Copyright 2018
ESTRELLA AMARO-JEPPESEN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY
BY
ESTRELLA AMARO-JEPPESEN B.A., University of California, Riverside, 2013
THESIS Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures California State University Bakersfield, 2018
Bakersfield, California
Defense Committee:
Maryann Parada, Chair and Advisor Dustin Knepp Lena Taub Robles
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY
BY ESTRELLA AMARO-JEPPESEN
This thesis or project has been accepted on behalf of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures by their supervisory com 'ttee:
Dustin Knepp ~
Le:i(a Tatro~~ Robles
This is dedicated with much love and gratefulness to my family who believed in me and encouraged my nerdiness over language and theater. Thanks to your support, I found a way to merge the things I most enjoy.
Special thanks to my Mami for proofreading my papers even when they were on obscure topics, to Ezzy for waiting while I finished homework before we could play, and to Brian for being patient with me even if I had to work on holidays and always having a hug or a cup of coffee ready (and for watching Lethal Weapon or Wayne’s World with me when I just needed a break).
Los adoro.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First and foremost, I would like to thank the countless theaters, actors, crew and management of the theater community of Kern County for opening up to me the doors to your theaters and your experiences. Without you, this project could never exist.
I would like to thank Dr. Maryann Parada, my faculty advisor, who knew when to push me, when to comfort, when to teach, and when to be a friend. Thanks to you, I learned how to be a better student, how to conduct research that motivates me, and the sort of instructor I aim to be.
To Dr. Lena Taub Robles, thanks for generously sharing your knowledge of professional scholarship and teaching practices in language, and for hosting such fun language tables, the relaxing time of my week.
To Dr. Dustin Knepp, thanks for teaching me to always question what I actually know and really consider the best way to learn more, for showing me that I was interested in ethnography when I had never even heard the term, and for demonstrating how an adept leader empowers others.
Special thanks to the Graduate Center for the Collaborative Initiative which funded this project, to Martha Manriquez and Dr. Vandana Kohli for their support.
To Milissa Ackerly and Gladys Gillam for their guidance and for always being willing to listen.
To Dr. Isabel Sumaya for helping me through the IRB submission process, which was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.
To the Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty and Staff: Dr. Anthony Nuño, Dr. José
Reyna, Dr. Teresa Fernández Ulloa, and Yuri Sakamaki, for all the encouragement and support.
NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY
This thesis deals with issues pertaining to ethno-cultural identities. I recognize that terms used to denote ethno-cultural groups are often evolving and that, consequently, some terms are contested if they no longer fit the needs of a community and some terms fall out of use.
I will use the term “Latinx” as an inclusive label for individuals of Latin American background. This is not meant to exclude those who identify with other terms or are of Spanish descent, nor to erase labels which were used at different historical times. I will only deviate from this when quoting other material or when emulating other studies.
Additionally, I use the American spelling of “theater” to follow academic conventions.
However, there are many theaters, theater groups, and theater scholars which use the British
“theatre” in their names and writings. I will only use this spelling when referring to a proper name or citing these materials directly.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures ...... 10 List of Tables ...... 11 List of Abbreviations ...... 12 Chapter 1: Introduction ...... 14 1.1. Coming Back to Theater ...... 14 1.2. Positionality ...... 14 1.3. Project Description ...... 16 1.4. Organization of Thesis ...... 17 Chapter 2: Theoretical Frameworks and History of Latinx Theater in Kern County...... 18 2.1. Representation and Ethnomethodology ...... 18 2.1.1. Ethnic Representation ...... 18 2.1.2. Ethnomethodology and Ethnography ...... 21 2.1.3. Social Justice ...... 22 2.1.4. Guiding Texts...... 23 2.2. Kern County, the Chicano Movement, and a Local Theater History ...... 24 2.2.1. Kern County ...... 24 2.2.2. The Chicano Movement ...... 25 2.2.2.1. 1965...... 25 2.2.2.2. El Teatro Campesino...... 26 2.2.2.3. A Symbolic Group...... 27 2.2.3. History of Bakersfield Theater after El Teatro Campesino ...... 32 2.2.3.1. 1960s (after 1965)...... 32 2.2.3.2. 1970s...... 32 2.2.3.3. 1980s...... 34 2.2.3.4. 1990s...... 35 2.2.3.5. 2000s...... 36 2.2.3.6. 2010s...... 37 2.3. Conclusions ...... 37 Chapter 3: Internal Perspectives ...... 39 3.1. Actor Interview Methodology ...... 39 3.2. Actor Interview Findings ...... 42 Chapter 4: External Perspectives ...... 52
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 9
4.1. Linguistic Landscape Methodology ...... 53 4.2. Linguistic Landscape Findings ...... 55 4.3. Representation Study Methodology ...... 56 4.4. Representation Findings ...... 60 4.5. Conclusion ...... 64 Chapter 5: Findings and Suggestions ...... 65 5.1. Findings ...... 65 5.2. Suggestions ...... 66 5.3. Next Steps ...... 69 5.4. Conclusion ...... 70 Appendix A: Sample Interview Questions for Theater Actors in Kern ...... 72 Appendix B: AAPAC Ethnicity Categories ...... 74 Appendix C: 2017 Casting in KC Community Theaters ...... 75 Index ...... 78 Bibliography ...... 81 Vita ...... 93
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 10
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: NFWA Pilgrimage to Sacramento...... 27 Figure 2: Valdez Organized “Farm Workers Theater” at Strike School ...... 28 Figure 3: Marchers or Myth ...... 30 Figure 4: Chicano Production at Porterville College...... 33 Figure 5: A Latina Lead in a BC production ...... 34 Figure 6: Robert Beltran in U.S.A. at BC ...... 34 Figure 7: BC Teatro Chicano director...... 35 Figure 8: An Example of a Donor Wall ...... 56 Figure 9: An Example of a Theater History Display ...... 56 Figure 10: Casting by Ethnicity (All Theaters) ...... 61 Figure 11: Actor Diversity ...... 61 Figure 12: Ethnicity by Show Type (All Theaters) ...... 63 Figure 13: Ethnicity by Role Prominence (All Theaters) ...... 63 Figure 14: Ethnic Breakdown at a Glance ...... 75 Figure 15: Lead Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters) ...... 76 Figure 16: Supporting Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters) ...... 76 Figure 17: Ensemble Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters) ...... 77
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 11
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: 2017 Season Across Kern Theaters ...... 60 Table 2: Latinx Participation at Kern Theaters ...... 62
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 12
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
AAPAC ...... Asian American Performers Action Coalition BC ...... Bakersfield College BCT...... Bakersfield Community Theater CSU...... California State University CSB ...... California State University, Bakersfield CSUB ...... California State University, Bakersfield Ford ...... The Shafter Ford Theater LL ...... Linguistic Landscape LTC ...... Latinx Theatre Commons M.E.Ch.A ...... Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan MENA ...... Middle Eastern/North African and American Indian NFWA ...... National Farm Workers Association Ovation ...... The Ovation Repertory Theatre Stars ...... Stars Theatre Restaurant Stars West ...... Stars West Comedy Theatre TCT ...... Tehachapi Community Theatre TES ...... The Empty Space UC ...... University of California UFW ...... United Farm Workers Union
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 13
ABSTRACT
Despite being the birthplace for El Teatro Campesino, Kern County has no Chicano/Latinx theaters or theater troupes. Through a historical overview, qualitative, in-depth interviews with
Latinx theater actors, an analysis of the linguistic landscape, and a report on ethnic diversity in casting, I explore contemporary Latinx participation in Kern County community theaters. It is an ethnographic project that uses interdisciplinary methods to knit together these seemingly disparate approaches.
Keywords: Contemporary Latino theater, Kern County, ethnic diversity, ethnography
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 14
CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Coming Back to Theater
When I took a research methods course two years ago, feeling totally out of my depth with all the articles on sociolinguistics and qualitative interviewing, the only way I was able to maintain a grasp on what was happening in class was by relating class materials to theory I had learned in prior literature courses. When I realized I would have to choose a topic to write a proposal, I could not think of anything sociolinguistic. I was a literary scholar. Formerly a theater scholar. I remembered back in my high school days when my school drama teacher, Ms.
