A Shared Truth

A Shared Truth is an outstanding contribution to the study of Mexican theater and performance. Through her meticulous, theoretically rich, thoroughly documented, and contextualized analysis of Lagartija's repertoire, Ward demonstrates how this independent theater group devises plays that combine autobiography, national history, and documentary materials to offer a more truthful truth regarding Mexico's nebulous past and present.

A Shared Truth provides powerful insight into the theater of the real, which in Mexico has its roots in legendary playwrights who penned both current, ripped-from-the-headlines plays, as well as plays based on historical accounts of major events and well-known public figures. Ward offers a meticulously researched, engaging account of one of Mexico’s most well-known performance collectives, Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, while at the same time theorizing the intersections of personal and family histories, and the ways they question, complement, or subvert ‘official’ histories of Mexico.