Luis Valdéz is a significant playwright, producer, director and actor of the second half of the twentieth century. He was twenty five years of age and one year out of university when in 1965 he began organizing El Teatro Campesino [The Theatre of the Farmworker]. El Teatro was a collaborative theatre company which was initially associated with the United Farmworkers Union.
The researcher’ interest in this study grew out of a thirty-year personal and professional association with the Mexican-heritage / Latino / Chicano community in rural Northern California. The researcher uses a Cultural/Critical Rhetorical analysis approach. The study considers the significance of the Acto [act or play] and the contribution made by El Teatro Campesino and Luis Valdéz.
The elements of the study include the historic setting, ethnic labels and cultural values, ethnic and cultural politics, social protest, Valdéz as the progenitor of El Teatro Campesino. The study focuses on the early Actos from 1965 to 1967. A categorical comparison is made between Los Actos and the Moralities or English morality plays. This is followed by a comparison between Everyman (c. 1495) and Las dos caras del patroncito [The two faces of our beloved patron/boss] (1965).
Further consideration is given to insights provided by the Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Freire on El Teatro Campesino, a commentary on the study, and a conclusion, followed by further research suggestions. This study concludes that all of the essential elements of morality plays are present in the Acto.