145). That colonial rhetoric informed the Insular Cases (1901), a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases that determined the status of territories obtained in the Spanish-American War. The same Justices who upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine in the infamous Plessy v Ferguson (1896) case, determined the future of Puerto Rico in the Insular Cases. As Juan R. Toruella succinctly describes, “the rules established in the Insular Cases were simply a more stringent version of the Plessy doctrine. The newly conquered lands were to be treated not only separately, but also unequally” (Toruella 68). The Insular Cases establish that the U.S. Constitution does not apply in Puerto Rico, meaning any and all rights given to Puerto Ricans through these laws are conditional— the status of Puerto Rico is determined entirely by the United States Congress (Denis 29, Immerwahr 86). That ruling has been upheld by the Supreme Court as recently as 2016, in the Court’s ruling in the case of Commonwealth v Valle. Therefore, although Puerto Ricans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917, the

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