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“A Little History Here, A Little Hollywood There”: (Counter-) Identifying With The Spanish Fantasy In Carlos Morton’S Rancho Hollywood And Theresa Chavez’S L.A. Real, Courtney Mohler

Courtney Mohler

Often considered the final conquest and ultimate summation of Manifest Destiny, California holds a unique place in the American imaginary. While the popular mythology of the Spanish fantasy has served to obscure the use of violence and racialized oppression throughout the colonization of the American Southwest, traces of such struggle remain in memories of the colonized as they continue to occupy this contested space. This paper examines Carlos Morton’s ensemble-based political satire, Rancho Hollywood, and Theresa Chavez’s one-woman show, L.A. Real, to navigate the dynamic experience of contemporary Southern Californian racialized identity. These two pieces diverge stylistically but share an …