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Luis Valdez

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For other people named Luis Valdez, seeLuis Valdez (disambiguation).

Luis Miguel Valdez
Valdez in 2008
Valdez in 2008
Born(1940-06-26)June 26, 1940(age 84)
Delano, California,U.S.
Occupation
  • Playwright
  • screenwriter
  • film director
  • actor
Alma materSan Jose State University
Notable awardsPeabody Award, Aguila Azteca Award, Golden Globe nominations

Luis Miguel Valdez(born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and actor. Regarded as the father ofChicano filmandplaywriting,Valdez is best known for his playZoot Suit,his movieLa Bamba,and his creation ofEl Teatro Campesino.A pioneer in theChicano Movement,Valdez broadened the scope of theatre and arts of the Chicano community.[1][2]

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Valdez was born inDelano, California,tomigrant farm workerparents from Mexico, Armeda and Francisco Valdez.[3]The second of 10 children in his family, Valdez began to work the fields at the age of 6. One of his brothers is actorDaniel Valdez.Throughout his childhood, the family moved from harvest to harvest around the central valleys of California. Due to this peripatetic existence, he attended many different schools before the family finally settled inSan Jose, California.[4]

Education[edit]

Valdez began school inStratford, California.[4]His interest in theatre began in the first grade. Throughout grammar school, Valdez organized plays at school and put on puppet shows in his garage, which, he recalls, were usually about fairy tales.[5]In high school, Valdez was part of the Speech and Drama department and acted in several plays. He described himself as "a very serious student."[5]Valdez graduated fromJames Lick High SchoolinSan Joseand went on to attendSan José State University(SJSU) on a scholarship formathandphysics.During his second year of college, he switched his major to English.[5]While in college, Valdez won a playwriting contest with his one-act playThe Theftin 1961.[6]Two years later, in 1963, Valdez's first full-length play,The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa,was produced by the drama department and debuted at SJSU.[7]

Early career: El Teatro Campesino[edit]

After graduation, Valdez spent the next few months with TheSan Francisco Mime Troupe,where he was introduced toagitprop theatre,guerrilla theatre,and Italiancommedia dell'arte.[6]These two techniques greatly influenced Valdez's development of the basic structure of Chicano theatre: the one-act presentationalacto(act).

In 1965, Valdez returned to Delano, where he enlisted inCesar Chavez's mission to organize farm workers into a comprehensive union. Valdez brought together farm workers and students to formEl Teatro Campesino,a farm worker's theater troupe.[4]El Teatro was known for touring migrant camps with their actos, one-act plays, which were usually around fifteen minutes long. The plays were used to educate and inform not only the farm workers, but also the public. Valdez believed that humor was a major asset to his plays in El Teatro Campesino as it was a tool to lift the morale of strikers.[5]Social and politicalcommentarywere intertwined within the humor to accomplish the goals of El Teatro Campesino.[5]Original plays of El Teatro were based on the experiences of farm workers, but by 1967 their subject matter expanded to other aspects of Chicano culture;[4]Los Vendidos,for example, discusses various Chicano stereotypes. Although Valdez left El Teatro in 1967, his legacy lived on. Thanks in large part to Valdez and El Teatro Campesino, the 1970s saw an explosion of Chicano theater. Theater groups sprang up with surprising speed on college campuses and in communities throughout the United States. What began as a farm workers' theater in the migrant camps of Delano flooded into a national Chicano theater movement.[4]

Later career[edit]

In 1967, Valdez established a Chicano cultural center inDel Rey, California.In 1969 he moved both theater and cultural center toFresno,where they remained for two years. During this time, he made the short filmI Am Joaquinbased on the legendary poem byRodolfo "Corky" Gonzáles(it was later inducted into theNational Film Registryin 2010 and preserved by theAcademy Film Archivein 2017[8]). While in Fresno, Valdez taught atFresno State Universityand created TENAZ, the national Chicano theater organization, which was composed of many with theatre groups throughout the Southwest. Valdez moved the theater a final time in 1971, toSan Juan Bautista,south of San Francisco. Combined now with the cultural center, it was called El Centro Campesino Cultural, and it became a fully professional production company.[4]

In 1973, he published his poemPensamiento Serpentino,which drew onMayanandAztecphilosophical concepts and argued that Indigenous ways of knowing were essential to the spiritual and material liberation of Chicana/os. The poem was later used in the highly successfulMexican American Studies Department Programs at Tucson Unified School District.[9][10]

In 1989, Valdez and officials from the Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences and Nosotros formed the Latino Writers Group to improve opportunities and pay for Latino writers in Hollywood.[11]

Luis Valdez is a founding faculty member and director (c. 1994) of theCalifornia State University, Monterey BayTeledramatic Arts and Technology Department. He is credited with assisting in the development of a university program that prepares students in the entertainment industry:filmmaking,writing, sound,cinematography,and the like.[12]

His recent playValley of the Heart,debuted October 30, 2018, at theMark Taper ForuminLos Angeles.[13]

He resides in San Juan Bautista, CA. He was awarded theNational Medal of Artsin 2015.[14]

Zoot Suit(play and film)[edit]

Valdez's first work that brought him attention to larger audiences was the playZoot Suitwhich ran in 1978 at theMark Taper Forumin Los Angeles and played for forty-six weeks to more than 40,000 people. WithZoot Suit,Valdez became the first Chicano director to have a play presented onBroadwayin 1979. In 1981, it was made into afilm.[15]

InZoot Suit,Valdez weaves a story involving the real-life events of theSleepy Lagoon murdertrial—when a group of young Mexican-Americans were wrongfully charged with murder—and theZoot Suit riots.