McClure, had my best friend and me direct a one-act play called “Los Vendidos” by someone named Luis Valdez. When she told us that the playwright not only was Latinx like us, but that he had grown up in Delano, CA (which was less than an hour away from our high school up the 99
North), we felt a sense of pride in being able to bring something so edgy and well-written, and
“about us” to our small city of Arvin, CA. Meanwhile in my research methods course, when we had to present a question we would like to research, I asked, “Why, if Kern County was the home for El Teatro Campesino, an internationally renowned Chicano acting group, does no one speak about this legacy?”
1.2. Positionality
Norma Mendoza-Denton states in the “reader’s manual” section of her seminal work,
Homegirls, “it is the responsibility of anthropologists to explain ourselves, who we are and come from...” (2008, p. 43). Though I am not an anthropologist, I must do the same. I am wearing the anthropologist’s vest and the sociolinguist’s hat. At my core, I am an actor, a language-lover, a writer, and I have always strived to bring these things together.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 15
I wrote my first play when I was eight years old, about princesses and kings in a far-away place. I mentioned it to my teacher, Mrs. Oliver (who also happened to teach our class the French language in between our required lessons and during the transitions to recess or lunch) and she suggested I stage it with a group of students in class. It was my first time acting and directing, too. After that, I sought out (or created) opportunities to act. I had my mom enroll me in the 4th grade class that did a puppet show at the end of the year, I started a drama club in junior high and wrote our first play, and then in high school, I was fortunate enough to get involved in drama just as the “new” drama teacher started at our school. For the first show I did with Ms. McClure, I was a crazy waitress in a comedy—in my mind, I got to explore my Puerto Rican side by deliberately trying to “talk” more Puerto Rican on stage. My mother is Honduran, so I had always identified more with that side.
When I started acting in community theater as a senior in high school, I had an uncomfortable experience. I performed in a bilingual version of The House of Bernarda Alba at
The Spotlight Theatre (not a currently operating theater). One night before the show, a stage mom, a European American lady who was going to be an usher that night, told me that it was great that the theater was doing Spanish plays because then ‘your people’ would actually get cast.
Being a 17-year-old kid, I just smiled and told her I needed to get in costume. I did not know what to say. And my traditional upbringing told me to never talk back to an adult.
When I was finishing up my high school and applying to colleges, my goal in life was to be an actor who would perform in as many languages and countries as possible. I was a native speaker of Spanish, had studied French all four years of high school, and I dreamt about learning other languages, like German or Japanese. Being the child, niece and cousin of immigrants, I got a lot of ‘why would you do that?’ and ‘that’ll never pay’ and ‘you should get a steady job.’
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 16
Eventually, I caved in to that pressure and got a ‘safe’ college degree in history because it was my favorite academic subject; but I studied Spanish, French, German, and linguistics on the side.
A decade later, and, though I am not an actor who does languages, I am a language teacher who does theater research. You can take the girl out of the theater, but you cannot take the theater out of the girl.
1.3. Project Description
This is an ethnography. It is a “subjective method” (Mendoza-Denton, 2008, p. 48) that forms the foundation for this project. However, it is interdisciplinary and draws on historical, sociolinguistic, qualitative, and quantitative research methods as well. I have had to balance the insider-outsider dynamic (Rubin & Rubin, 2005, pp. 86-87) since I used to participate in Kern community theater over a decade ago. As such, I still have some contacts and acquaintances who participate in local theater, even if I have not spoken to them in a long time. This can create a different dynamic in terms of the research relationship than a researcher who has no connection to the community they are studying.
The focus is on Kern County in California. Based on my actor interviews, it is a place that is known for oil, heat, and agriculture. Based on my own experience, it is a place with a thriving arts scene; yet, it is also where I saw other Latinx kids like me who were told not to go to college by teachers who insisted they would never make it, or by parents who did not know about financial aid or who thought their kids should get married or get a job after high school. It is important because this is where “The Teatro Campesino, or Farmworker’s Theater, was founded by Luis Valdez, a native of Delano, California, the son of migrant farmworkers” (Huerta
J. A., 1982, p. 1) and despite the decades which have gone by since Valdez founded this group and achieved international renown, there are still many of us in Kern County who are the
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 17 children of farmworkers.
I take a primarily contemporary focus. The bulk of my data is concentrated in the 2017 theater season. Each theater schedules their seasons differently, but I chose to emphasize the season for each theater1 that had the most time in 2017. However, since El Teatro Campesino was the original impetus to study this, I look at historical theatrical records dating back to the
1960s (the decade in which this group formed).
When I started this project, based on my own experiences feeling like there were limited opportunities for Latinx actors in Kern community theaters, I speculated that there would still be limited opportunities for this group. However, what I found is that Latinx actors are represented more often than I expected. I found it important to examine the data to illuminate the nuances of how Latinx actors interact with local community theaters.
1.4. Organization of Thesis
In Chapter 2, I write about ethnography and ethnic representation. I also offer a historical overview of Kern community theater since the 1960s, with an eye for the documented Latinx participation. In Chapter 3, I focus on internal perceptions of theatrical participation. I use qualitative interviewing with actors of any ethnic background to see how they interact with Kern community theaters and to see what their perception is of Latinx participation in these. Chapter 4 deals with the external, and more objective, view of theatrical participation. I do a linguistic landscape observation of Kern community theaters with the goal of finding how Spanish is used in these, and I also emulate the Asian American Performers Action Coalition’s study on Ethnic
Diversity on New York City stages. A study of this type has never been done at the local, Kern
County-level.
1 For a complete list of the seasons analyzed in this study, see Table 1 in Chapter 4.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 18
CHAPTER 2:
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS AND HISTORY OF LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY
2.1. Representation and Ethnomethodology
2.1.1. Ethnic Representation
In a paper on ethnic representation in television, Dana Mastro (2015) points out that the
“bulk of our interactions with diverse groups are likely to come in the form of vicarious contact.”
In this case, the contact is vicariously through theatrical representations (p. 3). This means that notions of who “we” are versus who “others” are get constructed remotely and may often include stereotypes if groups are not able to represent themselves. While there has been much work on the effects of ethnic representation in the media has on the Anglo audience perceptions of
‘others’, such representations (or the absence thereof) have an effect on the ‘others’ too (Mastro
& Sink, 2017, pp. 153-155). Theater is often seen as a more socially conscious medium than television. Given the national call for more diversity in the arts which can be seen in Twitter hashtag campaigns such as #OscarsSoWhite, #WeNeedDiverseBooks, and #TonysSoWhite, these conversations about ethnic representation are timely and important to our society. This is exemplified by an interview I conducted for the qualitative interview portion of this project (see
Chapter 3), when one actor points to the ongoing misrepresentation of actors of color by saying that “with community theater, musicals are infamously a little racist.” The actor signals the lack of roles that authentically represent ethnic minority populations. When trying to speak of ethnic minority theatrical production, one finds countless types of performances; but, even within
Latinx acting groups, there is a great variety of theatrical expression which might represent different national origins, might take a single culture or bicultural approach, and might be written
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 19 in English, Spanish, or a combination of the two (Sandoval-Sánchez, 1999, pp. 103-104). Just as there is no one way to be Latinx, there is no one way to do Latinx theater.
Jorge Huerta, the self-proclaimed “abuelo of Chicana/o theatre scholarship” (Boffone,
2016) cites Luis Valdez’s founding of El Teatro Campesino as a symbolic origin of Chicano theater (Huerta J. A., 1982, pp. 1-2). Ramírez (1990) documents Spanish theater performances in
Texas going back to the late 1800s and Kanellos traces Hispanic theater back primarily to the
1840s and 1850s with the construction of theaters in Los Angeles and San Francisco (1984, p. 7).
However, Sandoval-Sánchez provides a more panoramic overview of Latinx theater beginning in the mid-twentieth century. While Chicano theater flourished in the Southwest and the West
Coast, Nuyoricans and Cubans practiced theater in New York and Florida, and a variety of other
Latinx and Hispanic groups have represented their experiences in cities such as Washington,
D.C., Tucson, and Chicago to name a few (1999, pp. 105-107).
Despite a long history, Latinx theater (and Latinx actors by extension) are misunderstood by mainstream theater. Broadway suffers from the same misrepresentation of Latinxs as television:
The Latino productions staged on Broadway [referring specifically to Zoot Suit, Short
Eyes, and Cuba and His Teddy Bear] are disturbing and problematic regarding issues of
representation: they can easily perpetuate the stereotyping of U.S. Latinos as delinquents,
gang members, criminals, drug users, or as the underdogs of the disenfranchised
American working class. Herein lies the problem of the burden of representation. One
Latino play is expected to represent and speak for all Latinos/as. It is crucial to make
known that not all Cubans are trapped in reactionary nostalgia or are of the upperclass.
