Su Teatro is the third-oldest Chicano theater company in the United States and the oldest theater company of any kind in

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. Created in 1972 as a student theater group at the

University of Colorado at Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado create ...

, it is now housed in the Denver Civic Theatre in the Santa Fe Arts District. Productions explore the Chicano experience in America with an emphasis on preserving cultural heritage and advocating for social justice.

History

Su Teatro was formed in a University of Colorado at Denver reading class in 1972 by faculty member Rowena Rivera. In protest against the university's policy of placing Chicano students in remedial reading courses, Rivera focused her teaching on drama, asking students to read plays while also creating and directing original work. An early production, ''El Corrido del Barrio'', explored and protested the 1973 destruction of the primarily Hispanic Auraria neighborhood in order to build campuses for the University of Colorado at Denver, Metropolitan State University, and

Community College of Denver Community College of Denver (CCD) is a public community college in Denver, Colorado. The main campus is at Auraria Campus and it has two other locations in the Denver metropolitan area. CCD focuses on underserved, first-generation, and minority ...

. ''El Corrido del Barrio'' has remained in the company's repertory and was performed as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebration. In 1989, the company established a permanent home at the then-abandoned Elyria School in Northeast Denver. Supported by a bridge loan of $790,000 from the City of Denver, Su Teatro moved to the Denver Civic Theatre in February 2010. As of 2016, the company had produced over forty original works devoted to exploring the Chicano experience onstage. The Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center features a 320-seat main theatre, an art gallery, and a small studio theatre. The company celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in May 2023 under the leadership of artistic director Tony Garcia.

References

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External links

* Official website: http://suteatro.org/ * Art District on Santa Fe official website: https://denversartdistrict.org/ Theatre companies in Colorado Chicano art 1972 establishments in Colorado Performing arts centers in Colorado