From "Horse Opera" History to Hall of Mirrors: Luis Valdez's Bandido!

Abstract

Luis Valdez's approach to theatre production and dramaturgy has changed considerably since his early work with El Teatro Campesino. As the leading theatrical voice for the Chicano movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, Valdez focused on raising the social and cultural consciousness of Chicano farm workers and Barrio dwellers through performances, often of an agitprop nature; however, beginning in the mid-seventies, Valdez began a new phase of his career with El Teatro Campesino — a phase which Jorge Huerta has described as "the infiltration of the regional theaters."