Teatro Chicana: A Collective Memoir and Selected Plays

Conclusion

Conclusion this book represents the labor of seventeen women who formed a collective in order to put together their recollections of the work of a beloved theater company, which was first called Teatro de las Chicanas and was later known variously as Teatro Laboral and Teatro Raíces, but was always teatro chicana. These women, now heading into middle age, were university students in San Diego from the late 1960s into the 1970s. The process of producing this book was like stitching together a patchwork quilt, one piece at a time, not quite knowing what the final product was going to look like. As the women progressed with the book they knew that each precious patch had to be used, because without it the quilt as a whole would be incomplete. Their goal has been to respectfully pass on to a new generation of young women and men a record of experiences and lessons learned during that crucial period of reflection and protest—not because the writers felt that their experiences were unique, but because they believe that each generation adds its own sweat, labor, and intellect to the advancement of humanity. We are links in a chain of history. In the tradition of Native American storytelling, the women aim to pass on their story to this current generation of warriors. It is their hope that generations to come will learn from their failures as well as their successes. 169 170 Recuerdos / Memoirs The generation that came of age during the Chicano Movement strove to create awareness of civil rights, to continue the struggle for women’s equality, and to mobilize opposition to the Vietnam War. Many of the same political issues , in different guises and disguises, confront us today. And the work of the teatro women resonates with relevance. For example, the issues raised in an acto written in the early 1980s, Archie Bunker Goes to El Salvador, would easily be recognizable today in an acto revised as “Archie Bunker Goes to Iraq.” The acto titled E.T.—The Alien, which was about the immigration issue, is still valid today as we witness the virulent attacks on the undocumented immigrant population and those who dare to defend them or sympathize with them. Controversial issues were the core of the actos the teatro women wrote— issues such as discrimination on the job, drug abuse, and abortion. These women researched, wrote, and performed the plays on campus and in the community, all while struggling to pursue their own higher educational goals. In the teatro play titled So Ruff, So Tuff, the protagonist, Rudy, is pressured by his friends to sell drugs on the street while his sister Rosie becomes pregnant and decides that an abortion is her only option for dealing with this unplanned pregnancy. Both Rudy and Rosie find it difficult to pursue their dream of going to college, just like so many of today’s working-class young people who are faced with similar challenges and obstacles. As demonstrated in the actos, the foremost goal of the women was to stimulate community action through political awareness. They used the medium of theater to raise social consciousness. They strongly believed—and believe today —in the freedom to express political views without persecution. Freedom of speech—whether in the written word, public performance, or music—must be protected, because it is through dialogue and debate that we exercise and ultimately preserve our democratic rights. The writers of this book are a microcosm of society in the first chapter of the twenty-first century in this country. Some of the women obtained their degrees thirty years ago, while others returned to college while working full-time in order to earn their degrees. Some of the women married. Some divorced. Some were single mothers and others raised children with their partners. Three of the women are cancer survivors and one was lost to cancer during the early stages of the writing of this book. In the years that it took to write this book, some of the women suffered the loss of parents, sisters, and friends. The teatro women are elementary school teachers, university professors, nurses, linguistic translators, administrators and administrative assistants, counselors, community and school liaisons, and labor union officials. In their conclusion 171 varied capacities they touch the lives of many people in their communities, including children, students, the sick, the elderly, workers, and prisoners. In their daily lives...