230585 El Teatro Campesino (S) (SoSe 2008)

In 1965 Chicano playwright Luis Valdez founded what would later be called El Teatro Campesino, originally nothing but short sketches about the miserable situation of Mexican and Chicano farmworkers in the US enacted without further ado on flatbed trucks by striking grape-pickers. Thus, these actos were ground-breaking as they upstaged socio-political issues of grave concern for the actors and the audience.

From today's point of view, Valdez's actos and later plays, Zoot Suit being the most successful and widely famous, are especially useful as an original source informing about the founding days of the Chicano Movement and for Drama Studies.

The course aims to give an overview of Valdez's work in its historical and social context. We will read, discuss and enact a choice of texts in class. Therefore students are expected to read and prepare texts and be willing to join an ad-hoc performance to gain 2LP.

Possible Einzelleistungen are class presentations and term papers.