Not all Chicanos/as are migrant peasants who take pride in a Native American past and
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 20
legacy or a mythical Aztlán. Not all Puerto Ricans live on welfare or are delinquents in
the streets of New York. Not all Dominicans, Colombians, and Central Americans engage
in drug trafficking or are illegal aliens. Not all U.S. Latino/a playwrights should be
expected to write ethnic specific plays for community-based U.S. Latino theater
audiences, to stage sagas of assimilation, or to portray bilingual and bicultural
experiences (Sandoval-Sánchez, 1999, p. 115).
Just as there is diversity and plurality in the European American experience, there is diversity and plurality in the Latinx and Hispanic American experience. And, only telling one story can be as damaging as telling no stories, if it is presented as the only story.
Some contemporary ethnic minority theater draws on Augusto Boal’s “Theatre of the
Oppressed” which underscores an “insistence on the ability to interrogate, intervene, and change forms” (Schechner, Performance Studies: An Introduction, 2002, p. 153), making theater for oppressed groups a more active and socially-conscious enterprise. “Boal has always considered the theatre a pedagogical instrument for social change” (Gerould, Augusto Boal, 2000, p. 462) and through his own theatrical practice as political resistance and in traditionally non-theatrical spaces, laid a foundation for subsequent socially conscious or non-traditional theater. Valdez and
Boal were producing theater as contemporaries though in different contexts; each drew on
Bertolt Brecht as an influence (Broyles-González, El Teatro Campesino, 1994; Schechner,
Performance Studies: An Introduction, 2002). Brechtian theater called for a less “realistic” acting style in which the actor was commenting on the character and the audience was encouraged to question the performance and the character (Elam, 2000, pp. 110-111). For Boal, “Theater is action!” (Boal, 2000, p. 473); the actor is also spectator and the spectator is also actor. It is an active theater form that requires more of a partnership from the relationship between performer
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 21 and audience than traditional theater performances. Latinx theater performers in Kern County would benefit from having a space where they and audiences can question the potential misrepresentation or lack thereof that they have experienced to this point.
2.1.2. Ethnomethodology and Ethnography
Ethnomethodology is a “research perspective” (Coulon, 1995, p. 1), which, though deeply drawing on sociology, can be applied to projects in other disciplines. It is based in naturalistic inquiries and “methodological pluralism” (Jessor, 1996). Jessor posits, that though some see ethnography as only embracing qualitative methods, it is more complex than that as:
The terms ethnography and qualitative method refer to a congeries of approaches and
research procedures rather than to any singular, self-contained, unique method. Their
coherence—whether participant observation, unstructured interview, informal survey,
case study, or the hermeneutic analysis of text—derives from a common concern with the
interpretation of meaning and with understanding the point of view of the Other.
Qualitative and quantitative methods are often cast as an irreconcilable antinomy, with
each the polar opposite of the other, but such a contrast is inherently misleading. It is not
only how data are collected but how they are used—for example, counted versus
interpreted—that determines whether a study is more qualitative or quantitative. And, of
course, qualitative data lend themselves to being quantified, and quantitative data can be
interpreted. (1996, pp. 5-6)
Therefore, this approach aims to “comprehend” rather than “explain” (Coulon, 1995, pp. 1-2).
Inquiries and interpretations within this line of thought emerge from one’s experiences and
“ethnographers will continue to work outward from their own biographies to the worlds of experience that surround them” (Denzin, Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 22 the 21st Century, 1997, p. 87). This means that subjectivity is not a detriment to a scholarly work if it serves in an interpretation and understanding of the research at hand. Much like the sociolinguist operates at the juncture between language and cultural meaning, the ethnographer operates in the juncture between experiences and cultural meaning and “reproduces experiences that embody cultural meanings and cultural understanding that operate in the ‘real’ world”
(Denzin, Interpretive Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century, 1997, pp. 32-33)
2.1.3. Social Justice
When this thesis topic was first conceived, the question was, if an internationally renowned Chicano theater group originated in Kern County, then why are there currently no
Latinx theater groups here? Hidden in the question are the notions of restorative (social) justice and racial justice. Though the research questions have changed; the impetus remains. This ties into the other aspect of motivation for this project: “social justice [which] is regarded as an aspect of distributive justice, and indeed the two concepts are often used interchangeably”
(Miller, p. 2). The distributive aspect is to restore or redistribute the potential history of Latinx contributions to local Kern theater, particularly in the contemporary context, but, to a lesser degree, historically since the inception of El Teatro Campesino. There are three approaches to achieving justice: “reparations, discussion and formal reconciliation process” (Buhl, 2008, p. 54).
In this project, I am adapting the second approach to social justice which “calls for discussion or debates among whites and people of colour about race and racism” (Buhl, p. 55), difficult though this type of conversation is. In discussions of race, it is essential to use a two- pronged approach: not treating the group (or by extension, the individual) as representative of a larger body from which they originate culturally; and the modulation between separating “culture and non-culture features that explain difference” (Glazer, 2000, p. 226). That is to say, that there
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 23 must be nuance in the way cultures are examined and explained. One way to do this is to keep in mind the image that Sandoval-Sánchez borrows from Chicana Performer, Ruby Nelda Perez:
“U.S. Latino theater as ‘an octopus with many legs’” (Sandoval-Sánchez, p. 103). It is a reminder that there are many incarnations of Latinx theater in the United States. What may be found today in Kern may be nothing like the theater that El Teatro Campesino created in
“American Delano” (Valdez) in the late 1960s.
2.1.4. Guiding Texts
In the development of this thesis, I looked to many texts for different reasons—their historical input, their handling of mixed methods research, their interpretation—even if they were not directly cited in the written document, they have shaped my views on how to conduct research or interpret results.
In terms of conducting ethnographic research, Denzin (1997) and Jessor (1996) have been instrumental in my understanding of ethnographic inquiry, especially in how it relates to subjective experiences and social justice. In trying to figure out how to do qualitative research,
Denzin and Lincoln (The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2005), and Rubin and Rubin
(2005), have provided valuable instruction in the development of the qualitative interviews, the interview process, and the interpretation of the raw data.
For theater and performance theory, I turned to Gerould (Theatre Theory Theatre, 2000) and Schechner (Performance Studies: An Introduction, 2002). For an overview of Latinx theater history, Sandoval-Sánchez (1999) contextualizes the diversity of Latinx and Hispanic performance around the nation and throughout time. Specifically pertaining to El Teatro
Campesino, Huerta (1982) provides a historical perspective of how this group was viewed at the time and Broyles-González (El Teatro Campesino, 1994) takes a subjective approach to El Teatro
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 24
Campesino’s history to recover the collective nature of the group’s performances. Schechner
(Between Theater & Anthropology, 1985) analyzes the intersection between anthropology and theater. He discusses how theatrical knowledge is passed on to new performers, performance practices across cultural boundaries, and the lack of scholarship on the pre-performance elements of theater. Elam (2000) examines the social protest aspects of El Teatro Campesino’s works in the social context of the civil rights era. Cohen-Cruz (Radical Street Performance: An
International Anthology, 1998) defines and exemplifies variations of non-traditional performances around the world. It helped me to situate El Teatro Campesino within the realm of non-traditional performances.
Specifically, in terms of how to bring together seemingly disparate elements through observation and interpretation, Gorman (2012) brings together questions of erasure, identity, and performance and Huerta (2014) deals with issues of Latina performance and cultural and literary studies. Both of these resources were valuable for when I needed guidance in how I would bring together strategies from different disciplines. Finally, two works that draw heavily on sociolinguistic and anthropological approaches are Zentella (1997) and Mendoza-Denton (2008).
Both of these use participant observations to closely explore Puerto Rican schoolchildren and
Latina youth gang members, respectively. Though my work is not like these examples, they provided a road map for the integration of elements from different disciplines into a cohesive, interdisciplinary whole.
2.2. Kern County, the Chicano Movement, and a Local Theater History
2.2.1. Kern County
Kern County, according to a 2017 report published by the State of California Department of Finance, is the 11th largest county in California (E-1 Population Estimates) with an estimated
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 25 population of 886,803. This is slightly up from the Census 2010 data which puts the population of Kern at 839,631. Of this, approximately 49% of the population are Hispanic. A more updated estimate puts the total Latinx population of Kern County at 51% (US Census Bureau, n.d.).
