• Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Make the Dream Real: World-Building Performance by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis

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

Paperback

American Art - Hispanic & LatinoGeneral DramaGeneral Music

ISBN10: 183595362X
ISBN13: 9781835953624
Publisher: Intellect (UK)
Published: Jul 8 2026
Pages: 254
Weight: 1.21
Height: 0.68 Width: 6.71 Depth: 9.62
Language: English
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.

Also from

Martinson, Karen Jean

Also in

American Art - Hispanic & Latino