The California Chicano Cultural Movement: Chicano Theater Movement

Title

The California Chicano Cultural Movement: Chicano Theater Movement

Description

El Teatro Campesino

El Teatro Campesino (The Farmworkers’ Theater), one of the most influential elements of the Chicano Arts Movement, has its roots in San José. San José State College students Luís Váldez and Roberto Rubalcava joined the Marxist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and traveled to Cuba in 1964 as part of a PLP delegation. Váldez joined the anti-establishment radical theater group the San Francisco Mime Troupe upon graduation. He was introduced to guerilla theater and Italian Commedia dell'arte, forms which would influence the development of the Chicano Teatro and the one act play “acto.” In 1965, Váldez joined César Chávez and the United Farmworkers Union in drafting the El Plan de Delano, which proclaimed the principle of a movement for social justice.

Váldez brought together farm workers and students to form El Teatro Campesino in 1965 and toured union halls, the fields, and migrant camps. This idea of performing events of the day back to the workers was similar to the Living Newspaper of the WPA during the 1930s. El Teatro aimed to educate and inform the farm workers and the general public with social and political commentary intertwined with humor. Their performances took the form of a one act play — “acto” — incorporating myth and history to document farm workers’ lives and aspirations. The “actos” dramatized political and social concerns, while “mitos” (myths) explored myths, legends, and spirituality. Originally based on the experiences of farm workers, their subject matter soon expanded to include other aspects of Chicano culture, history, and social issues. El Teatro set up headquarters in San Juan Bautista, located in San Benito County, just south of Santa Clara County.

A few years later, in 1974, Teatro de La Gente was created in the Bay Area as a theater of the people, involving people with no theater background, whether cannery workers, immigrants, or refugees. As one of the few Chicano Theater groups in the Bay Area, Teatro de la Gente performed for political rallies, social rallies, fundraisers, cultural events, and programs at other colleges. Performing in the farm labor camps, they marched with the people, playing music and singing along, then performed on stage. Working with people with little or no theater background but a lot of life experience, they conducted workshops and classes for the community. Teatro de La Gente toured throughout the southwest, performing works that related to the daily experiences of Chicanos.

El Teatro strengthened the spirit of people struggling to deal with complex social and economic issues and reinforced the connection with cultural expressions for others. The Teatro Festival, organized in 1973 by Teatro de la Gente, brought Chicano theater groups together from all over the United States, Mexico, and other parts of Latin America. The music that came out of the Farmworkers Movement chronicled the struggle of the farm worker in song and verse. El Teatro also incorporated indigenous music from Mexico and popular music from Latin America.

The 1970s soon saw an explosion of Chicano theater on college campuses and in communities throughout the United States, with several annual Chicano theater festivals organized by El Teatro Campesino. El Teatro Nacional de Aztlán (The National Theater of Aztlán) was created by the Teatro Campesino and other Chicano Teatro groups in 1971. El Teatro Urbano was started in 1968 in South El Monte by Rene and Rosemary Rodriguez. Inspired by Teatro Campesino and named by Luís Váldez, this led to the creation of a regional network of Teatro groups in Southern California.

El Centro Cultural de la Gente

El Centro Cultural de la Gente (Peoples' Cultural Center) was created in 1973 in San José, California. El Centro was a collaboration between El Teatro de la Gente and other San José artists, actors, writers, poets, and visual artists. Teatro and non-Teatro musicians were also developing contemporary Chicano-Latino music. There was an explosion of cultural works produced during that time, including posters, drawings, paintings, musical arrangements, and compositions. Artists of all types shared gallery and theater space and were encouraged to collaborate. The Centro became the center for a multitude of San José Chicano artists presenting everything from visual arts exhibits to city-wide cultural events, and were influential in the development of San José City Arts and Events Programs.

Additional Online Information

Luis Valdez | Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies

Luis Valdez: The Father of Chicano American Theatre and Film

Luis Valdez: 1940—: Playwright, Director, Writer, Actor, Teacher

Valdez (Luís) papers

Teatro de la Gente

Identifier

B4SV Exhibit Topic Six: Slide 018