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Performance in the Borderlands
Performance in the Borderlands opens its Fall Season by presenting a classic work by Luis Valdez' Teatro Campesino on September 25-26. Titled, "La Carpa de los Rasquachis" (The Tent of the Underdogs), the play follows a Chicano farm worker, Pelado, who immigrates to the U.S. in search of fame and fortune. The story is brought to life with Mexican ballads known as corridos, marking life's triumphs and tribulations with the use of ironic humor and a rollicking Tex-Mex beat.
Luis Valdez has been characterized as the father of Chicano theatre. His first play was staged by the drama department at San Jose State College in 1963, and he founded El Teatro Campesino two years later as a touring farm workers' theater troupe. El Teatro produced one-act plays – often without stage, script, or props -- that dramatized the circumstances of migrant workers and ignited a national Chicano theater movement. Come join us!
A workshop for ASU students will also be held on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 1–3:30 p.m. in the Nelson Fine Arts Center Rooms 132 and 133. For more information contact Tamara Underiner: underiner@gmail.com.
Community
The Performance in the Borderlands Project is a research, education and public programming initiative dedicated to the understanding and promotion of cultural performance in the borderlands between the U.S. and Mexico, and all the cultures this region comprises. Given the diversity of cultures and artistic traditions in these borderlands, this initiative defines performance broadly to include not only theatre, dance and musical practice, but also public performances of sacred and civic belonging. The project sponsors lectures, workshops, performances and public discussions with artists, critics, scholars and community members interested in the performing arts in the region.
The Performance in the Borderlands Performance Series brings artists of note from and to the borderlands region. Recent performances have included:
From California: Teatro Campesino's La Carpa de Los Rasquachis (Fall 2009)
From Mérida, Yucatán: Ma´tinaa´ti Kech/No te entiendo/I don't understand you (Fall 2008)
From San Francisco; Secos y Mojados' Enterrada/Buried in the body of remembrance (Spring 2008)
From Buenos Aires: Teatro para niños – Chau Sr. Miedo (Fall 2007)
From Los Angeles: Monica Palacios's Greetings from a Queer Señorita (Fall 2007)
Performance in the Borderlands also frequently co-sponsors MainStage productions of the School of Theatre and Film.
The Performance in the Borderlands Lecture Series features regional, national and international scholars, critics and performance practitioners at public events on the ASU Tempe campus, as well as support public performances, consultancies, lectures and other events in communities throughout the Valley. Previous guests have included:
- Jorge Huerta, Endowed Chancellor's Professor of Theatre, University of California-San Diego
- Deborah Paredez, Assistant Professor of Theatre, University of Texas at Austin
- Luís Valdez, founder, playwright and artistic director, Teatro Campesino
- Guillermo Gómez-Peña, performance artist
- "Readings in Mexican Theatre" featuring a pane of researchers from the Centro de Investigación Teatral Rodolfo Usigli of Mexico, including Rodolfo Obregón, Israel Franco, Socorro Merlín, Jovita Millán, Antonio Escobar and Rocio Galicia.
For more information on the Performance in the Borderlands project, contact:
Tamara Underiner
School of Theatre and Film
Arizona State University
PO Box 872002
Tempe, AZ 85287-2002
480.965.7323
480.965.5351 fax
Tamara.Underiner@asu.edu