2.2.2. The Chicano Movement
2.2.2.1. 1965. 1965 is a pivotal year in California history for three reasons. The first was the Bracero program, “a wartime emergency program designed to fill the declared labor shortage in agriculture” (Calavita, p. 1), which ended in 1964 and was hailed in 1965 as the reason for a
“crisis year for California farming” in a Bakersfield Californian editorial (The Crisis Year for
California Farming). This editorial argues for a continued need for the Bracero program and says that the “spokesmen” who speak out against “low pay and uncertain terms of employment” do not understand the conditions for growing and harvesting crops in California (The Crisis Year for
California Farming). Three days later, The Bakersfield Californian reported that The California
Department of Employment Farm Labor Service was recruiting farm workers to replace Braceros on a per-order basis (Farmworkers recruited as job need arises). This ‘need for labor’ mentality led to a temporary reinstatement of the Bracero program during the spring grape harvest (Ferris
& Sandoval, p. 86) which precipitated the second important event of the year, the Great Grape
Strike. The National Farm Workers Association joined the Filipino strikers on September 20,
1965 (Ferris & Sandoval, pp. 92-93). In October, The Bakersfield Californian published an article which showed both leaders of the Grape Strike, Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong in a negative light. Chavez was purported to be operating an illegal business and Itliong was treated as a foreigner with terms such as “his people” in reference to Filipinos. The article ends with a quote from a spokesperson from the growers who claimed that “There has been no change in the long-standing practices of employing reputable, qualified workers regardless of race, creed or
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 26 color” (Kern Grape Strike in 2nd Month). These were the conditions when Luis Valdez met
Cesar Chavez in 1965 and asked him about starting a street theater group, which would come to be known as El Teatro Campesino (Ferris & Sandoval, pp. 108-111).
2.2.2.2. El Teatro Campesino. Broyles-González states that:
Under the wing of the United Farm Workers Union based in Delano, California, El Teatro
Campesino (The Farm Workers’ Theater) emerged in 1965, conceived as a union tool for
organizing, fund-raising, and politicizing. In its beginnings El Teatro Campesino
performed numerous highly improvisational skits (called actos), which expressed the
exploitative living and working conditions of farmworkers in boldly satirical words and
actions (Broyles-González, El Teatro Campesino, p. xii).
El Teatro Campesino was founded in 1965 and separated from the United Farm Workers Union in 1967 (Broyles-González, El Teatro Campesino, 1994, p. 84). Despite this, it was part of the
UFW’s transition from a local group to a nationally-known one. It was integral in the 1966
Pilgrimage to Sacramento as Valdez wrote the “Plan of Delano” a sort of manifesto, which was read at all the stops along the 300-mile route (Valdez). The Bakersfield Californian covered the
Pilgrimage in its third day as it reached Porterville (see Figure 1) (Marching 60 Spend Night in
Porterville; Lindsay Next.). Despite having been an integral part of the UFW in its inception, the differences in their aim led Chavez to break the bond between the UFW and El Teatro
Campesino in 1967 and “made it clear that the Farmworkers’ Union did not support Valdez’s leanings towards Chicano Nationalism” (Jacobs, p. 26). Once El Teatro Campesino split from
The United Farm Workers Union, the group ceased to be associated with Kern County as they
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 27 found a home base in Northern California.
Figure 1: NFWA Pilgrimage to Sacramento. 2.2.2.3. A Symbolic Group. In mentioning El Teatro Campesino, it is important to remember that it was neither the first workers’ theater2, nor was it the first US Latinx theater.
However, Broyles-González, critically, points out that “it is widely regarded as the fountainhead from which all inspiration and technique trickled down to other Chicano theaters” (Broyles-
González, Mexican Popular Performance Tradition, p. 246). Indeed, Huerta begins his book
Chicano Theater: Themes and Forms with Valdez’s initial meeting with grape strikers (Huerta J.
A., p. 11). The Bakersfield Californian, despite featuring the National Farm Workers Association in their strikes, pilgrimage, and other endeavors, featured El Teatro Campesino of this time period with an image of Valdez leading volunteers in a skit (see Figure 2) (Snyder).
El Teatro Campesino was devised as an agit-prop, or didactic and politically charged, performance which followed in the step of the “agit-prop theater of revolutionary Russia”
(Huerta J. A., p. 15). Cohen-Cruz qualifies agit-prop as one type of radical street performance
2 In Staging Strikes: Workers’ Theatre and the American Labor Movement, Colette A. Hyman focuses on the 1930s as the apogee of the workers theater movement especially in conjunction with the political left. (Hyman)
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 28
Figure 2: Valdez Organized “Farm Workers Theater” at Strike School which is defined as “acts that question or re-envision ingrained social arrangements of power”
(Cohen-Cruz, General Introduction, p. 1). In this context, El Teatro Campesino supported the
National Farm Workers Association by educating strikers through their performances.
Both the National Farm Workers Association and El Teatro Campesino were created in a time of social and political turmoil. As Stavans observes, “segregation was a fixture in the landscape” (2000, p. x). This extended to field workers, where despite doing the same back- breaking labor, workers kept away from those who did not share their ethnic background3 (Ferris
& Sandoval, p. 66). However, it was also a time of identity politics where minority groups tried to take back their history and culture. In his seminal Chicano literature anthology, We Are
3 “In 1962, the San Joaquin workforce was a mix of Latinos, aging dust-bowl Okies, Filipino immigrants who had arrived as far back as the 1920s, and the American blacks. Mexicans and Chicanos were already beginning to predominate in the fields, however, and growers were still bringing in braceros when authorized to do so. Cesar tried to bridge divisions that kept ethnic groups apart and competing with each other for jobs, but it wasn’t easy. Even the Mexicans were a tough sell, although they were more likely to listen” (Ferris & Sandoval, p. 66).
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 29
Chicanos, Phillip Ortega states that “[t]he Chicano is to the Mexican-American as the black is to the Afro-American: he represents a higher level of consciousness in the evolving quest for identity” (Ortega, p. xiv).
This question of minority identity has been (and continues to be) a duality between those who see identity as a “threat to democracy” and those who see it as “a struggle long overdue”
(Martin Alcoff, p. 1). Indeed, The Bakersfield Californian seemed, semiotically, to embody this duality in instances when it would pair an article from the striker’s perspective right next to an article from the grower’s perspective. Such was the case on March 24, 1966, as seen in Figure 3, when an article detailing the atmosphere of the Pilgrimage’s Fresno stop during which “some
300 marchers” had a festive night “enlivened by a candlelight parade and guitar-accompanied singing” (Marchers to Hold Fresno Theater Rally) was juxtaposed with (and, indeed, literally right next to) an article which repeats the idea that the strike is a “myth” in the title, the first sentence, and the second sentence (Grower Calls Strike Reports 'Pure Myth').
The UFW continued to advocate for Farm Worker rights, while the Teatro Campesino began touring the state and, eventually, even internationally (Our History). It is important to bear in mind that “U.S. Latino theatre, is not centralized, as Broadway theater is” (Sandoval-Sánchez, p.
