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Make the Dream Real: World-Building Performance by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis
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Published
Jul 8, 2026
ISBN-13
9781835953624

Make the Dream Real: World-Building Performance by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis

by Martinson, Karen Jean
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781835953624

Explores the intricate world-building of El Vez's performances and how they enable audiences to imagine a more socially just society.

El Vez, also known as the Mexican Elvis, presents a powerful message of social justice and inclusion in his performances. Make the Dream Real interrogates how this message is activated through world-building: the use of a variety of theoretical, theatrical, and musical tactics that bring into being a progressive social space that refutes the current economic, political, social, and cultural configurations of the United States.

World-building in an El Vez show immerses the audience in a social space in which equal rights are guaranteed, inclusivity is fostered, difference is valued, and the violence of economic inequality is mitigated. Using a dramaturgical methodology that marries critical inquiry with theatrical practice, the book delves into the theoretical foundations that inform artist Robert Lopez's work, and each chapter analyzes a different performative component he uses.

Make the Dream Real interrogates how El Vez's playful engagements hold the United States to its egalitarian promises, voicing and enacting--however fleetingly--a just and richly inclusive social space through performance.

Product details

Pub dateJul 8, 2026
ISBN-10183595362X
ISBN-139781835953624
LanguageEnglish
Last updated 2026-09-08 17:37
$34.90
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