1. 1 The writing of this article took place against the backdrop of the charges of sexual assault and criminal sexual conduct in the world of Olympic gymnastics. Over the course of the last two years, the sports world has been rocked by the sentencing of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar to over one hundred years in jail for his years of abuse of hundreds of female gymnasts and spanning the last few decades. At the same time, the Karolyi Ranch in Texas, serving as a training camp for Olympic gymnasts has since come under the media spotlight for the appalling and unhygienic conditions of the facilities, showers, and dormitories, recently denounced by gold-winning gymnast and survivor of Nassar’s abuse, Aly Raisman. Writing for CNN, Holly Yan notes the “verbal and emotional abuse that fostered a culture of fear” on the part of the owners, Bela and Martha Karolyi. This real-world situation parallels that depicted in the Spanish synchronized swimming team discussed in this article, as both sports share a culture of body regulation and performativity.
2. 2 Mar Gómez Glez currently resides in Madrid (Spain) as a full-time playwright. In addition, she directs classes and workshops on creative writing and playwriting. Most recently, she led the workshop “Teatro documental: del acontecimiento a la escena,” through the Universidad de Burgos (July 9-30, 2018). Gómez Glez received her Ph.D. in 2013 from New York University and has enjoyed academic appointments at Vassar College, NYU, Bard College, and the University of Southern California. Her plays have been performed in various national and international locations such as Madrid, New York, Los Angeles, Charlottesville (Virginia), Mumbai, Munich, Salzburg, and Frankfurt.
3. 3 One exception is that of Jeffrey Coleman’s “‘Espérate un par de siglos’: La (in)visibilidad de los negros en el teatro español,” where he briefly discusses Cifras in his overall analysis of the lack of multiracial representation on the Spanish stage (3). In a recent issue of Don Galán on “Mujer y teatro en la España del siglo XXI,” Gómez Glez is mentioned in David Rodríguez-Solas’s piece on “Dramaturgas del siglo XXI” thought only in list-form as one of a group of playwrights who has seen her work published in the collection “Dramaturgias actuales.”
4. 4 Other plays such as Fuga Mundi, 39 Defaults, and Petra y Carina reflect current social concerns and topics such as hereditary roots and prejudice, the Spanish economic crisis and globalization, and the expression of homosexual love in the digital age
5. 5 The names of the protagonists are certainly laden with mythological overtones, as Teresa López Pellisa points out in her introductory comments to the play: “Si los Juegos Olímpicos tienen su origen en la Grecia clásica, los nombres escogidos para las protagonistas de esta obra nos trasladan a esa época, a través de Elena y Diana, de la tragedia de Troya y de la diosa de la Tierra” (9-10). Of course, the fictional name of the coach, Eva, likewise accrues symbolic and biblical connotations as well as possible associations with Eva Perón, reinforced through the connection with the tango music in the play. However, it is important to note that while the names of the protagonists form part of the dramatic fiction, Gómez Glez includes the names of real-life Russian swimmers Natalia Ishchenko, Anastasia Davydova, and Svetlana Romashina, thereby further enhancing the verisimilitude of the action and setting.