Teatro Campesino

El Teatro Campesino ("farmworkers' ("campesino") theater"), 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.

History

The founder and initial director of the troupe was Luis Valdez, 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". ref|Valdez

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. ref|drew-on

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. ref|broader

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.

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.

ee also

* Cesar Chavez
* Mission San Juan Bautista
* Diane Rodriguez

External links

* [http://www.elteatrocampesino.com/ Official site]
* [http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/etc_toc.html "Guide to the El Teatro Campesino Archives 1964-1968"] at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives

Notes

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

References

* [http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2002/09/el_teatro_campe.php "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. ISBN 0-292-70801-7
* [http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu "Organizational history"] from the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives