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(Context) Pancho Villa's head
Pancho Villa was a folk hero ho fought for the social justice of Mexican people and democracy during the Mexican Revolution. He was killed in 1923. A few years later his grave was opened and his head was missing from his body. This event would inspire Luis Valdez first full play "The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa" -
The Birth of Luis Valdez
Luis Valdez was born on June 26th 1940, which makes him 83 years old today. He was born in Delano, California, the Second of 10 kids in his family. His parents are Francisco and Armida Valdez and they both worked as Migrant workers which meant they had to move around a lot to work in farms. -
(context) The Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot suit riots had an impact on Luis's Valdez future plays. The Zoot suit riots started off as a fight between Mexican Americans wearing Zoot suits and marines. The marines ripped the zoot suits off of them. The marines thought Zoot suits ( A suit made with lots of fabric) was disrespectful because of WWII. ( they needed the fabric for uniforms) Zoot suits were associated with gang members and given a bad reputation from the press. This caused an increase in Mexican hate in California. -
Early life
Because his parents were both migrant workers they did A lot of moving around. Like other children of migrant workers Luis didn't stay in one school forever. When he was 6 years old he joined his family working in the fields and they moved constantly to wherever the harvest was. -
Interest in theater
After this interaction he discovered that his first grade class was putting on a play. He acted in it wearing his paper mache monkey mask made from his lunch sack. The play was in his old schools auditorium with a band playing. The play was on a Saturday, however, his family was evicted from a labor camp and had to leave immediately. His missed his chance of his first theater debut and even though he was at school for only 30 days he was heartbroken. -
First interest in the arts.
During the time Luis was working at 6 years old, His family was getting to move to the next harvest again. However, his dad's truck broke down and in the days it took to get it fixed his mother enrolled him in Stratford for 1st grade. He would bring a sack to put his lunch in every day and reuse it for the next day's lunch. One day the sack was gone and his teacher had used it to make paper-mâché mask monkeys. After this interaction, he discovered the arts for the first time. -
Switch in Education
While Luis attended San Jose State he walked to class every morning at 7:30. One day he took a shortcut to class and ended up at Hugh Gills Hall, a theater at school. He couldn't help himself and began to wonder backstage. At this moment, Luis realized how theater never left him and chose that it was time to try it again. In his sophomore year, he chose to change majors to English so he could write and become a playwright. -
Education
Luis Valdez's parents always made sure that Luis developed an interest in studying as a kid. And this transferred into his young adult life as he planned to go to San Jose State and graduate to become an engineer just like his brother. Luis was very well educated and got into the school with a scholarship for math or physics. -
"The Theft"
In 1961, after switching majors, Valdez wrote a playwright called "The Theft". It was a one act play and he won a contest playwrighting contest with it. -
First full play
Two years after writing his one-act play, Valdez wrote " The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa" In 1963. It was a comedy about Mexican-Americans during the Chicano civil rights movement in the 1960s'. The play was written while he was still a student and it debuted in his school's theater department. -
El Teatro Campesino
After graduating from school, Luis Valdez founded the longest running Chicano Theater in 1965. It is known as "El Teatro Campesino"( The Farm Workers theater") he wanted to give voices to unheard problems revolving Chicanos. -
Los Vendidos
In 1967 Valdez wrote a One-act play called " Los Vendidos" That was about Mexican and Chicano stereotypes. The play was meant to bring awareness to these situations as well as how people treated him. -
Marriage
Luis Valdez got married to Guadalupe who also had parents who did farm work like Luis's parents. They met in 1966 at a farmworker's march to Sacramento. They had 3 kids together. -
Zoot Suit
Valdez wrote "Zoot Suit" a play about a murder trial and the Zoot Suit riots. This play debuted in "Center Theater Group" And sold out after two days of showing. It became the first Chicano play the company had professionally produced and they received standing ovations every night. -
BROADWAY!
A year after the original debut of "Zoot Suits" the play was moved to Broadway. They did 41 shows and 17 previews from March to April. "Zoot Suits" Became the first Chicano play on Broadway. -
La bamba
Luis valdez was not only a playwright but also a movie director. His movies all cover Mexican American stories, but his most known one is "La Bamba" in 1986. The movie follows the story of Ritchie Valens who was a Chicano rock star. The film covers his music career and personal life. It is seen as a historical and significant film. -
Governors award
Because of Luis's Valdez achievements in theater, he was awarded the Governors award for California Arts Council in 1990. -
Valley of the Heart.
In 2014 Valdez wrote and directed "Valley of the Heart" Which is about migrant Mexican-American struggles during the great depression. Aswell as the struggles of Japanese- Americans. The story has some Romeo and Juliet themes and it was first preformed in El Teatro Campesino. -
National Medal of Arts
In 2015 Luis Valdez, along with others, Received a National Medal of the arts from President Obama. He was honored for bringing Chicano culture and issues to American theater by his playwrights. -
Adios Mama Carlota
In 2019 Luis Valdez wrote Adios Mama Carlota. The play is about the story of a princess of Belgium named Carlota (Charlotte) who was arranged to marry Ferdidan Maximilian to become the empress of Mexico. In the play Carlota is haunted by her memories, these memories tell us the history of Mexico during this time. -
Quote
"It's absolutely essential for every generation to capture that social responsibility. Injustice grows like weeds. The injustices of the world are like weeds, and if you do nothing they'll choke your whole garden, man."- Luis Valdez -
References
https://www.britannica.com/event/Zoot-Suit-Riots
https://www.centertheatregroup.org/tickets/mark-taper-forum/2018-19/valley-of-the-heart/
https://elteatrocampesino.com/about-luis/
https://blogs.sjsu.edu/humanities-arts/2015/02/16/profile-luis-valdez/
https://www.vaia.com/en-us/explanations/english-literature/american-drama/luis-valdez/#:~:text=Upon%20graduation%2C%20he%20earned%20a,Shrunken%20Head%20of%20Pancho%20Villa.