Luis Valdez-Early Works: Actos, Bernabé and Pensamiento Serpentino

by Luis Valdez

Overview

This collection includes one-act plays by the famous farmwork theater, El Teatro Campesino and its director Luis Valdez; one of the first fully realized, full-length plays by Valdez alone; and an original narrative poem by Luis Valdez.

In the first part are collected the original, improvised works of El Teatro Campesino that deal with the exploitation of Mexican farm labor in the California fields, the discrimination found by Mexicans in the schools, and Mexicans being turned into cannon fodder by the American Army in Vietnam.

Bernabé is touching, Lorcaesque poetic drama about a town fool's enchantment and ultimate unity with the Earth.

Pensamiento serpentine is a philosophical poem based on Mayan thought and cosmology, which analyzes the cultural, religious and political circumstances of Mexican Americans and prepares a metaphysical framework for their future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611925043
Publisher:	Arte Publico Press
Publication date:	06/30/1990
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	777,957
File size:	678 KB

About the Author

LUIS VALDEZ is acknowledged as the founder of modern Chicano theater and film of the United States. Born to migrant farm workers, Valdez spent his early life working in the fields with his family. Valdez joined the United Farm Workers and staged improvisational theater to further the causes of the UFW, which led to the formation of his theater group, El Teatro Campesino. Among his theatrical productions are The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa, Bandido, and I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges. His film La Bamba (Columbia Tri Star, 1987), the tragic story of singer Ritchie Valens, proved wildly successful and launched the screen careers of Lou Diamond Philips and Esai Morales. He is a faculty member and the founding director of the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department at California State University, Monterey Bay.