Osvaldo Sandoval Leon

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Osvaldo Sandoval Leon

Associate Professor of Spanish

Department/Office Information

Romance Languages

207 Lawrence Hall

Contact

osandoval@colgate.edu (315) 228-7768

My research focuses on contemporary trans-Atlantic theater and performance studies in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay) and Spain. I examine plays and performances produced in the post-dictatorship context by a generation of recognized and emerging playwrights and artists. In my publications, I examine a theater that recovers erased memories and confronts taboo discourses, intervening in the politics of repression by decentralizing dominant narratives. My approach analyzes the collaborative interplay among authors, directors, actors, and audiences in the construction of dialogues between past and recent conflicts that reawaken fear and trauma in post-dictatorship societies.

As a faculty member at 56�Թ��, I have integrated my scholarship and teaching in ways that mutually enrich both endeavors, advancing the field of literary studies while fostering meaningful engagement with texts, language, and culture in the classroom. Through innovative course design, interdisciplinary approaches, and a commitment to equity and inclusion, I aim to cultivate a dynamic learning environment that inspires intellectual curiosity and engages students to explore complex ideas. In my advanced-level seminars, I expect a high level of commitment to fulfill the course objectives, learning goals, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of contemporary Latin American theater. .

MA, California State University, Fullerton
PhD, Michigan State University

Book

. Iberoamericana-Vervuert, 2025. (ISBN: 978-84-9192-487-6)

This book examines specific cases of political-sexual violence against women during the dictatorships in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Spain. Through an analysis of a corpus of plays written and premiered during the period 1990 to 2020, this book observes the performative dynamics of exercising sexual torture and argues how the rhetoric of gender roles penalized the inability to practice a “femininity” in accordance with the hierarchical male gaze. In addition to exposing this type of violence as a criticism of impunity, delays, and setbacks in the progress towards comprehensive reparation with a gender-based perspective in transitional justice today, the plays in this book allow us to rethink the futures of memory after representing social imaginaries in young generations of artists and citizens morally committed to their past.

Edited Volume

Sandoval-Leon, and Chrystian Zegarra, editors. Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en Latinoamérica. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana / Editora Nómada, 2022. DOI:

Peer Review Articles

“Hijxs de la memoria: (pos)dictadura, violencia de género y resistencia en el teatro chileno contemporáneo.” Latin American Theatre Review, vol. 59, no. 1, 2025, pp. 83-104. DOI:
"." Cine silente y sonoro en la literatura iberoamericana (1895-1947). Edited by Enrique Bernales Albites y Chrystian Zegarra. Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientiae (2023): 219-244.
"Cuerpos y espectros sobrevivientes en la dramaturgia de Raquel Diana." Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en Latinoamérica, edited by Osvaldo Sandoval-Leon and Chrystian Zegarra, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana / Editora Nómada (2022): 157-174. DOI:
"Próceres de la historia: mitos, caos y drama en Memorias y olvidos de José de San Martín de Elio Brailovsky." Cuadernos Literarios. 15.18 (2021): 49-68. DOI:
“(Pos)dictadura: estrategias contestatarias y disidentes en la dramaturgia de Susana Torres Molina.” El giro performativo: perspectivas sobre el teatro latinoamericano contemporáneo. Cuadernos del CILHA: Centro de Literatura Hispanoamericana. 35 (2021) 1-27. DOI:
"Dramaturgas: dinámicas de agresión y resistencia en la (pos)dictadura del Cono Sur." Entre Caníbales. Revista de literatura. 4.12 (2021) 111-132.
“La tortura silenciada: la violencia sexual en el teatro posdictadura del Cono Sur.” Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies / Revista De Estudios De Género y Sexualidades. 46.1-2 (2020): 151–172. DOI:
“La posdictadura en Chile: alternativas a la enseñanza del género dramático.” Contextos. Estudios de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Santiago de Chile. 45 (2019).
“Del texto a la representación teatral: Espacios alegóricos de la inmigración en La puerta estrecha (2000) de Eusebio Calonge.” Spanish and Portuguese Review. 4 (2018): 83-100.
“Hacia una retórica de la presencia en el exilio en la dramaturgia de Jorge Díaz y Jerónimo López Mozo.” Revista Chilena de Literatura. 97 (2018): 297-316.
“Lo irrepresentable en escena: los olvidados en la dramaturgia de posdictadura en el Cono Sur latinoamericano.” Religación. Revista de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. 2.7 (2017): 127-142.

Book Reviews

Voces para la escena: dramaturgias actuales en España y América Latina. Edited by Miguel Carrera Garrido and Gracia Morales Ortiz. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, vol. 59 no. 2, 2025, p. 447-449. Project MUSE, .
Mi monstruo sagrado, by Alejandro Neyra. Journal of Gender and Sexuality Studies / Revista De Estudios De Género y Sexualidades, vol. 51, no. 2, 2025, p. 154-156. Project MUSE. .
Bodies on the Front Lines: Performance, Gender, and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Edited by Brenda Werth and Katherine Zien. Theatre Research International, vol. 50, no. 2, 2025, pp. 231-232.
Staging Lives in Latín American Theater, by Paola S. Hernández. Symposium: Journal in Modern Literatures, vol. 76, no. 4, 2022, pp. 247-249.
Encuentro: Latinx Performance for the New American Theater. Edited by Trevor Boffone, Teresa Marrero, and Chantal Rodriguez. Text & Presentation. The Comparative Drama Conference Series, vol. 16, 2020, pp. 193-197.