In 2019, the filmZoot Suitwas selected by theLibrary of Congressfor preservation in theNational Film Registryfor being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[16]

La Bamba[edit]

The film that brought Valdez his "breakthrough into mainstream America" wasLa Bambawhich debuted in 1987.

The film, aboutRitchie Valens,a popular Chicano 1950srock and roller,"was an overwhelming box office success" according toBookRags.[17]

It was inducted into theNational Film Registryin 2017.[18]

Filmography[edit]

  • Coco(2017), voice actor
  • Cruz Reynoso:Sowing the Seeds of Justice(2000), narrator
  • Ballad of a Soldier(2000), actor.
  • The Cisco Kid(1994), writer and director. Valdez also had a small role asPresidenteBenito Juárez.
  • La Pastorela(1991Great Performances), writer and director.
  • Los mineros(1991), narrator.
  • Fort Figueroa(1988CBS Summer Playhouse), director.
  • Corridos: Tales of Passion & Revolution(1987), writer and director.
  • La Bamba(1987), writer and director.
  • Zoot Suit(1981), writer and director.
  • Which Way Is Up?(1977), actor.
  • El corrido: Ballad of a Farmworker(1976Visionstelevision series), writer, director, and actor.
  • Fighting for Our Lives(1975 documentary), writer.
  • Los Vendidos(1972), writer and staging
  • I Am Joaquin(1969), documentary short film

"Bandido!" (film) Story of Tiburcio Vasquez who resisted incursion of Yankees into California 1840s to 1875, writer, director and narrator. Shown on PBS.

Honors and awards (not exhaustive)[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Torres Pou, Juan (2003).Encyclopedia of Latin American Theater.Greenwood. pp. 89–91....Valdez is the most important Chicano playwright.
  2. ^Lucas, Ashley (2015).Ethnic American Literature: An Encyclopedia for Students.ABC-CLIO. pp. 493–5.ISBN978-1-61069-881-8.Luis Valdez is a Chicano playwright, director, producer, and actor.
  3. ^Film Reference
  4. ^abcdef"Hispanic Heritage, Luis Valdez. In 2010, he was killed in a plane accident".Gale.RetrievedFebruary 18,2012.
  5. ^abcdeBeth Bagby; Luis Valdez[1]"El Teatro Campesino Interviews with Luis Valdez"
  6. ^abBenson, Sonia (2003).The Hispanic American Almanac.Farminton Hills, Ma: Gale. pp.804–805.ISBN0-7876-2518-3.
  7. ^Bedford/St Martin's Literatureweb site.
  8. ^"Preserved Projects".Academy Film Archive.
  9. ^Marie Contreras, Sheila (2009).Blood Lines: Myth, Indigenism, and Chicana/o Literature.University of Texas Press. pp. 85–88.ISBN978-0-292-78252-5.
  10. ^Planas, Roque (January 13, 2015)."Arizona Education Officials Say It's Illegal To Recite This Poem In School".Huffington Post.
  11. ^PUIG, CLAUDIA (August 10, 1989)."Latino Writers Form Group to Fight Stereotypes".Los Angeles Times.ISSN0458-3035.RetrievedApril 19,2016.
  12. ^biography from The Harry Walker Agency Speakers Bureau websiteArchivedNovember 17, 2006, at theWayback Machine.
  13. ^"VALLEY OF THE HEART".RetrievedNovember 24,2018.
  14. ^"President Barack Obama Honors Bay Area Playwright, Stanford Professor".September 23, 2016.
  15. ^Hayward, CarlArchivedDecember 2, 2005, at theWayback Machine.Community Arts Network interview with Valdez.
  16. ^Chow, Andrew R. (December 11, 2019)."See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks".Time.New York, NY.RetrievedDecember 11,2019.
  17. ^BookRagsweb page.
  18. ^Cannady, Sheryl (December 13, 2017)."2017 National Film Registry Is More Than a 'Field of Dreams'".Library of Congress.RetrievedDecember 13,2017.
  19. ^Zoot Suit|Golden Globes
  20. ^La Bamba|Golden Globes
  21. ^The Peabody Awards – Corridos! Tales of Passion and Revolution
  22. ^"Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature".Hispanic Heritage Foundation.RetrievedJanuary 11,2011.
  23. ^Presidential Medal of Arts Official Website

Further information[edit]

  • Valdez, Luis (June 7, 2014)."Luis Valdez".Visual History Program Collection(Interview). Interviewed byLourdes Portillo.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

External links[edit]

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