The idea for a scholarly journal devoted to Latin American theatre activities surfaced in 1966 at a faculty party hosted by Cy DeCoster to welcome a new member of KU’s Spanish & Portuguese Department, George Woodyard. At the time, I was an assistant professor of Speech and Drama, and my wife was an instructor of Portuguese. Prior to that, I was at Bowdoin College, where I produced and directed the Brazilian comedy O Auto da Compadecida in English translation. So it was an especially delightful initial encounter between George (from a literary standpoint) and myself (from a theatrical one). As we say, “conversa vai, e conversa vem,” and the subject of a specialized publication arose in our chat. It took very little time for us to work up a plan to present to George Waggoner, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and John Augelli, Chair of the Latin American Studies program, both of whom enthusiastically supported the project financially and as “special fans.” While George secured the first authors for our soon-to-be journal, I tackled the mailing list, dimensions, documentation, and cover design. That cover, originally created by a Library staff member, acknowledged in the first number, remains unchanged. I spent three months in Brazil establishing personal contacts and inviting submissions to the journal from leading figures of the professional and academic theatre communities. As the manuscripts began arriving, George and I learned to work together to select the best of them, verify the documentation cited, edit the language when appropriate, commission book reviews, and so forth. Working with George was one of the most agreeable, easy-going, and harmonious experiences in my professional life. During that period, I again directed the Auto da Compadecida at the KU Experimental Theatre, as well as Dias Gomes ́s O Pagador de Promessas. In 1971, I joined the faculty at the University of São Paulo, where I remained for the following 35 years. I remain profoundly grateful to the KU administrators for their support of LATR and to George Woodyard, who was able to carry out fully our joint “scholarly dream.”

中文翻译：

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LATR的诞生

1966年，在由Cy DeCoster主持的一次学术晚会上，出现了专门研究拉丁美洲戏剧活动的学术期刊的想法，当时他欢迎KU西班牙和葡萄牙语系的新成员George Woodyard。当时，我是语音和戏剧的助理教授，我的妻子是葡萄牙语的讲师。在此之前，我曾在Bowdoin学院学习和指导巴西喜剧O Auto da Compadecida的英文翻译。因此，这是乔治（从文学的角度）和我自己（从戏剧的角度）之间特别令人愉快的初次接触。正如我们所说的，“交谈，交谈”，以及专门出版物的主题出现在我们的聊天中。我们花了很少的时间制定一项计划，提交给艺术与科学学院院长George Wagoner和John Augelli，拉丁美洲研究计划的主席，他们俩都在财政上热情地支持了该项目，并作为“特殊爱好者”。当乔治为我们即将出版的期刊确定第一批作者时，我处理了邮件列表，尺寸，文档和封面设计。该封面最初是由图书馆工作人员创建的，但在第一个数字中被确认，但仍保持不变。我在巴西度过了三个月的时间，与他们建立了个人联系并邀请专业和学术戏剧界的知名人士向该期刊投稿。当手稿开始出现时，我和乔治学会了一起工作，以选择最好的手稿，验证引用的文档，在适当的时候编辑语言，委托书审查等等。与乔治一起工作是最愉快，随和的，和我职业生涯中的和谐经历。在此期间，我再次导演了位于KU实验剧院的Auto da Compadecida以及Dias Gomes的O Pagador de Promessas。1971年，我加入了圣保罗大学的教职，并在此工作了35年。我对KU管理员对LATR的支持以及乔治·伍德亚德（George Woodyard）表示深深的感谢，他们能够充分实现我们的共同“学者之梦”。