105), nor was it centralized at the time El Teatro Campesino originated. As stated before, it was one of many U.S. Latinx theaters of its time. Yet, Broyles-González points out that:
A group viewed and appreciated by farmworkers simply as an effective organizational
tool, became, curiously, idolized in intellectual circles and was converted into a Chicano
icon for the academy. Euro-American scholarship and the press followed suit. Today the
name Teatro Campesino enjoys almost mythical status... (Broyles-González, El Teatro
Campesino, 1994, p. xii)
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 30
it., -.ur.. ltQ ct.tlf...... I 16 Thu ro., Morch 2~ . 1966 D1 Marchers to 1 lfo Hold Fresno ; iRt Theater Rally (;h 1'.\I:Lil:.R (AI') - Su ·1~11lg "' '"'-' l)lckerl'. marclung ~ ni t! ... m a Uid for hhther "ages J un1on ret.-o~mt l on . plan .1 -.~ lly tomg.ht. an the Atteca The· .lh,•t· in t h~ ~le AaCa iH\.merican ·t'C.:t iOII of io.... t•e:o,llO. rh~h· .,lOP Ill Parlier \\edne-. l._ty m g ht ''a~ enth ·e ned by a '"ndlellght P••·ade a nd gulta•· .J("l:Om panted ~ing m g. ·n,~ SO Hriker•, " bo left De ~ no a \\eek ago en J'OUte 10 Cal llornla 's capital in Sacramemo, a:"(' trudgmg tod"y 10 ) lalaqa .nJ w iJI rid<' In ~a r ..; to tht' J'rr.. no ra il ~
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LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 31
In terms of the present study, two things stand out in Broyles-González’s observation: the idea of El Teatro Campesino as a Chicano myth and icon. In the first work published on Chicano theater, Jorge Huerta states that “Because the overwhelming majority of Chicano playwrights and theater groups are addressing the socio-politico-economic condition of the Mechicano, it is safe to say that Chicano theater is political theater” (Huerta J. A., p. 6). Therefore, El Teatro
Campesino and Luis Valdez, by extension, have become mythical symbols and cultural icons for the Chicano political struggle. In trying to understand El Teatro Campesino’s practices from the ensemble perspective, Broyles-González observes that:
El Teatro Campesino’s theory and practice of a Chicana/o performance training emerges
from a preoccupation with Chicana/o social, political, and cultural reality. Although
initially motivated by direct involvement with the United Farm Workers, El Teatro
Campesino soon separated from direct involvement (in 1967) and embarked on a cultural
mission rooted in the broader Chicana/o reality and Chicana/o notions of reality.
(Broyles-González, El Teatro Campesino, 1994, p. 84)
The group represented the cultural leanings of the Chicano movement at large and, through having attained a mythic status, also became a symbol or icon of Chicanismo. But what does this mean for Kern County? El Teatro Campesino was created by a Delano-born playwright in conjunction with a Delano-based workers association that came to be the face of the Chicano movement in California. For the first two years of its existence, El Teatro Campesino dramatized
Kern County issues, particularly of the strikers who were laborers and ethnic minorities. After the group relocated to Northern California, it still represented Chicano ideals, but it no longer represented Kern County specifically, despite its origin in “American Delano” (Valdez). El
Teatro Campesino engaged in political theater outside of the Kern community theater structures.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 32
These theaters continued to produce mainstream Broadway-style productions after this group left the area.
2.2.3. History of Bakersfield Theater after El Teatro Campesino
I use 1965, the birth year of El Teatro Campesino, as a parting point. I briefly describe
Kern community theater history as evidenced through Bakersfield Californian articles and advertisements accessed on Newspaperarchive.com, the Beale Library Fine Arts Archive, and
The Bakersfield Californian’s online edition. A limitation is that Newspaperarchive.com has more materials from the 60s and 70s, the Beale archive has few materials from each of this time period, and the online version of the Bakersfield Californian has more easy access to the more up-to-date articles. This is not a complete history, but rather an initial exploration.
2.2.3.1. 1960s (after 1965). While the Teatro Campesino dramatized political situations for the National Farm Workers Association, the primary traditional theater groups of this time period were Bakersfield College, Bakersfield Community Theater, and Starlight of Kern.
Starlight of Kern shut down in 1967 and then Theater B (Short for Theater Bakersfield) took its place as the musical theater-focused group. There was an independent musical production to celebrate the city’s centennial in 1966 (Hilarious Centennial Musical). There was also governmental interaction with theater as the Kern Parks and Recs Department hosted a one-act play festival (Sock, Buskin 7 to Have Drama Entry). However, the first time in this period that a
Latinx name appeared in an acting position was “Dawna Morales” in a Bakersfield Community
Theater youth production (The Red Shoes).
2.2.3.2. 1970s.In the 1970s, the same theater groups remained, with the addition of the
Bakersfield Civic Light Opera4 and California State University. There was an independent,
4 This group exclusively staged musicals. They are the group which is now known as Stars Theatre Restaurant.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 33 sprawling music and dance production, called King of Glory. El Teatro Campesino visited the
BC campus to present its first full-length work in 1973 (Chicano history basis of production tonight). Toward the end of the decade, Porterville College featured four short Chicano plays in
1977 (Multiple Man) (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Chicano Production at Porterville College However, Latinxs found the most opportunities on Kern stages at Bakersfield College during this time. BC cast Latinx actors through their main productions and also children’s theater production company (The Flibbitygibbets). A 1973 production of Cinderella featured Latina actress Liz Chavez in the titular role (Cinderella) (see Figure 5).
Additionally, a stand out Latino actor of this time at BC was Robert Beltran. The first mention of him as part of the BC theater group was in 1973 with their production of U.S.A. (BC's play rated excellent) (see Figure 6). He continued to be an active and lauded figure in BC theater and in 1979 he was hired as a cast member of the California Shakespeare Festival (“Three Kern
Thespians”).
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 34
Figure 5: A Latina Lead in a BC production
Figure 6: Robert Beltran in U.S.A. at BC 2.2.3.3. 1980s. This time period featured productions from Bakersfield Community
Theater, Bakersfield Civic Light Opera, CSB Theater5, BC Theater, Vaudeville Express at the
Melodrama Theater and Kern Art Theater. Interestingly, the BC Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
5 As CSUB was referred to in the literature.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 35 de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A.) club proved to be the breeding ground for a new Hispanic-based theater group. Ken Johnson created El Teatro Chicano to promote pachuco and low-rider culture (Gavin) and they hosted programs to teach and train the community. It is important to note that the information I could find on 1980s Kern community theater was scarce; in fact, this was the only article I could find on El Teatro Chicano. It seems to be following in the footsteps of El Teatro
Campesino, with some of the same culture and identity preoccupations. However, it also seems reductive (and maybe it is due in part to the information being presented in a short newspaper article) with its reliance on the “low-rider” and “pachucho” imagery (see Figure 7).
Figure 7: BC Teatro Chicano director In general, it was hard to find information on the 80s and 90s in the three archives consulted. However, a trend of the articles found was to question the financial and artistic choices of Kern community theaters. The decade began with articles such as “Now, who chose that play?” (Gavin) and “Who puts money into shows?” (Gavin) and ended with “Local theater companies take play choice very seriously” (Joy).
2.2.3.4. 1990s. The 90s saw a growth in theater venues. A 1998 article lists 13 different
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 36 theater companies: Bakersfield College, CSUB’s Dore Theatre, Bakersfield Community Theater,
Bakersfield Independent Theatre, Bakersfield Music Theater6, ComedySportz, Illusions of
Grandeur, Kern Island Arts Fest, Melodrama Musical Theatre, Paradox Theatrical Associates,
The Space7, Stars Dinner Theater, and Stone Soup Theater (Pyramid Productions). From looking at theater companies’ websites, I also ascertained that The Spotlight Theatre started in 1999 (The
Spotlight Theatre, n.d.).
The small selection of articles that I found from this time period (all from the Beale Fine
Arts Archive), seemed to be more nostalgic and congratulatory in tone. Two separate articles in
1991 celebrated Bakersfield Community Theater as the “oldest community theater in state”. At the time of that article, it was 65 years old8. Additionally, there were the aforementioned articles which presented the variety of options in community theater. Finally, in another move that seems
Bakersfield was nostalgic about its community theater history, in 1998 and 1999, there were articles which featured two performers who have been participating in Kern Community theater throughout almost the entire span of time represented in this history of Kern theater: David Zent
(Zent & the art of music theater maintenance) and Randy Messick (Bard to the Bone).
2.2.3.5. 2000s. In the 2000s, I was unable to find any mentions of Illusions of Grandeur,
Kern Island Arts Fest, Paradox Theatrical Associates, or Stone Soup Theater (Pyramid
Productions), though archival material was limited for this period as well (the Beale Fine Arts
Archive). However, there were articles about new theaters: The Spotlight and The Phoenix. Full disclosure: I participated in a dual-language production of The House of Bernarda Alba in 2004
6 According to the Bakersfield Music Theater Stars website, this group is an evolution of the Bakersfield Civic Light Opera, which was founded in 1969 (“48 years”) (Stars Theatre Restaurant). 7 In “Make Room for Another Theater Company,” Scaffidi from The Bakersfield Californian, states that Seat of Your Pants Productions was founded by Roger Mathey, a professional actor who had worked in larger cities. This theater ends up becoming The Space. (Scaffidi) 8 In 2018, it is now 91 years old and still going strong. As of this writing, their new season (2018-2019) is already posted on their website. It remains the oldest theater in the state (Bakersfield Community Theatre, n.d.).
