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Initiatives
Borderlands
Performance in the Borderlands 2009–2010
Lecture Series
This series offers unique opportunities for engaging in intimate conversations with some of the most important performance scholars and artists working in Mexico and United States.
- Sept. 26, 1–3:30 p.m. | Nelson Fine Arts Center, Rehearsal Hall, ASU Tempe campus | Vibrant Being Workshop with El Teatro Campesino Learn the acting methods of the legendary company that began the Chicano theatre movement in the late 1960s.
- Feb. 27–28 | Justice Teach–In co–sponsored with Local to Global Justice John O’Neal, Free Southern Theatre, Junebug Productions | Developing from the Tougaloo Drama Workshop in New Orleans, the Free Southern Theatre combined a touring repertory company, a community engagement program in New Orleans, and training workshops in Black Theatre. FST’s purpose was “to use theatre as an instrument to stimulate the development of critical and reflective thought among Black people in the South,” and to support the efforts of those involved in the Civil Rights Movement. The FST expired in 1980. That same year O’Neal organized Junebug Productions, an arts organization based in New Orleans which he now serves as Artistic Director.
- April 2, 1 p.m. | Lecture and Workshop Nelson Fine Arts Center, 233 & 133, ASU Tempe campus | Urban dance company’s Buck World One Artistic Director Rickerby Hinds provides a history of the originating impulse behind this hip–hop dance theatre troupe and conducts a movement workshop.
Productions/Presentations
- Sept. 25 & 26, 7:30 p.m. | Paul V. Galvin Playhouse, ASU Tempe campus | Luis Valdez’ La Carpa de los Rasquachis, by El Teatro Campesino | In the mid 1960s, El Teatro Campesino, under the direction of Luis Valdez, launched the Chicano Theater Movement in support of the United Farm Workers Movement, led by César Chávez. La Carpa de los Rasquachis, which loosely translates as “The Tent of the Underdogs” is essentially an immigrant’s story – the epic tale of Chicano farm worker in the United States of America. “La Carpa” unfolds with the struggles, frustrations and ultimate victory of Jesus Pelado Rasquachi in a rich saga brought to life with Mexican ballads known as corridos. Corridos are earthy narratives often sung to celebrate life’s triumphs and tribulations – usually with ironic humor and a rollicking Tex–Mex beat. Misfortune and fate stalks Pelado in the guise of El Diablo–the Devil, and La Calavera–Death. Continually tricked and betrayed, Pelado becomes a pathetic and comical figurine in the hands of manipulative growers, contractors, social workers and finally, the undertaker. (The title simultaneously refers to the long tradition of itinerant popular theater staged under tents and to a Chicano cultural attitude and style known as “rasquachismo,” which aims at making the most with the least, in other words, at conveying rich messages through crude and scarce material means.)
- April 3, 7:30 p.m. | Lyceum Theatre, 901 S, Forest Mall, ASU Tempe campus | Buck World One | Buck World One uses spoken word, video and hip hop dance as catalysts for solving social tensions and nurturing a sense of community. The director Rickerby Hinds was inspired to work with inner–city youths of the “Inland Empire” in Southern California when he saw them performing a new hip hop dance style after attending a church service. “Buck” or “Krump” uses athleticism, rhythm and acrobatics to create a style that is simultaneously beautiful and intense. This unique dance emerges from youth who face harsh realities of violence and other challenges in their communities. Buck World One stages their moves, their real life stories and their dreams in a breathtaking multimedia setting. The local dance group EPIK, known for combining classic technical training with urban style to become Arizona’s premiere street fusion dance company, will open the show for our SoCal guests.
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