Brujería, Blood, and Bright Defiance

The first major anthology of New Mexican plays in more than three decades, this collection introduces a new generation of playwrights who are redefining whose stories belong on the American stage.

New Mexico’s theatrical traditions began long before Spanish colonization and have continued to evolve with the peoples and cultures of the region. In Brujería, Blood, and Bright Defiance, New Mexico dramaturg Leonard Madrid brings together seven plays by six New Mexican playwrights whose work helped shape the state’s theater from 2000 to 2020.

Drawing on New Mexico’s rich tradition of magical realism, these plays transform folklore, family stories, monsters, saints, and the small mythologies of home into vivid contemporary theater. Together, they center Indigenous storytelling, women’s experiences, and urgent questions of human rights, including violence against Indigenous women.

Expanding the theatrical record to include more works by women and Indigenous artists, Brujería, Blood, and Bright Defiance captures a vital period in which New Mexican playwrights have brought the state’s distinctive stories, traditions, and cultures to audiences at home and abroad.