El Teatro Campesino (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "The Farmworker's Theater") is a

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Performing in both

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

, El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the

United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the Agricultural Workers Organizing ...

and the

Chicano Movement The Chicano Movement, also referred to as El Movimiento, was a social and political movement in the United States inspired by prior acts of resistance among people of Mexican descent, especially of Pachucos in the 1940s and 1950s, and the Black ...

with the ''"full support of

César Chávez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merg ...

."'' Originally based in

Delano, California Delano ( ) is a city in Kern County, California, United States. Delano is located north-northwest of Bakersfield at an elevation of . The population was 51,428 in 2020, down from 53,041 in 2010. It is Kern County's second-largest city after B ...

, during the Delano Strike, the theatre is currently based in

San Juan Bautista, California San Juan Bautista (Spanish for " Saint John the Baptist") is a city in San Benito County, in the U.S. state of California. The population was 2,089 as of the 2020 census. San Juan Bautista was founded in 1797 by the Spanish under Fermín de Las ...

. Currently, El Teatro Campesino’s mission is “…to create a popular art with 21st century tools that presents a more just and accurate account of human history, while encouraging the young women and men of a new generation to take control of their own destiny through creative discipline, vibrant education, economic independence, and artistic excellence.”

History

Luis Valdez Luis Miguel Valdez (born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Regarded as the father of Chicano film and theater, Valdez is best known for his play '' Zoot Suit'', his movie '' La Bamba'', and his cre ...

, along with Agustin Lira (Teatro de la Tierra), founded the troupe. After attending

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

and working briefly with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Luis Valdez met Agustin Lira,a local Chicano with theatrical experience who had already hit upon the idea of using theater as an organizing tool in the fields and was already involved in the United Farmworkers Union in Delano. Teatro Campesino's early performances drew on varied traditions, such as '' commedia dell'arte'', Spanish religious dramas adapted for teaching

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Indians, Mexican folk humor, a century-old tradition of Mexican performances in California, and

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

and

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

sacred ritual dramas. El Teatro Campesino started as the cultural wing of the United Farm Workers union in California's central valley, to help raise both Mexican workers and American people awareness of the Delano grape strike controversies during the two years of the strike (1965 – 1967). 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. While being relocated to Del Rey, California and then Fresno, California from 1967-1971, their subject matter had expanded to include aspects of Chicano culture that went beyond the fields: education, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, indigenous roots, and racism. The work of the theater has been considered by critics of Chicano art, such as Holly Barnet-Sanchez, as a "major catalyst for an explosion of Chicano/a arts."

Modern era

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 The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

. In 1973 they worked with British theater director

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

; in 1976 they toured the play ''La Carpa'' through Europe, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The company continues their yearly Christmas pageants, alternating annually between ''La Virgen del Tepeyac'' and ''La Pastorela''. They also did revivals of Valdez's play ''Zoot Suit'' in 2002 and 2007 at their playhouse, as well as a Southwestern tour of the production in 2004.

Notes

# Organizational history, UCSB site. # Organizational history, UCSB site. # Organizational history, UCSB site.

References

"El Teatro Campesino: An Interview with Luis Valdez"
by Carl Heyward *Broyles-Gonzalez, Yolanda. ''Teatro Campesino: Theater in the Chicano Movement''. Austin : University of Texas Press, 1994.
"Organizational history"
from the

California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of primary source documents from the history of minority ethnic groups in California. The documents, which include manuscripts, slide photograph ...

External links

Official siteGuide to the El Teatro Campesino Archives 1964-1988
at th

* ttp://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/ETCList.html El Teatro Campesino Video Collection on ImaginArte {{DEFAULTSORT:Teatro Campesino San Juan Bautista, California California culture Mexican-American organizations Mexican-American culture in California 1965 establishments in California Theatre companies in California

History

Modern era

See also

Notes

References

External links