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[Applause]
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for the last five decades writer Luis
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Valdez has worked to give a voice to the
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voiceless I don't think any of these
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places really speak of prosperity or
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security of any
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sort none of those guys that live in a
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condition that they expect Mexicans of
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Farm Workers to uh live
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in this town is way off the freeway so
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you never see it and and people ar ar
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why is the fact
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that thousands and thousands of people
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are living like this and their Farm
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Workers I me I can remember this when I
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was a kid we used to do this just settle
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for
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anything celebrated playwright director
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Lis Valdez is best known for plays like
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zut suit and films such as labomba and
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is the founder of el tiatro cacino the
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workers theater however his life was
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shaped and forged as the son of Migrant
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Farm Workers in the 1940s of central
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California I was born in deleno
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California Southern sanin Valley headed
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up north all the way up Santa Rosa and
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then back down again um San Jose was uh
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a tremendous Crossroads then of course
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it was the Garden of Eden in those days
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it was uh nothing but Orchards uh it was
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a community it was a migrant community
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on wheels on trucks and in pickups and
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in cars some cases you were homeless you
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lived in your cars you lived in your
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vehicles you know waiting to pick up a
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labor camp what have you on the other
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hand uh it was uh in an area of the
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world the the Santa Clara Valley uh
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which was very pleasant actually as as
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life goes it was quite possible to live
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under the trees there and which is what
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we did lived in
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tents valdez's family eventually settled
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in San Jose and he was such an
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outstanding student at James lick high
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school that he earned an academic
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scholarship studying mathematics and
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physics at San Jose State College
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however theater and performance always
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seemed to Calla him and Valdez switched
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his major to English and after
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graduation he spent time with the San
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Francisco mime troop in 1965 Valdez
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returned to deleno and with the blessing
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of Cesar Chavez El tiatro capino was
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born so I decided that what I wanted to
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do was to organize a theater of buy and
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for Farm Workers and so in the second
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week of the deleno grape strike I went
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to Delo to see
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Caesar and didn't get a chance to talk
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to him then but I I eventually caught up
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with him and pitched him this idea and
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he said um well it's a good idea he says
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but you know there's no money in deleno
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he said there's no actors in deleno
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certainly there's no money to do theater
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in deleno there's there's no time
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there's no theater there's no there's no
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even time to rehearse we're on the
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picket line every day night and day he
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says you still want to do it and I said
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absolutely Caesar what an opportunity
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and so it was really the spirit of the
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strike and the movement that that U
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inspired me and and um I created ELO
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with the Farm Workers on the picket
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lines
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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everybody it was a form of expression a
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form of protest but also a form of
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entertainment all at once we used to hop
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on top of uh an old panel truck that the
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union had later on flatbed trucks it
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became a form
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of really organizing people and
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expressing really what the needs were a
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nonviolent form of organization and that
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was really important and part of that
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whole
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chain Valdez continued to write and work
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with elat cacino and 1977 proved to be a
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watershed year his play Zoot Suit was a
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smash success at the Mark Taper form in
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Los Angeles and the guy who once
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performed to top flatbed trucks hit the
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big time we ran at almost 100% capacity
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for 11 months which was just phenomenal
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it made enough money for the mark form
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to purchase the Aquarius theater uh over
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a half a million people saw it and uh it
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still holds the record for the longest
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running locally produced uh hit play in
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the history of Los Angeles theater
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unwilling to sell the movie rights of
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his play for a cool half million dollars
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Valdez instead wrote his own own
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screenplay and ended up directing the
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film for considerably less cash but he
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had his foot in the door as a director
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and a number of Latino film careers were
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launched what the hell's going on is it
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City's cracking down on
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P don't you read the
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newspapers death awakens Sleepy Lagoon
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so what emerged was a film that was kind
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of unusual and uh I think holds up well
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it uh it's still very popular it want me
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more respect I think with filmmakers it
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was not a commercial success but it was
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nominated for a Golden Globe as best
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musical picture of 1981 or something and
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um and the fact is that uh it's still
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there and uh it's a record if nothing
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else of uh the original cast it made
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Eddie oros a movie star and my brother
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was also Daniel was one of the major
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figures in it uh lupion Tios who played
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the mother also had a major still has a
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major career in Hollywood Tony palana
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who was the father in Ugly Betty was one
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one of the younger brothers so the zuit
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cast uh
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had their opening their shot with
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[Music]
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zuit what followed was even more success
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for Valdez and in 1987 he wrote the
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screenplay and directed The Blockbuster
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film labomba the tragic story of rock
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and roller Richie valin whose life was
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cut short in a plane crash 20 years
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later the film still resonates with
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audiences largely because of valdez's
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ability as a master
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Storyteller I was trying to tell a story
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that was true to Richie's Spirit he
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would have been very generous he was a
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very generous person very loving person
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uh who uh encountered uh a world that he
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changed uh through his music um the
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heartline of labamba I think is what is
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what keeps it popular the fact that it's
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uh it's a story of of Two Brothers It's
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a Cain and Abel story there's nothing
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that's biblical that goes way back and
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when two brothers can because of
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jealousy and anger or whatever you know
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uh those roots that come out of
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childhood and and manifest in different
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ways in adulthood uh in some ways a
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competition for Mama's love you know
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what could be more basic than that don't
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you walk out on me Valdez would continue
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to work and in 1987 he was honored with
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a George Peabody Award for excellence
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and television for cidos Tales of
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passion and Revolution for PBS along the
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way there would be other writing and
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directing jobs including the Cisco kids
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are you afraid to die I'd rather live me
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too but what remained closest to his
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heart has always been Al theatro capino
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and their theater in San Juan
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[Music]
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Batista recently Valdez has allowed
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local high school students to use his
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groundbreaking play zoot suit in an
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effort to promote the Arts and theater
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in
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schools the idea of having my play zutu
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being done in high school particularly
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in this area uh was phenomenal it was a
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learning experience for the students uh
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I mean I wasn't directly involved these
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were other directors I just gave them
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permission to do my play we had some of
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the theatro Cino members go over and
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work with the students that it was a
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transformative experience for a lot of
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these young people not all the inos
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either I mean it was the Ang kids
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involved because this was the first time
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that they really interacted and that
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they were able to really look across and
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see each other being high school they
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have to have color blind casting so uh
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even the puko the edos role was played
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by a young woman you know in April Sala
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in in Selena's High School which was
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incredible here's this young woman uh
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doing El pachuko and she did a hell of a
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job so it's a learning experience for
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everybody and in that way uh the work is
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able to serve I've always believed that
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theater is a creator of community and
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that Community is a creator of theater
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I'm of the belief that every Community
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regardless of economic status should
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have access to a theater I Am The Ballad
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The Ballad
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sings and my voice is of the streets and
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the Cantinas and the dance halls and all
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the places where I am
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heard for I am the soul of the Common
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People people that sings of
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tragedies and
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Melancholy but
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also
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happiness some men are Timeless and such
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is the case with Luis Valdez a
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playwright and director who continues to
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tell stories and give voice to the
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voiceless
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