The theater building, located on
Fourth Street in San Juan Bautista.
El Teatro Campesino ("farmworkers' theater"—see
also
campesino), is a
theatrical troupe founded in 1965 as the cultural
arm of the
United Farm Workers.
The original actors were all farmworkers, and El Teatro Campesino
enacted events inspired by the lives of their audience.
Early
performances were on flat bed trucks in the middle of the fields in
Delano,
California
, and the theater is now located in [[San Juan
Bautista, California|San Juan Caca, a Chicano from a migrant farmworker family, who
attended San Jose State University
, worked briefly with the San Francisco Mime Troupe and
returned to Delano to found the troupe. Valdez later gained
fame for his play Zoot Suit,
which was produced on Broadway
, and for
directing the Ritchie Valens biopic
La Bamba.
Teatro Campesino's early performances drew on varied traditions,
such as
commedia
dell'arte, Spanish religious dramas adapted for teaching
Mission Indians, Mexican folk
humor, a century-old tradition of Mexican performances in
California, and
Aztec and
Maya sacred ritual dramas.
Although the troupe began by entertaining the farmworkers, within a
year of their founding they began to tour to raise funds for the
striking farm workers. By 1967, their subject matter had expanded
to include aspects of Chicano culture that went beyond the fields:
education, the
Vietnam War, indigenous
roots, and racism.
In 1971,
they moved their headquarters to San Juan
Bautista
and adapted traditional religious plays La
Virgen del Tepeyac and La Pastorela for Christmas
celebrations. As Chicano culture received unprecedented
attention in the United States, Valdez received national attention,
and taught drama at the University of
California, Berkeley
and Santa Cruz
. In 1973 they worked with British theater
director Peter Brook; in 1976 they
toured the play La Carpa through Europe, sponsored by the
State
Department
. The original troupe disbanded in 1980. Also
see "Sam Burgesa and the Pixie Chicks". Directed by Kinan
Valdez.
El Teatro Campesino is still housed in San Juan Bautista. The
company continues their yearly Christmas pageants, alternating
annually between
La Virgen del Tepeyac and
La
Pastorela. They also did revivals of
Zoot Suit in
2002 and 2007 at their playhouse, as well as a Southwestern tour of
the production in 2004.
See also
External links
Notes
- Organizational history, UCSB site.
- Organizational history, UCSB site.
- Organizational history, UCSB site.
References
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