 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Rodolfo Usigli" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Rodolfo Usigli | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Rodolfo Usigli receiving a press recognition in 1977 | |
| Born | (1905-11-17)November 17, 1905. |
| Died | June 18, 1979(1979-06-18) (aged 73) |
| Occupation | Playwright, poet, novelist |
| Notable works | El gesticulador |
| Notable awards | National Prize for Arts |
Rodolfo Usigli Wainer (November 17, 1905 – June 18, 1979) was a Mexican playwright, essayist, and diplomat.[1] He has been called "the father of Mexican theater"[2] and "playwright of theMexican Revolution."[citation needed] In recognition of his work to articulate a national identity for Mexican theater, he was award the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes (MexicanNational Prize for Arts and Sciences) in 1972.[2][3]
Usigli was born to anItalian father and aPolish mother inMexico City. In his early childhood, he enjoyed many plays to which his parents took him. His father aspired for him to go to music school, and Usigli spent a year in theNational Conservatory of Music before deciding that his real passion was theater. He studied drama at theYale School of Drama from 1935-1936 on aRockefeller scholarship, later becoming a professor and diplomat. During his time as a diplomat in 1945, he metGeorge Bernard Shaw in London.[4] After returning to Mexico from the U.S., he established the Midnight Theater and also became a member of the literary circle that formed around the journalContemporary.[5] During the 1930s, he directedradio dramas.
Usigli’s theatre focuses largely the history of Mexico and satirizing his contemporary Mexican society,[2]: 3811 and how the Mexican middle classes were betrayed, politically and socially, by the Mexican revolution.[6]: 307 His plays reflect a sense of the hypocrisies of life after the revolution, both criticizing society and offering models to emulate.[2]: 3811 He called for a national theater movement that would reflect the truth of the Mexican experience and express the Mexican spirit.[2]: 3811 [6]: 308
He is perhaps best known for his 1938 playEl gesticulador (The Imposter), which critiqued social issues ravaging Mexico, such as misuse of power that the bureaucracy had gotten from the Revolution of 1910. The play wascensored by the Mexican government and banned, raising Usigli's reputation.[5]
In 1942, Usigli published another work of scathing quality. InFamily Dinner at Home, his intended targets were the apex strata of the Mexican social structure. Usigli experimented withcrime fiction in the novel,Ensayo de un crimen (Rehearsal for a Crime), which in 1955 was adapted into a film,The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, byLuis Buñuel. Usigli also wrote several essays on history, art, and theater. He was also anoccasional poet, writing modest but interesting poems.[5]
The award-winning Usigli believed the objective of theatre was to tell the truth about society.[citation needed] He was known for his strong representation of women in plays.[7]: 181–182
Usigli designed strong female characters in several of his plays. Two of Usigli's protégées,Rosario Castellanos andLuisa Josefina Hernández, became important female voices on the Mexican stage. He was also a strong influence on his pupilJorge Ibargüengoitia and onJosefina Niggli.[citation needed]
TheRodolfo Usigli Archive in the Walter Havighurst Special Collections atMiami University of Ohio is a repository of Usigli's papers. The archive's website describes it as "the definitive research collection relating to Usigli's life and career, including correspondence, both manuscript and typed drafts of original plays and translations of works by other artists, personal, theatrical, and diplomatic photographs, essays, books, playbills, posters, theses written about Usigli, awards, newspaper and magazine articles, memorabilia, and ephemera."[1]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)