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 37 at The Spotlight, though I could find no archival material for this production. The management of The Spotlight envisioned doing a regular Latinx-themed play in which the cast performed alternate nights in English and Spanish; as far as I know, that never materialized. The Spotlight closed in 2012.
There was, additionally, a revival of King of Glory, the locally-written show which made it into Time Magazine in the 1970s. Martha Knight, the original “producer, creator, and coordinator” headed up this production as well nearly three decades later (Panta).
The only mention of a Latinx actor participating in a play during this time period that I found was in The Spotlight Theatre’s production of The Crucible (Page). This is not indicative of a lack of participation, but, rather, of a lack of documentation in the archives I consulted.
2.2.3.6. 2010s. For this time period, I found Bakersfield Californian articles on their publicly-available archive (The Bakersfield Californian, n.d.). The topics of the articles ranged from audition notices, to announcements of a new theater in town, to announcements about theater participants teaching in the community. However, I found 41 articles which gave at least a partial cast list. Of these, 68% featured at least 1 Latinx actor (or 28 plays). This was a surprising find, as I expected Latinx participation would be much lower in Kern Community theater. While there is not a Latinx community theater group, that does not negate the possibility of Latinx participation in local productions.
2.3. Conclusions
In this chapter, I have explored the multifaceted history of Latinx theater at the national level (Sandoval-Sánchez, 1999; Huerta J. A., 1982; Kanellos, 1984). Yet, there is an enduring misrepresentation of Latinx shows (Sandoval-Sánchez, 1999), and by extension of Latinx actors). Valdez and Boal expand on Brechtian notions of socially active/participatory theater
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 38
(Broyles-González, El Teatro Campesino, 1994; Schechner, Performance Studies: An
Introduction, 2002). Ethnographic methods which focus on qualitative research inform this project. I also rely on social justice theories to open a space for discussion between theater actors and management of different ethnic backgrounds.
Though El Teatro Campesino began locally in 1965, it left Kern County and became a
Northern California institution. In its wake, no other long-lasting Latinx-focused theater group arose. However, there was Latinx participation dating back to the 70s.
In the next chapter, I use qualitative interviewing with contemporary Kern actors about perceived opportunities in Kern County theaters with a focus on Latinx participation.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 39
CHAPTER 3:
INTERNAL PERSPECTIVES
This part of the study focuses on qualitative, in-depth interviews with Kern County actors of all ethnic backgrounds. Through questions that ask about the actors’ experiences in community theater, my aim was to observe the subjective experiences of theater actors of different ethnicities regarding their perceptions of opportunities for Latinx theater actors in Kern community theaters. These are areas that have not been studied from a local level. This cultural studies approach draws on qualitative methods to show the personal impact of theater participation.
3.1. Actor Interview Methodology
The methodology for this part of the study involves qualitative in-depth interviews with theater actors. I have conducted six interviews with Kern actors regarding their experiences in community theater. Following Denzin’s (1997, p. 43) idea that each interview contains
“instances” which are moments that show cultural understandings from that person’s cultural perspective, the number of participants in a study can be very small. That is, the significance of the study is not found in having many interviews with many participants, but rather through rich information with many “instances” in a smaller number of interviews. In this case, six was enough to provide privacy to participants and to potentially find statistical themes. However, it is small enough to still be “rich” (Rubin & Rubin, 2005, p. 134) despite the elusive nature of interpreting transcribed interviews out of the original field interview setting (Denzin, Interpretive
Ethnography: Ethnographic Practices for the 21st Century, 1997, p. 43).
In order to maintain the anonymity of interviewees, identifying information has not been used in my writings. If an actor mentions a show or a role they did, I omit the name in my
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 40 writings. Responsive in-depth interviewing is the appropriate method for this section because it allows the participants to express themselves without the constraint of any preconceived notions on the part of the investigator.
I use a sample of convenience, which uses participants who are easily accessed due to their availability and willingness to participate, in combination with snowball sampling, which uses one participant to reach others (Friedman, 2012). The requirements for participation are that participants be 18 years of age, be residents of Kern County, and they must have performed in at least one community theater production in the past five seasons. Participants are recruited using social media, such as the Facebook group Bakersfield Talent, and via cast lists on theater websites. I will continue to contact actors until I reach 12 completed interviews.
The interview takes place over the phone and is digitally recorded using Google Voice.
The interviewee receives a consent form electronically and must sign and return the form as an image file in order for the interview to occur. The actual interview takes between 30-60 minutes, though some actors specifically requested that their interviews take no more than 30 minutes due to time constraints. In order to respect the limited time that theater participants have, there is no follow up interview. If clarification is needed on a point, the clarifying question is asked during the interview.
The instrumentation is a sample question bank designed with a wide range of themes in order to anticipate the unpredictable nature of qualitative research. Although some questions may not seem directly related to the stated research question, they have been written with the research questions in mind, while also balancing the notions of “instances” that can provide cultural information in interviews as well as the possibility of the interviewee taking the interview in an unplanned direction (since they are the experts in their own subjective experiences). They were
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 41 developed to show the human subjects review board the range of questions that might come up in a normal interview interaction with a theater actor. The following are a few sample questions from the list:
1. What has been your favorite role in theater? Least favorite?
2. Briefly, tell me about some of the roles you have played in the last five years.
3. What is Kern County known for in regard to Latinos?
4. What do you think are your current opportunities in Kern community theater? How
do you feel about this?
5. In your opinion, what is the legacy of El Teatro Campesino?
6. How do you self-identify, ethnically speaking?
Though the goal is to be thorough, each actor might not be asked all of the questions on the list. This is because the actor is the one who steers the conversation. I follow the principles of qualitative interviewing (Rubin & Rubin, 2005) to position interviewees as “experienced and knowledgeable” (p. 64) in their field and show “what is important to those being studied” (p. 15) because they may have related knowledge that I have not thought to ask about as an outsider to the local theater community. Additionally, while asking an actor about their favorite role may not directly pertain to the focus of this ethnographic study, it does set them at ease and make it more comfortable for them to share experiences that might be more difficult to share, such as those relating to topics of race and ethnicity. Follow up questions are asked as needed to clarify actors’ responses.
In order to protect the anonymity of participants, I intentionally did not ask identifying questions such as gender or age, though I did try to strike a balance in the way I contacted people. For the sake of anonymity, I will refer to all performers as “actor” regardless of gender
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 42
identity. This is a beneficial label for the present study as is provides another layer of anonymity for participants. Even if I am not reporting on these factors, I know they can impact how people perceive their circumstances. Although I did not ask about gender or age, I did specifically ask, without providing any categories, about how participants self-identify in terms of their ethnicity.
Four of the six participants identified as “White” or “Caucasian”9, one identified as having a mixed background, and one identified as “Mexican”. The imbalance in ethnic identities is due to convenience sampling and the fact that these were the people who responded to interview requests. In order to conceal actor identities, I will refer to each actor in the impersonal third person plural and I will use assigned participant numbers when directly referencing an actor.
3.2. Actor Interview Findings
In this section, I will first present the background of the interviewed actors, then talk about the languages they have used and their connection (or lack of it) to El Teatro Campesino, and, finally, I will comment on opportunities to Latinx (and minority) actors.
Each of the six actors faces different situations that affect the way they interact with local theater. Actor 1, who self-identified as Mexican wished for more varied and realistic roles. Actor
2 self-identified as Caucasian and is frequently cast in leading roles but wishes for character roles. Actor 3 self-identified as having a mixed heritage, gets a variety of roles, and wishes to get cast in as many productions as possible. Actor 4 self-identified as Caucasian and needs to balance time in the theater with time for their kids. Actor 5 self-identified as Caucasian and enjoys acting purely as a hobby. Actor 6 self-identified as Caucasian and would like to see greater representation on stage, especially for women.
Five out of six actors responded about the languages they have used in the theater. Of
9 This is a contested label. European-American is preferred. See https://www.sapiens.org/column/race/caucasian- terminology-origin/
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 43 these, only one (a non-Hispanic) used a little Spanish in a play, two used a little French in a play, and the final two used only English in plays. Actor 1, said:
I’m kind of fluent in Spanish and it’d be great to do a show. In the Heights, or any other
show that involves speaking. It was my first language actually. [...] It would be great if I
could. I would love to do a show where my character’s primary language was Spanish.
While speaking Spanish is not the only way to have ethnic representation, it can point to an openness toward Latinx culture. This is especially important in Kern County where more than half of the population identifies as Latinx. The use of Spanish in public institutions could be an avenue for heritage language maintenance (Callahan, 2014).
