Chicano Theatre

Norma Elia Cantu’s novel “Canícula: Imágenes de una Niñez Fronteriza” (“Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera”), which chronicles of the forthcoming of age of a chicana on the U.S.- Mexico border in the town of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo in the 1940s-60s. Norma Elia Cantú brings together narrative and the images from the family album to tell the story of her family. It blends authentic snapshots with recreated memoirs from 1880 to 1950 in the town between Monterrey, Mexico, and San Antonio, Texas. Narratives present ethnographic information concerning the nationally distributed mass media in the border region. Also they study controversial discourse that challenges the manner in which the border and its populations have been

Mexican Americans in Texas have a long and detailed history spanning from the arrival of Cortez all the way to the present day. Through historical events, the culture and identity of Mexican Americans have shifted, diverted, and adapted into what people chose to identify as. The rise of the Chicano identity during the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement was an adaptation as a culture to oppressive and unjust treatment from white, Anglos that had almost all political and social power over all minorities. To stop the oppressive voices from silencing and oppressing the Mexican Americans, they had to stand up to fight for their rights as American citizens that also had Mexican or Spanish heritage to be proud of. In Oscar Zeta Acosta’s novel, The Revolt of the Cockroach People, he dives into the Chicano Movement as a witness and an active participant. His larger than life character is on the front lines of the movement and examines the shift in identity among the group. It was particularly rising of their Chicano identity that gave the people cause to organize politically and socially in order to fight for a worthy cause.

LTC represent the initial of Latino theater commons which was birth on 2012 by group of Latino artists, the initial get-together spawned an online journal called Cafe Onda. The LTC also focuses on providing resources for Latino theatre artists, so no one finds himself or herself waiting in vain for a large nonprofit to come

Whilst Mexican Americans were looked down upon as a whole minority, it could be said that female Mexican Americans were in an even worse position than their male counterparts, with little or no input permitted whatsoever. Female actresses in the film are demoted to supporting actresses or dancers in comparison to the heavily male orientated cast who have leading roles. According to Fregoso (1993: 659) ‘Chicanos and Chicanas became visible in public discourse as ‘social problems.’ Moreover, Chicanos became foreigners in their own country which led to the increase of so called ‘gang culture.’ In attempt to counter act the media and public perception of Chicano culture Fregoso (1993: 660) explains ‘Valdez deconstructs racist images of Chicano youth as ‘gangs’ or social problems, depicting the male members as victims of racist institutions… the male subjects are reversals of dominant depictions of Chicano masculinity.’

Considered the originator of modern Chicano theater, Valdez is best known as the founding director of El Teatro Campesino, a seminal grassroots theater group initially formed to convince California migrant farmworkers of the value of unionization. Valdez, who writes some works in English and others in a blend of English and Spanish, is credited with having provided momentum to the Chicano theater movement through his highly vivid style and his ability to place the Chicano experience within a universal American framework.

Throughout the play there are underlying theme that suggest different ideas. The themes I will discuss is how Mexican American men are portrayed in relation

Sabina Berman is a notable and critically acclaimed Mexican playwright. Berman’s notable work includes her first published play, Yankee (1979). In Adam Versényi’s translation of Yankee, Berman explores the relationship between the individual and identity. Through the three main characters—Bill, Alberto, and Rosa—we see the continual conflict they face as they aspire to achieve their respective objectives: to feel nurtured and loved, to have peace and quiet, and to feel loved and acknowledged. But it is Berman’s interjection of juxtapositions that forces us to analyze the relationship between the main characters. More specifically, Berman focuses on the impact Bill has as an intruder, and how he highlights the national identity incompatibilities between North American and Mexican cultures, to expose the serious social and political problems between the nations.

In the film industry, we see all different types of films and movies, but there’s always guidelines on what needs to be followed by stereotypes that have been built by society. In the film “The Bronze Screen” it gives us a better understanding on how the system is set up for film making but especially for Latinos in the film industry, Latinos are seen as a minority group who don’t have a lot of changes on making into the big screen, the film explains how Latinos are put in movies to fill the stereotypes that have been made by society but to be specific by the white people.

The second thing I learned is when the Chicanos shame the Chicana women being sexual objectification. The way men view the Chicanas and how they said they would never touched a woman because of being the same culture as them. Acosta addresses “Across the street, the huge lawn is crowded with Chicano students and skinny trees. The broads are fantastic. I am eye-popping the incredible asses, the slim waists and the bulging breasts of these savage wenches who move with graceful twists. Since I have come to LA, I still have not touched a woman of my own culture. I swallow my milk and feel my pants bursting with heat.” (38) This is a sign of Chicana Feminism the way the Chicano Militants looked at Chicanas as sex objects.

For Perez, Chicana/o history is not resolvable and must continually be debated and comprehended as multiple and unstable. Perez, like other Chicana theorists, initiates an added dimension that recognizes that woman’s voices and their stories have become subordinated to a colonist racial mentality and to a male consciousness. Perez argues that the quintessential historical accounts. Women become appendages to men’s history, the interstitial ‘and’ tacked on as an afterthought’ (12). Nevertheless, Perez also suggests that even though some stories have not been told, does not define their existences, asserting, “Chicana, Mexican, India, Mestiza actions, words spoken and unspoken, survive and persist whether they are acknowledged or not” (7). The task of locating the voices of the Chicana are often discharged or lowered by the dominant groups.

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

Ms. Jimenez is the "sell-out" or white-washed Mexican-American. This is displayed just as the play begins when she introduces herself. Sancho hears her say her name as "Ji-mi-nez" and realizes she is a Chicana. Excitedly, he starts to speak Spanish to her and pronounces her name in Spanish, "Hee-me-nez," stressing the second syllable. She corrects him saying that the Spanish pronunciation is not how her name is pronounced. She quickly makes it apparent that she does not speak Spanish and does not even want to be know as a Chicana. She rejects her own ethnicity, which is one example of how she is a "sell-out." In any instance of such widespread oppression there has always been people who attempt to hide or reject their own identity so that they might succeed or better survive in the environment of their oppressors. Many times the oppressed people are taught to feel shameful of their heritage because the racism is so ingrained in everyday life and culture. In 1924 a Chicano assistant assessor to Reverend McLean in reporting on Colorado Mexicans, named J.B. Guerrero, reveals his own resentment towards people who share his own ancestry, "The Americans think we [Mexican-Americans] are no good; they class us with this trash that comes over from Mexico; we are greasers and nothing more. We have suffered much from these

With this came a patriarchal movement with the anthem “Yo soy Chicano” and an ideology of “Chicano = Machismo”. Women within the Chicano movement were afforded one of three roles: mothers, nuns or whores. They were not allowed self determination. This stemmed from the idea that men were the ones that were rising against oppression, when in fact women “broke their shackles and stabbed the spirit of injustice when confronted in the fields by a shotgun, when bloodied on the streets”, when constructed under the violence of “Anglo/chauvinism or Chicano machismo.” The transition from Chicano to Chicana was in protest of previous marginalization and a step towards representation and manifestation. (I Throw Punches, Chabram,

Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were

Artworks have played an indelible work to the lives of humanity. The creative nature in Artists is a complex matter to define. The uncertainties in the intrinsic nature in art lay difficult aspects that can only be answered by values, themes and skills depicted in an artist artwork. Apart from playing the intricate psychological effect on humans, the artworks have been used as a tool of expression that has been revered and uniquely preserved for future generation. Among some of the most revered modern forms of artwork has included Chicano Art that had a core relationship to Las Carpas, Indigenismo, rascuachismo and other forms of performance art.