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

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

Publication Details

• This Arte Público Press edition of Actos, Pensamiento Serpentino, and Bernabé is funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
• All rights to the Actos are owned by El Teatro Campesino with strict restrictions on performance and reproduction without prior written permission.
• The book details:
  • Edition: First Arte Público Press edition, 1990, 2nd printing 1994
  • ISBN: 1-55885--003-1
  • Copyright: 1971 by Luis Valdez for El Teatro Campesino
  • Printed in the United States.

Table of Contents

• Notes on Chicano Theatre: 6
• The Actos: 11
  • Las Dos Caras del Patroncito: 17
  • Quinta Temporada: 28
  • Los Vendidos: 40
  • La Conquista de México: 53
  • No Saco Nada de la Escuela: 66
  • The Militants: 91
  • Huelguistas: 95
  • Vietnam Campesino: 98
  • Soldado Razo: 121
  • Bernabé: 135
  • Pensamiento Serpentino: 168

Preface

• El Teatro Campesino has evolved significantly over six years, aiding the rebirth of Chicano culture and challenging the American power structure.
• The Chicano identity emphasizes pride, history, and an ancient culture that transcends oppression.
• The Acto serves as a theatrical exploration of Chicano life, addressing various themes of struggle and identity.

Acto: Las Dos Caras del Patroncito

• First Performance: The Grape Strike, Delano, California on the picket line, September 1965.

Characters:

• Esquirol: The scab worker
• Patroncito: The landowner or boss
• Charlie: An armed guard

Context of Creation

• Inspired by the grape strike in Delano, where 6,000 farmworkers sought better conditions amid intimidation from growers.
• The Acto was created to portray the "two faces of the boss."

Script Excerpts:

• The FARMWORKER, addressing the audience, explains his situation, humorously laden with irony regarding his conditions and the perceptions of his role.
• The PATRONCITO enters wearing a yellow pig face mask, symbolizing exploitation and the dehumanization of workers.
• Interactions depict a satirical view of patron-worker dynamics:
  • Patroncito demonstrates how the farmworker is seen as expendable, further enabling the narrative of systemic oppression.
  • The patron attempts to present an image of benevolence while exposing the economic realities faced by farmworkers.
• Key Lines:
  • FARMWORKER: "Oh, sí patrón. Muy hard."
  • PATRONCITO: "You're one of the new ones, huh?"
• Humor is used throughout to underline the absurdity of the power dynamics:
  • The farmworker’s over-exaggerated eagerness to please the patrón while revealing deeper injustices.

Climax and Resolution

• The confrontation escalates as the farmworker takes on bathetic authority, eventually inverting roles and humorously becoming the patrón himself, highlighting the absurdity of social hierarchies.
• The Act culminates humorously yet poignantly, reflecting both on the absurdity of exploitation and the resilient spirit of the oppressed.

Acto: Los Vendidos

• First Performance: At a Brown Beret junta, Elysian Park, East Los Angeles, 1967.

Characters:

• Honest Sancho: Vendor of Mexican stereotype models
• Secretary: Represents government interest, seeking a suitable Mexican-American model
• Farmworker, Pachuco, Revolucionario: Stereotypical representations of different cultural archetypes in Mexican-American identity.

Scene Setting

• The Act takes place in Honest Sancho's used Mexican lot where various models are displayed.

Plot and Themes

• Satirizes the commodification of Mexican identities through the Secretary's search for an ideal bureaucratic representation.
• The characters demonstrate characteristics that personify racial stereotypes, escalated in a comedic manner while simultaneously challenging these very representations.
• Key Lines and Themes:
  • Sancho proudly presenting each model while mocking societal perceptions of Mexican-Americans.
  • FARMWORKER: "¡El jale!" signifies worker identity tied to servitude and labor, transformed into a spectacle.
• The criticism of American society’s shallow understanding of Chicano culture and identity is prevalent.
• Concludes with each character embodying their respective stereotypes while also critiquing the very constructs that define them, elevating a discussion on identity politics.

Acto: La Conquista de México

• First Performance: At El Centro Campesino Cultural, Del Rey, California, 1968.

Characters Overview

• An array of historical and mythical figures including Moctezuma II, Hernán Cortez, and La Malinche.
• Infuses indigenous music elements, using drums and flutes to provide cultural authenticity.
• Themes:
  • Exploration of displacement, colonization, and resistance as central Chicano narratives.

Artistic Elements

• Native Musical Instruments: Integral to setting the cultural tone and engaging the audience in the historical context.

Conclusion

• This collection reflects Luis Valdez’s profound engagement with the Chicano experience through theater, showcasing struggles, identity, and cultural heritage.
• The interplay between humor and tragedy serves to educate and provoke thought regarding the socio-political dynamics within the Mexican-American community.

Summary of Key Actos

Las Dos Caras del Patroncito

• First Performance: September 1965, on the picket line during The Grape Strike in Delano, California.
• Characters: Esquirol (scab worker), Patroncito (landowner/boss), Charlie (armed guard).
• Context: Inspired by the Delano grape strike, aiming to depict the exploitative "two faces of the boss."
• Plot/Themes: Uses humor and satire to explore the power dynamics and dehumanization of farmworkers by landowners.
  • Patroncito wears a pig face mask to symbolize exploitation.
  • Features ironic dialogue highlighting the farmworker's plight and the patron's false benevolence.
• Climax/Resolution: The farmworker humorously inverts roles with the patroncito, challenging social hierarchies and reflecting the resilient spirit of the oppressed.

Los Vendidos

• First Performance: 1967, at a Brown Beret junta in Elysian Park, East Los Angeles.
• Characters: Honest Sancho (vendor of stereotypes), Secretary (government official), Farmworker, Pachuco, Revolucionario (stereotypical models).
• Scene: Honest Sancho's "used Mexican lot" displaying various models.
• Plot/Themes: Satirizes the commodification and stereotypical representations of Mexican-American identity.
  • The Secretary seeks an "ideal" Mexican-American for bureaucratic representation.
  • Characters embody and simultaneously critique racial stereotypes (e.g., Farmworker's "