As stated before, the initial impulse to conduct this study was to observe the legacy of El
Teatro Campesino. While the purpose of the current study is to observe how Latinxs interact with contemporary community theaters, I still asked about their knowledge of El Teatro Campesino.
Out of the six interviewees, only the Mexican-identified actor and Actor 2, a Caucasian- identified actor had any knowledge of this theater group. Actor 2 said that they:
think it’s invisible, but it’s still very impactful. And what I mean by that is people—for
whatever reason, who are involved in theater here don’t promote it or refer back to it or
exploit it, even, for the art they’re doing now.
Given the fact that El Teatro Campesino was so influential in its time and toured internationally, it is a significant cultural loss to Kern as its birthplace. As Actor 2 states, it could be something that is “exploited” to promote continued Latinx participation in the arts. It can also be used, in the educational setting, to make learning more personal to Kern school children. I have worked in rural schools in the areas the NFWA and El Teatro Campesino visited. In one classroom, Cesar
Chavez was taught as a far-away historical figure. There was no mention of El Teatro
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 44
Campesino.
When asked about what they perceived were their current opportunities in Kern community theaters, five actors were optimistic (the sixth actor was not asked this question).
Four of these actors cited the amount of theaters in Kern as a benefit to actors who want to audition as this gives them many more options for shows in which to participate. Actor 4 said:
...there’s quite a few opportunities for people to do things. It’s an interesting town like
that. It doesn’t have a professional theater company, but it has some theaters that are
really trying to do a good job and I think that’s awesome.
However, merely talking about the number of opportunities for actors does not give a full scope of the way actors, particularly the actors of color, relate to Kern community theaters. Actor
3 points out that there is the need for an actor to make themselves known to people in the theater community. They call this “networking” and say:
That’s the first thing that I tell my friends who want to get into theater. It’s those people
who don’t know anyone else from the theater community. Are just popping up in
auditions. They’re less-likely to get a role. Once they’ve made friends with a few people
who are doing shows already—even if they’re actors and not directors—still they’re more
likely to get a role.
Making oneself known can open doors, but are there enough parts for ethnic actors? Actor 3 also said:
Two of my good friends who are African American have multiple times considered not
doing shows anymore, and specifically not doing shows because there’s a “token black
character”. They’re not big roles. They’re not deep roles. They’re just a person who
comes out, hits the high note and walks off, and is backstage for the rest of the show.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 45
They’re tired because they know, especially with how little African Americans we have in
this community, they know that they’re going to be the first person on that director’s
mind to cast as that role. Their options are limited. [...] So, I think that’s one thing, is
there’s just not enough role for people to feel the need to join community theater. It’s
strange. That’s what I’m struggling with personally. How does one fix this? Is it good that
we’re doing [name of show] so we can get more people out? But then what happens if we
don’t get enough people of color out?
There is a tension between wanting more roles for actors of color and the uncertainty of not knowing how to attract actors to fill these roles. On the other hand, Actor 1 talks about the feeling that community theater does not have much space for actors of color by saying:
Um, I guess, and it’s—I don’t want to say—well, it’s no one’s fault. But a lot of the—
and, of course, it’s not a big problem, you know—if anyone can be an actor. Absolutely.
Go for it. But there’s definitely a lot of roles—I guess, Kern County community theater,
right now, is, I don’t want to say, too White.
There is the perception that actors of color are left out or might have to fill stereotypical roles.
Actor 1, despite having stated that there are generally lots of opportunities for actors in Kern community theater states that:
I’m an actor and I’m of non-White background and I need more opportunities to audition
for. There needs to be more push for people to get involved in theater. And, I guess, more
opportunities for people of color to have their roles built for them—built for us to be
involved in. So, I think that’s one thing that is lacking in the Kern County community
theaters.
This echoes the ideas that Actor 3 brings up: the need for diverse roles versus the perceived
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 46 difficulty in recruiting actors of color for these roles.
Another layer of nuance to look at is the notion of color-blind casting. In this practice, the actor who was the best for the part would be cast, regardless of their ethnic background.
Sometimes, however, the good intentions of this practice could backfire or result in White actors being cast in parts written for actors of color. Actor 3 brings up colorblind casting in reference to a show where White actors were cast in parts written for actors of color:
Because the show involves race and is very much about race, that’s when it becomes an
issue about why. If it was just a musical and maybe someone is supposed to be of-color,
but it doesn’t really affect the storyline or the relationships that they have in the play, then
colorblind casting, whatever. Like Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton is not supposed to be
White even though he is White originally. And he’s not in the musical. So, that’s fine.
That’s intentional. When you’re just casting people, disregarding their race in a show
about race, that’s when things start to get a little uncomfortable.
However, this same actor recognizes the constraints that community theaters face in terms of having to use the actors available to them by saying:
It’s especially difficult with community theater because there’s times where you have a
role that is ethnic. Let’s say, especially in musicals where it’s a high singing part and the
only person who auditioned who can sing the note well, sing the song well is someone
who’s White. Or vice versa. It’s a role that’s supposed to be White but the only person
who auditioned and can sing it well is someone of color. Do you—What do you do? Do
you cast someone who’s not that ethnicity to play that in order for it to—for the
performance to be good? Or do you put who’s probably not as good but the right
ethnicity? My opinion is to just not do shows that require such—[...]. There’s not a lot of
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 47
people of color in this community, in community theater in general. [...] And so, then, is it
a smart idea to do that show? You know?
The standard in theater has been switching away from practicing color blind casting to color conscious casting which American Theater magazine states:
intentionally considers the race and ethnicity of actors and the characters they play in
order to oppose racism, honor and respect cultures, foster stronger productions, and
contribute to a more equitable world. Without it, we risk perpetuating a system that
privileges whiteness with greater access and opportunity, and appropriates the cultures of
communities of color (Eyring, 2016).
Curiously, three of the five non-Latinx actors report having been cast as a Latinx character in plays. While this does not imply racism on either the part of the theater or the actor, it has the potential of limiting opportunities for Latinx actors. Actor 3 reflects on this, saying “What can I get away with playing? You know, is it offensive playing someone of Latin descent? And I don’t have any blood, but people aren’t going to question it because I look that way.” In this case, the struggle is an internal one that each actor negotiates individually. Is it ok to perform an ethno- cultural identity other than one’s own if one can pass? In the case of Hollywood, Latino actor
Oscar Isaac is able to get cast because he does the opposite of ethno-cultural passing. He projects a “non-ethnic” persona; this reflects choices such as deliberately not using his last name
“Hernández” (Bastién). In the same article, Bastién asserts that “colorblind casting might land a few promising actors prestigious roles, but it isn’t a sustainable strategy” (Bastién). What might be a sustainable strategy at the local, community theater level?
Both actors of color interviewed addressed representation and diversity on film indirectly while describing how they felt when they see ‘themselves’ in contemporary movies. They
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 48 referenced the power of the film Black Panther on contemporary audiences. Actor 3 said:
I cried seeing Black Panther because for the first time I saw someone with as big of lips
as me be the protagonist. The main character. Not the funny sidekick. Not the one who
doesn’t get the girl in the end. The main character. I think that’s how it is for all
minorities.
Actor 1 pointed out the universality in the movie by saying:
like I think of the movie Black Panther. That was—That movie touched the African
American community a lot. Helped them see themselves in a big blockbuster superhero
movie. But at the same time, it’s just a great movie that anyone can enjoy.
However, the idea that there is no audience for ethnic stories is one that is persistent. Actor 2 questions whether ethnic stories can attract an audience in Kern County: “audiences—do you think—and I don’t know if I even have an answer. But, if we’re thinking about Latino theater in town, would audiences be responsive? Which audiences? or Why?” Thinking about these questions can be beneficial for Latinx theater participants who want to foster greater Latinx participation in Kern community theaters. Thinking about drawing in diverse actors and diverse audiences requires that there be a focus on the universality of stories. Actor 3 states:
that’s what I loved about Coco, the new Pixar movie, is that it showed culture but in a
way that was universal. We were looking at people, and yes, they had a specific way of
living, but ultimately, the theme underlying the story was a human story. It wasn’t
something that could only happen in Mexico where it took place. But it’s exposing people
to that culture still. I think that’s the best way to get us [minorities] exposed.
Then the question becomes how to increase the number of plays and musicals that can have a comparable effect on Kern theater actors and audiences as Black Panther and Coco have had on
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 49 diverse film audiences.
