The Unfinished Art of Theater

"The Unfinished Art of Theater provides a valuable contribution to theater studies, Latin American studies, as well as to studies of the global avant-gardes. Drawing from impressive archival research, the book expands our understanding of the avant-gardes in Mexico and Brazil through the study of little- or unknown experiments with theater." —Ericka Beckman, author of Capital Fictions: The Literature of Latin America’s Export Age

“Sarah J. Townsend’s The Unfinished Art of Theatre is a tour de force. It reveals that theatrical experiments were key to the development of twentieth century Brazilian and Mexican aesthetic and political philosophies, rather than only playing at their margins. Townsend’s meticulous research and careful theorizing recasts our understandings of nationalism, avant-gardism and transnational influence, with a light hand and wry humor throughout.” –Patricia A. Ybarra, author of Latinx Theater in the Times of Neoliberalism

“Sarah J. Townsend’s The Unfinished Art of the Theater offers a rich, layered account of experimental theater in Mexico and Brazil that reconsiders and enlivens the concept of the avant-garde. Foregrounding the materiality and incompleteness of theater as integral to our notions the avant-garde, Townsend’s book is a compelling addition to theater and performance studies.” –Sarah Bay-Cheng, author of Mama Dada: Gertrude Stein’s Avant-Garde Theater