Teatro Campesino
Overview
El Teatro Campesino -- the farm workers' theater -- began performing in the fields for farm worker audiences. Founder Luis Valdez was born in Delano to a farm worker family. Valdez worked with Cesar Chavez to create Teatro Campesino with the goal of sharing the UFW message with farm workers and dramatizing their struggle. Like other Chicano arts movements, it was influenced by Mexican theater traditions such as carpa Links to an external site. theater, exemplified by the beloved actor Cantinflas. Skits were memorized and performed in the fields. Props and costumes were improvised with what was on hand. The UFW logo appeared on stages and costumes, connecting actors to the union cause and helping them create a theater setting in any venue.
The image below provides a short description of the work of Teatro Campesino dramatizing the struggle between farm workers, bosses, scabs, and politicians such as Governor Brown.
The video below, Huelga, is the first known film of El Teatro Campesino. It includes narration by Cesar Chavez and scenes of Luis Valdez talking about how El Teatro can support the strike and scenes of Valdez performing.
Questions
- How does the incorporation of the UFW logo help Teatro Campesino create a stage and convey a message?
- What about theater, and carpa Links to an external site. theater, in particular, worked well for telling farm worker stories?
Farm Workers' Theater (PDF 2-pages Download PDF 2-pages)
Strike Links to an external site. (Film, 15 minutes)
Text transcript of film Download Text transcript of film
El Malcriado Links to an external site. no. 28, 26 Jan. 1966.
El Teatro Campesino Collection Links to an external site.. Accessed through internet archive Links to an external site..
Ruíz, Vicki, and Virginia Sánchez Korrol. Latinas in the United States : A Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 2006