El Teatro Campesino
A Grant from UC MEXUS to the UCSB Library as part of the ImaginArte multidisciplinary initiative has helped to fund the conversion of 118 video tapes into 5 different formats. This insures the long term availability of these videos for research and education. They are an important record of El Teatro Campesino (ETC) and the Chicano and farm workers movement.
Here is a sample of one of the videos in the Collection. It has been converted to a web compatible Quick Time format.
"20 years down the road the journey of El Teatro Campesino has just begun..." This video was compiled and edited by Tony Curiel and Luiz Valdez in 1985.
This video is part of the El Teatro Campesino Archives, CEMA 5 at the University of California, Santa Barbara Davidson Library. It can be found in the California Ethnic and Multicultural archives in Special Collections.
These 118 videos contain El Teatro Campesino plays, television specials, concerts, interviews, news footage, commercials, and workshops. This series includes the first known film that has a segment about the Teatro, "Huelga," narrated by Cesar Chavez. Other films range from the early actos to television specials on the movie "Zoot Suit." There are films of scenes from plays and whole plays, interviews with Luis Valdez and others, footage of the twentieth anniversary gala of El Teatro Campesino, and a documentary on the history of the Teatro made in 1981. They originate in several locations, including Monterey, Sacramento, San Jose, and various parts of Mexico.
El Teatro Campesino Videos
Necessary Theater: Luis Valdez and the Teatro Campesino
These videos are from a Chicano Theater Conference and Diversity Lecture Series at UCSB Multicultural Center. The Necessary Theater conference was on January 12th, 2010.
Necessary Theater Videos
Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library - El Teatro Campesino collection (1987 -2001) El Teatro Campesino Homepage (current productions)