“Justicia, utopía y militancia: (re)memoria y porvenir en la dramaturgia chilena contemporánea.” 57th Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) annual convention. Pittsburgh, PA, March 5-8, 2026.
“Escena y (contra)archivo: represión sexuada y memorias de resistencia en el teatro español contemporáneo.” VIII Congreso Internacional de Estreno. Fairfield University, CT, October 29-31, 2025.
“Cuerpos (des)alojados: candombe, memoria y restitución en la obra El despojo de Marcel Sawchik Monegal.” (Part I “Cuando el cuerpo enuncia: teatro, performance y disidencias sociales”).&�Բ��;Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2025: Poner el cuerpo en Latinx América. San Francisco, CA, May 23-26, 2025. (Panel Organizer, Chair, and Presenter)
"Mundos intergeneracionales en (pos)dictadura: violencia de género, impunidad y resistencia en el teatro chileno contemporáneo." Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2024: Reaction and Resistance: Imagining Possible Futures in the Americas. Bogotá, Colombia. June 12-15, 2024.
"Teatro político: prerrogativas de la masculinidad, subjetividades femeninas y memorias disidentes en el El disparo de Estela Golovchenko." Annual Kentucky Foreign Languages Conference. Special Sessions in Latin American and Latine Theatre and Performance: Trends, Trajectories, and New Stages. University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. April 18-20, 2024.
“Partera de la historia: violencia en literatura, performance y medios audiovisuales en Latinoamérica.” Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2023: América Latina y el Caribe: Pensar, Representar y Luchar por los Derechos. Vancouver, Canada. Virtual Presentation. May 24-27, 2023. (Panel Organizer)
“DACA: aspectos culturales y voces silenciadas en comunidades (in)documentadas.” 2023 Lake Erie Latin American Cultural Studies (LELACS). Annual Symposium. “Travel and Language: Narrating the Immigrant Experience.” University of Rochester, New York. March 18, 2023.
Escenas de cambio: Representaciones de la represión política en el teatro Latinoamericano Contemporáneo. "Consumo: las narrativas del cuerpo en La fundación de Susana Torres Molina." 94th South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). November 11-13, 2022. (Organizer and Session Chair)
"Trasgrediendo la realidad de la violencia sexual sistematizada a través del acto performático en el teatro chileno posdictadura." 25th Annual Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed. Loyola University Chicago. May 26-29, 2022.
“Dramaturgas: dinámicas de agresión y resistencia en la (pos)dictadura del Cono Sur.” Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA). Syracuse University. March 23, 2022. (Guest Speaker)
Spanish-American Theater: Performing Community, (Rebuilding) Relations. "Performance digital: alternativas pedagógicas a la producción teatral en posdictadura" 93^rd South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Virtual Conference. November 4-6, 2021. (Organizer and Session Chair)
"Democracy in Rupture: Secrets, Foundations, and Resistance in the Southern Cone Postdictatorship Dramaturgy." 2020 Lake Erie Latin American Cultural Studies Symposium (LELACS). Hobart and William Smith Colleges, New York. Virtual Conference. April 7-9, 2021.
"Teatro didáctico: el escándalo social de la transición a la democracia en Chile." 92nd South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA). Virtual Conference. November, 13-15, 2020.
“Staging the Archive: Unmasking the Hidden Truth of the Disappeared in NN12 (2010) by Gracia Morales.” American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) 2019 Annual Conference. Arlington, Virginia. November 7-10, 2019.
“Teatro del insilio: víctimas y cómplices en La complicidad de la inocencia (Terror y miseria de la clase media argentina).” LASA 2019: Nuestra América: Justice and Inclusion. Boston, Massachusetts. May 24-27, 2019.
“Staging Inner Exile: Fear, Misery, and Complicity of a Mutilated Argentinian Society during the Dictatorship.” 43rd Comparative Drama Conference. Orlando, Florida. April 4-6, 2019.
“Del texto a la representación teatral: vidas y cuerpos vulnerables en La puerta estrecha (2000) de Eusebio Calonge.” New Harmony Contemporary Spanish Theater Conference. Stages of Utopia, Dystopia, and Myopia. University of Southern Indiana. New Harmony, Indiana. October 10-12, 2018.
“El desplazamiento en su función de desarraigo y multiarraigo en Nuestra Señora de las Nubes (1998) y Canción de cuna para un anarquista (2002).” Third Annual Latin American, Latino/a, & Iberian Studies Association of the Pacific Northwest Conference (LALISA). Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. April 6-7, 2018.

56�Թ�� (2019 - Present)

Latin American Women Dramatists
Posdictatorial Transatlantic Theater
Latin American Dictatorship Theater
Latin America Literature: Colonialism, Mestizaje, and Independencies
The Many Voices of Latin American Literature: from Modernismo to the 21st Century
CORE Communities: Mexico
Advanced Composition and Stylistics
Intermediate Spanish, Language and Literature

Michigan State University (2014 - 2019)

Introduction to Hispanic Literatures
Cultural Reading and Composition
Second-Year Spanish I and II
Elementary Spanish II
Review of Elementary Spanish

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