UC Santa Cruz

The theater as a means of expression can go beyond an aesthetic ideal. It can give agency to those who due to different circumstances have either lost their voices or have remained silent. It has the power to question humanity, to speak of historical processes, and to tell stories of the people that remained marginalized.

This thesis explores how through a staging of my own version, “El Corrido de Pedro Páramo”, a bilingual (“Espanglish ”) adaptation based on the novel Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, I was able to empower the Latino community at the University of California, Santa Cruz by giving them a voice for their own cultural expression, while bringing together a diverse audience to view this iconic work through the use of a bilingual approach. My adaptation of the text reframes two central characters using a feminist lens, and incorporates the corrido form, a musical device that empowered the female voice. My adaptation reflects both the original identities of Rulfo’s writing, and their transposition through my innovations.