In The Multicultural Paradigm, Gómez-Peña puts an enormous amount of emphasis on the use of dialogue as the tool for progress in inter/trans/multi-cultural relations:
"All we can aspire to is beginning a dialogue. This document is a humble contribution. I ask you to join in."
Elaine Peña then critiques and queries this proposal in Pedagogic Interventions, with a focus on how and among whom this dialogue ought to take place. I have a few more fundamental questions with regard to this proposal that, at the end of the day, are questions I have about theater and art in general. They include:
1. Is dialogue really the change we're seeking? And if it isn't the change in and of itself, is it really the vehicle for change? (Many revolutionaries throughout history have been unsatisfied with dialogue.)
2. Is dialogue within reach? Is it a possible goal? Gómez-Peña does argue that dialogue has never taken place between first and third world countries. (Side-note: do we agree with that?)
3. Is performance/theater/art the most useful vessel for dialogue? The most efficient? Is it worthwhile in its capacity as a dialogue-creator? And to that end, is all performance/theater/art capable and of equal value in the creation of dialogue or is there (as La Pocha Nostra seems to believe) a specific methodology for using those media to create dialogue?
Furthermore, how successful is Gómez-Peña's writing in it's attempt to create dialogue? I personally found myself feeling much more invited into the ideas of these readings, as opposed to many past readings that (intentionally and unintentionally) alienated those of us who are white, non-Spanish-speaking, and so on.
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