Thursday, July 03, 2008

Teatro Chicana, Teatro in Chicago y Una Broma


front (l) Peggy, Laura. Back (L) Hilda, Felicitas, Beckie, Gloria and Delia. 

Teatro Chicana
A Collective Memoir and Selected Plays

By Laura E. Garcia, Sandra M. Gutierrez, and Felicitas Nuñez
Foreword by Yolanda Broyles-Gonzalez


"This collection of testimonials of early Xicanistas and their work in teatro is an important contribution to the preservation of the spirit and energy that made the Chicano Movement."

—Ana Castillo, author of The Guardians and So Far from God

"These memoirs are the personal, honest, and riveting testimonials of seventeen Chicanas who performed Chicana theater during the 1970s. These carnalas empowered themselves and thousands during the tumultuous years of the Movimiento by performing plays for working-class communities. From college campuses to the fields where campesinos toiled, estas mujeres had the courage to fight gender inequality. We need their courage today. And we need their stories for a new generation of Chicanas and for working women everywhere."

—Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima and Curse of the ChupaCabra

"'Órale, ya era tiempo.' Stories of 'the Movement' too often emphasize men's roles, ignoring the vital participation of women or relegating them to the sidelines. In Teatro Chicana, women are central to the ideas, emotions, strategies, writing, art, and music of the 1960s and 1970s when this country—and much of the world—rocked with revolutionary imagination and fervor. The Chicano Movement, like most social movements, also had many women warrior/leaders—this struggle was shaped and ignited by women, fed and nurtured by women, with many men at their sides. I was part of this—I knew first hand how feminine spirit, energy, and love embraced and impelled us. Seeing it again through the voices of the elder-teachers in this book, I'm reminded—no movement is complete without la mujer."

—Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. and Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times

_______________________________________________________________

The 1970s and 1980s saw the awakening of social awareness and political activism in Mexican-American communities. In San Diego, a group of Chicana women participated in a political theatre group whose plays addressed social, gender, and political issues of the working class and the Chicano Movement. In this collective memoir, seventeen women who were a part of Teatro de las Chicanas (later known as Teatro Laboral and Teatro Raíces) come together to share why they joined the theatre and how it transformed their lives. Teatro Chicana tells the story of this troupe through chapters featuring the history and present-day story of each of the main actors and writers, as well as excerpts from the group's materials and seven of their original short scripts.


SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA
Call 800-691-6888
C/O TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
PO Box 3524
Chicago, IL 60654
http://speakersforanewamerica.com


Edited by:

Laura E. Garcia is the editor of the Tribuno del Pueblo newspaper, a bilingual publication that gives voice to the poor and to those fighting unjust laws, such as those that make the undocumented immigrant an animal of prey. She lives in Chicago.

Sandra M. Gutierrez is a lifelong community activist who has advocated for immigrant rights, unionization, youth counseling, and cultural diversity. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Felicitas Nuñez was a co-founder of the Teatro de las Chicanas and continues to be a driving force behind the organization. She lives in Bermuda Dunes, California.

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FILM IN THE PARK at Dusk
A program for the entire family, free of charge!
Elsa y Fred (Argentina/Spain)


Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Mozart Park
2036 N. Avers St.
Chicago, IL

Fred is 78 years old and a recent widower falls in love with his neighbor Elsa who claims to be younger. They fall in love, scandalizing their children and even their grandchildren. She is bound and determined to change Fred. She makes him laugh though, something he has not done for many years.


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Based on the book by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Adapted by Lynne Alvarez
Directed by Henry Godinez

July 12 – August 10, 2008
Part of the Goodman Theatre Latino Theatre Festival
Goodman Theatre in the Owen, 170 N. Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL

Save $5 at any Friday performance! Use promo code "5off" to save $5 per ticket at any Friday performance July 12 through August 10. (Discount subject to availability. No exchanges or substitutions. Limit: 8 tickets per order.)

Call (312) 443-3800 or Groups of 10 or more call 877.4.GRP.TIX

Suggested for everyone age 8 and older

Esperanza Rising is the story of a wealthy Mexican girl whose privileged existence is shattered when tragedy strikes, and she and her mother must flee to California. Forced to work in a migrant labor camp, Esperanza must learn to rise above her difficult circumstances and discover what she's truly made of. Set in the turbulent 1930's, and based on the popular book by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Esperanza Rising is a poetic tale of a young girl's triumph over adversity.

Henry Godinez

Director Henry Godinez, a Chicago Children's Theatre Artistic Associate, directed our Inaugural Production of A Year With Frog and Toad. Henry is the Resident Artistic Associate at the Goodman Theatre, where curates their biennial Latino Theatre Festival and directed six seasons of A Christmas Carol. He serves as Artistic Director of Northwestern University's Theatre and Interpretation Center, and is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Teatro Vista.

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NUEVO DICCIONARIO CONFECCIONADO

POLINESIA: mujer policía que no entiende razones.

CAMARON: aparato enorme que saca fotos.

DECIMAL: pronunciar equivocadamente.

BECERRO: observar una loma o colina.

BERMUDAS: observa a las que no hablan..

TELEPATIA: aparato de TV para la hermana de mi mamá.

ANOMALO: hemorroides.

BENCENO: lo que los bebés miran con los ojos cuando toman leche.

CHINCHILLA: auchenchia de un lugar para chentarche.

DIADEMAS: veintinueve de febrero.

DILEMAS: hablale más.

DIOGENES: la embarazó.

ELECCION:
lo que expelimenta un oliental al vel una película polno.

ENDOSCOPIO: me preparo para todos los exámenes excepto por dos.

MANIFIESTA: juerga de cacahuates.

MEOLLO:
me escucho.

ONDEANDO: sinónimo de ondestoy.

TALENTO:
no está tan rápido.

NITRATO: frustración superada.

REPARTO: trillizos.

REPUBLICA: mujerzuela sumamente conocida..

SILLON: respuesta afirmativa de Yoko Ono a Lennon..

SORPRENDIDA: monja corrupta y muy dispuesta...

ZARAGOZA : bien por Sarita!!!!!!


Lisa Alvarado

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your dictionary entries hit the spot this summer morning!

Your own inspiration?
RudyG

norma landa flores said...

Hey Lisa, thanks for the report about the mujeres of El Teatro Chicana. It'll be great to read about El Movimiento from the perspective of mis hermanas.

I started writing Chicano poetry back in 1969, for El Malcriado, the farmworker's paper in Delano, Califas, also a few anthologies.

Then I participated in Chicano Reader's Theatre in East Los Angeles College's forensic events. I wrote my own material and was even interviewed on a tv show called "It Takes All Kinds." When my (then) husband and his bar room buddies saw me expressing my Chicanismas, his pals urged him to leave la "Vieja Chingona!" And he did! Hîjole, what a price I paid for being a Chicana-Poeta-Warrior.

Bueno, QUE VIVA LA CAUSA! Thanks for informing me about this body of literature that I can share with my family and friends.

nlf
c/s Con/Sabias

Anonymous said...

By luck I've come across this..I am looking for information regarding the first Latina owned or run theatres in Chicago around 1970s...I'm in search of a long long family member and I haven't got much to go on but knowledge that his mother ' tenia in teatro ' :/ any help is appreciated! Kjumart@gmail.com