Solórzano, Carlos (1922–)

Carlos Solórzano (b. 1 May 1922), Mexican playwright, director, professor, critic, historian, and governmental impresario. Born in Guatemala City, Solórzano moved to Mexico in 1939 to pursue studies in architecture and literature. In 1948 he received a degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He studied dramatic art in Paris until 1951. Solórzano's exposure to French existentialism resulted in a successful three-act play, Las manos de Dios (1956), in which the protagonist chooses personal freedom and metaphorically the freedom of humanity over the repressive forces of church and state. Two earlier full-length plays and several one-act works deal with similar issues. Solórzano was the first critic to deal with twentieth-century Latin American theater on a hemispheric scale; his two books present overviews of major currents and comparative views by country. For years Solórzano was artistic director of the University Theater, taught classes, and wrote reviews and criticism; during the presidency of José López Portillo, he promoted theater under a project called Teatro de la Nación (1977–1981). In 1985 he became a professor emeritus at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, or UNAM. In 1989 he was awarded the Premio Universidad Nacional and the Premio Nacional de Literatura Miguel Angel Asturias in Mexico, and he also won the Premio Nacional de Literatura de Guatemala in that same year. In 1993 his Crossroads, and Other Plays was published in English. Five years later he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Universidad Nacional de Guatemala. He is married to Beatriz Caso de Solórzano, a sculptor and artist.

See alsoTheater .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Careaga, Gabriel. Sociedad y teatro moderno en México. México, DF: Editorial Joaquín Moritz, 1994.

El teatro hispanoamericano del siglo XX (1961 and 1964).

Feliciano, Wilma. "Myth and Theatricality in Three Plays by Carlos Solórzano," in Latin American Theatre Review 25, no. 1 (Fall 1991): 123-133.

Feliciano, Wilma. El teatro mítico de Carlos Solórzano. México, DF: Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1995.

Radcliff-Umstead, Douglas. "Solórzano's Tormented Puppets," in Latin American Theatre Review 4, no. 2 (Spring 1971): 5-11.

Rivas, Esteban. Carlos Solórzano y el teatro hispanoamericano. México, 1970.

Rosenberg, John. "The Ritual of Solórzano's Las manos de Dios," in Latin American Theatre Review 17, no. 2 (Spring 1984): 39-48.

                                      George Woodyard