This web-site reflects work that Dr. McCleary’s Urban History (HIST 302) class did on popular theater in Argentina during the Fall Semester of 2018. Dr. McCleary translated and wrote detailed descriptions of five popular plays from 1919 Buenos Aires. Students then identified areas of the plays to research in order to better understand the relationship between nationally-produced popular entertainment and the rapidly changing urban milieu of Buenos Aires.
The web-site provides detailed notes of popular but largely forgotten plays. The website also breaks down the plays into a variety of themes that overlap in all plays, such as gender and social class relationships. Students also compiled geographic and economic data from the plays which are expressed in a map and chart. Students also researched photographs from the era and advertisements from the magazine Caras y Caretas to highlight links between Buenos Aires, entertainment, and everyday life. This is the first time that these plays have been studied –perhaps by anyone– but most certainly by scholars in the United States. The overall goal was to understand the relationship between popular representations and the lived experience of Buenos Aires in 1919. Representations are not historical reality but they do give insight into the topics and themes that circulated in the city related to shifts in gender relations and the rise of a middle class consumer society.
