Jewish identities in the contemporary spanish theater scene

In “Mitos y memorias”, an article published in 1992 in the theater journal Primer Acto, José Monleón questions the existence and the makeup of Jewish theater in Spain during the democratic transition. Our hypothesis is that, beginning from the ‘90s of the previous century, we may be witnessing a comeback of the philo-Sephardism that characterized Spanish discourse during the early 1900s and that was partially dormant during the Franco era. As proof for our hypothesis, that is, the return of philo-Sephardism in the panorama of Spanish theater and its relevance in the current drama scene, we will investigate the main Iberian journals specializing in critical theater (Primer Acto, Artez, La Ratonera, Don Galán, etc.), identifying news and information relevant to the representation of Jewish identities from the 1990s onward. In addition to collecting data, we will put forward a synthesis of the reception of Jewish identities in the contemporary dramatic scene in Spain, with the objective of providing an original artistic and critical view of current Theater Studies. As we will see, Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict seem to be the opposite sides of the same coin for most Spanish playwrights.