CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE
Reclaiming Medea: Transforming Latin American Immigrant Identity Through Adaptations
of Greek Tragedy
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Arts in Theatre
By
Laura Covault
May 2016
Copyright by Laura Covault 2016
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The Master’s thesis of Laura Covault is approved:
Dr. Hillary Miller Date
Professor Lawrence Biederman Date
Dr. Ah-jeong Kim, Chair Date
California State University, Northridge
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Ah-jeong Kim for her guidance, expertise and patience over my years at California State University Northridge. None of this would have been possible without your constant support and encouragement. Thank you Dr. Hillary Miller and
Professor Larry Biederman for sharing your incredible knowledge and giving so much time to this thesis. Thank you to Professor Efren Delgadillo for sharing your experiences with me.
Special thanks to Dr. Leigh Kennicott for inviting me to the Getty Villa lecture and inspiring this thesis and to Dr. Ron Popenhagen for expanding the world of theatre and encouraging me to think outside the box.
My deepest thanks go to my family and friends for your unending support and encouragement through my graduate studies and the writing of this thesis. Thank you to my mother for your advice and constant support. Thank you to my best friend Karen for helping me to find my path. And last, but most definitely not least, thank you to my husband Mark and my daughters Emilia and Sarah. Without your patience, love, and understanding, I would not be where I am today.
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Table of Contents
Copyright Page ii
Signature Page iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract v
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Alfaro’s Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles: Sociological Perspective 16
Chapter 2: Issues of Identity in Moraga’s The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea 33
Chapter 3: Alfaro’s Adaptation: Community and Audience Reception 46
Critics’ Reception 46
Educators’ Reception 55
Chapter 4: Moraga’s Adaptation and Audience Reception 59
Chapter 5: The Problem With Poetics and the Well Made Play 67
Conclusion 70
Works Cited 73
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Abstract
Reclaiming Medea: Transforming Latin American Immigrant Identity Through Adaptations
of Greek Tragedy
By
Laura Covault
Master of Arts in Theatre
This thesis will examine adaptations of Euripides’s Medea by playwrights Luis
Alfaro and Cherrie Moraga. In isolating issues of Latin American identity and immigration expressed in the adaptations, this thesis will explore how the playwrights integrated these issues into their works. The sociological analysis through which Alfaro’s Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles will be viewed approaches the Latin American immigrant experience utilizing a phenomenological approach modeled after and informed by various sociological experts and theorists. Moraga’s The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea will be examined as a vehicle for rewriting history within the context of her personal struggles with sexuality, gender discrimination and indigeneity. This thesis will also address how localization, humor, and settings in which the productions took place affected the reception of the adaptations.
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Introduction
When playwright Luis Alfaro wandered into a bookstore in 2004, he came across a great bargain: ten Greek plays for ten dollars. The first play he read was Sophocles’
Electra, in which a young girl murders her mother to avenge her father’s death. While he was reading the play, he was also working with imprisoned youths and one of the young girls confided that she had murdered her mother to avenge her father’s death. He realized that thousands of years later, we are still in