Expanding Theatre: Directing Approaches from Contemporary Chilean Women Directors

Abstract

This thesis examines the careers, theatrical ideologies, and directing methodologies of three contemporary Chilean women stage directors: Andrea Giadach, Alexandra von Hummel, and Ignacia González. Respective chapters provide an overview of each director’s career that includes mention of formative moments. Each chapter also includes a synthesis of the director’s thinking as distilled from personal interviews and theoretical works, followed by a methodological case study that allows for analysis of specific directing methods, thus illuminating the director’s beliefs in action. In each chapter, the author asserts that the director’s innovative thinking and creative practices constitute expansions of the theatrical artform. Finally, the author traces similarities across the directing approaches of the three directors, which suggest guiding ideas for expanding the theatrical artform.

Chapter one explores the directing career of Andrea Giadach, with highlights including her acting experiences in La lluvia de verano (2005) and Mateluna (2012) and her directing projects Mi mundo patria (2008) and Penélope ya no espera (2014). Her beliefs about political theatre are illuminated through a directing case study of her 2019 production of El Círculo.

Chapter two delves into the directing career of Alexandra von Hummel, with highlights including her co-direction of La tercera obra (2005), her direction of Persiguiendo a Nora Helmer (2012), and her classroom direction of Angels in America (2006). As Von Hummel often co directs within her theatre company Teatro La María, co-directing methods are explored in an abbreviated case study of El hotel (2016). Her beliefs about theatre are illuminated through a directing case study of her 2018 production of Franco.

Chapter three examines the directing career of Ignacia González, with highlights including her directing projects La fábrica de vidrio (2015), Telepatía, la nostalgia del cuerpo (2016), and Ella y los cerdos (2019), in addition to her experiences as a participant in and creator of research-based theatre companies and her teaching assistantship with Manuela Infante. Her thinking about theatre is illuminated through a directing case study of her Punto ciego (2018).