Fronting Failure
The fifth chapter of this book examines the intersection between the body’s diminishing capacity over time and subsequent feelings of failure in the play Perros que jamás ladraron (2013), written and directed by Rogelio Orizondo. Inspired by images of Cuba created by visitors—including Columbus, Leni Riefenstahl, and tourists—this play focuses on redefining the revolution through queer, black, and femme disability. The aesthetic of the staging is as disorganized as Riefenstahl’s work is fluid, although both work to undermine the univocality of the state. Using queer theory from Judith Halberstam and queer disability theory from Robert McRuer, this chapter explores whether feeling failure constitutes failure itself, and how collective acts of performance—such as the audience texting instructions for performers to act—fail too, but allow for a reconsideration of what is possible together.