Zoot Suit and Other Plays

by Luis Valdez

Overview

This critically acclaimed play by Luis Valdez, the first by a Mexican American to be produced on Broadway, cracks open the depiction of Chicanos on stage, challenging viewers to revisit a troubled moment in our nation’s history. From the moment the myth-infused character El Pachuco burst onto the stage, cutting his way through the drop curtain with a switchblade, Luis Valdez spurred a revolution in Chicano theater. This collection contains three of playwright and screenwriter Luis Valdez’s most important and recognized plays: Zoot Suit, Bandido! and I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges. The anthology also includes an introduction by noted theater critic Dr. Jorge Huerta of the University of California-San Diego.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611924985
Publisher:	Arte Publico Press
Publication date:	04/30/1992
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	128,752
File size:	481 KB

About the Author

LUIS VALDEZ is acknowledged as the founder of modern Chicano theatre and film. He was born to migrant farm workers and spent his early life traveling and working in the fields. He eventually found himself at San Jose State College, where his play "The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa" was staged in 1964. He later joined the United Farm Workers and staged improvisational theatre with the help of union actors to further their causes. This work lead to the formation of his theater group, El Teatro Campesino, which produced most of Valdez' early plays in both the US and Europe. His account of racism in 1940s Los Angeles, Zoot Suit (Arte Público Press, 1981), was released in 1982, and was the first play by a Mexican American to be performed on Broadway. His film “La Bamba” (1987). He has also written another collection of plays, The Mummified Deer and Other Plays (Arte Público Press, 2005), and a compilation of his works, Luis Valdez – Early Works, was published by Arte Público Press in 1990. He is a faculty member and the founding director of the Teledramatic Arts and Technology Department at California State University, Monterey Bay. He continues to travel extensively while remaining true to his Chicano theatrical roots.