When asked what an ideal theater would represent, Actor 6 states that a theater should have:
...diversity, I hope. Inclusion, too. Representing everyone. Females, especially, because I
know sometimes women don't get as much representation as they want. And different
ethnicities too. We don't have as much ethnic diversity because not as many people come
out...
This shows an optimism and desire for greater diversity. Actor 2 believes that currently there is little diversity because of “institutional racism” and questions:
why do you suppose that there aren’t more Latino leaders in our theaters? Considering
how many—in the numbers, how many Latinos there are here, let alone involved in
theater. And it’s uncomfortable to talk about race for most people.
Having spoken to Kern theater participants of all backgrounds, personally I would never use the phrase institutional racism as I have not experienced anything but kindness and hospitality from everyone I contacted as a researcher. However, there might be “institutional pressures” (West, p.
213) which might lead a theater to choose one show over another or to cast actors in a way that might not match up with the ethnic background of the characters.
When I asked Actor 3 why they think it is so hard to attract minorities to community theater, they said:
I think the roles, really. We’re hearing it in Hollywood. The whole drama with the Oscars
a few years ago. About there not being enough Black roles. Which, you know, it’s not just
Black roles. It’s all minorities. That was one thing that I had an issue with that. It’s not
just Black people. It’s all minorities not getting enough representation. But with
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 50
community theater, musicals are infamously a little racist. I was shocked—I watched a
bootleg of Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was a revival that happened in 2003 or
something. And there’s—the villains are the Chinese immigrants who are running a
sweatshop, and they’re in Oriental get-up and squinting their eyes. It’s the same thing
with Anything Goes. There’re Chinese people. There’s very little roles.
This points to the need to be culturally sensitive and responsive even at the point of choosing shows. When I asked Actor 3 how they knew if something was offensive, they ended their response by telling me that people are:
...afraid that if they ask that question, a person of color is going to be like, “What? That’s
racist! No, you can’t do that!” And they do not want to feel that, you know? So, the
conversation just automatically shuts down. Before it even happens. We just have a whole
bunch of people in the dark about how to deal with it, so they just don’t deal with it. They
suppress those questions, then kind of stumble in the dark.
With this study and my intention to make it available to the theater community, I hope to metaphorically hand local theaters a flashlight to illuminate the dark passages of ethnic representation.
Going back to the question of Latinx actors’ participation in community theaters, there is not a consensus about what this participation would mean. Actor 1 points out the lack of Latinx participation by stating that “I don’t see enough diversity in community theater...but there’s not a lot of people from my background trying out for roles.” However, when asked about Latinx participation in community theaters, Actor 4 said, “...I know a few. There’s enough.” This interviewee was not meaning to be offensive and in the same response goes on to question what it means to be Latino: “It’s hard to know for certain because certain people are Latino, but do
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 51 they identify themselves as Latino? Do they speak Spanish?” Talking about these issues can be challenging, especially because conversations about race are personal and what race means to each individual can vary. However, as in the case of Teatro Luna, questions of what an ethno- cultural label means to individuals can be explored through theatrical participation (Huerta M. ,
2014).
In the next chapter, I look at Kern community theaters from an exterior perspective. I analyze the linguistic landscape, both physical and digital, in order to see if there is any presence of Spanish. Additionally, I emulate the Asian American Performers Action Coalition’s report on diversity in casting to see how casting was distributed across ethno-cultural backgrounds.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 52
CHAPTER 4:
EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVES
The focus of this part of the study is two-fold. First, I examine the linguistic landscape
(LL), a sociolinguistic concept, and its social semiotic implications. This analysis includes not just the physical linguistic landscape, but also the digital linguistic landscape found on the internet. I examine if there are any visible signs of Spanish in these theaters. At the time of photographing the linguistic landscape of community theaters, I was also interested to see if there was any visual connection to El Teatro Campesino in these theaters. Secondly, I emulate the methodology of The Asian American Performers Action Coalition in their Ethnic
Representation on New York City stages reports to observe how actors of different ethnic groups are represented across Kern community theaters.
The inclusion of a LL analysis contributes to the goal of a more complete portrayal of the state of theater in general in Kern vis-à-vis Latinx theater participants. It brings together the foundational ideas of Landry and Bourhis (1997) and those advanced by Blommaert (LL Studies,
2016) with regard to the study of the linguistic environment of an institution or public area.
Additionally, to be more precise in descriptions of the LL, the definitions set forth by Franco
Rodriguez (2009) help establish the agents of a linguistic act and the distinctions between types of texts. To this is added the idea of a public space as a site for racialization (Callahan, 2014), or a place where racial stereotypes might be transmitted as truths to those who do not have much experience with a particular culture, as well as the idea of the internet as a companion source of
LL (Rodríguez-Medina, 2016). This multifaceted approach to the LL intends to provide an honest and complex portrayal of the ways in which the LL of theaters reflects and potentially affects Latinx participation.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 53
In approaching the LL, I also look to the field of social semiotics. In 2004, Meinhof stated that social semiotics “explores the correspondence and interconnection between social practices and discourse” (p. 263). To unpack this definition, one must look to work in the field of social semiotics such as Cook (2015), James (2014), McDonald (2013), and Spitzmüller (2015), which show that social semiotics is a field which, like LL, examines a social aspect of communication, but does so through all types of interaction, some of which may not ordinarily be seen as communication. While it is generally accepted that language is communication, other types of communication may include images, logos, advertisements, performances, and protests.
Essentially, social semiotics concerns itself with all events, both linguistic and extra-linguistic, that a person might use to communicate an idea. In terms of this study, the interest is to observe the “social semiotic landscape” of Kern theaters in comparison with the linguistic landscape to see if there are semiotic events that might not be captured within a linguistic landscape observation, but that might also reflect on or affect Latinx theater participants.
4.1. Linguistic Landscape Methodology
The linguistic landscape and social semiotic observation took place during the months of March and April 2017. I contacted theater board members for permission to come and photograph their respective theaters. Of the three theaters contacted, all three responded favorably and allowed me to photograph any signage in their theaters.
These three initial visits were intended to preface visits to the other Bakersfield theaters.
However, based on the findings, this was the only set of visits completed. Since these theaters allowed me to come into their spaces and observe both areas accessible to the public and areas only accessible to the cast and crew, I have chosen to omit any imagery containing the theaters’ logo or name and I will refer to each theater with a code name for the results in this section.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 54
Because actors and theater management may recognize some of the signage, I aim to do as much as possible to maintain the anonymity of each participating theater.
Theaters were selected according to three main criteria. All three are non-profit theaters, do not cater exclusively to children’s theater productions (though they would not be excluded if they provided children’s theater productions in addition to their regular season offerings), and, finally, actors must audition for parts (as opposed to paying to participate as in a training program). Additionally, I tried to have “no a priori assumption about what the researcher will find” (Friedman, p. 185).
The original idea was to photograph the inside and outside of each theater; including the city block around the theater. However, it became difficult to define where to stop photographing around the theater. I restricted the photographs to the inside of the theaters, which helps maintain anonymity of the theaters as well since the outsides of Kern community theaters feature their names and logos prominently.
In my initial three Kern community theater visits, I photographed signage with a digital camera. I visited Theater A twice because many of the photographs from the first visit were distorted due to low lighting. Theater B and Theater C were only photographed once. Following
Callahan, “the present goal was not an exhaustive cataloguing of each sign in a given museum, but rather a close examination of those signs and written texts that featured at least some
Spanish” (p. 105). I photographed signage that did not include theater names or logos and if a sign was repeated, I only photographed it once. In one of the theaters, a theater manager led me on a tour of the theater and pointed out signage to photograph. In the other two theaters, the contact person allowed me to wander freely through the theater and photograph the signage at my leisure.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 55
Additionally, following Rodríguez-Medina (2016), which uses online data for Spanish gyms, I look to the internet as an amplification of linguistic landscapes. Here, I observe each theater’s website and social media with regards to the study questions.
The research questions guiding my observations were:
1. What kinds of signs are found in the linguistic landscape of Kern community theaters
(physical and digital) and how is Spanish or Latinx identity reflected in these?
2. (To a lesser degree) Do these linguistic landscapes present any connection to the
heritage of sharing a birthplace with El Teatro Campesino?
4.2. Linguistic Landscape Findings
Overall, I was surprised to find fewer signs than I expected. For Theater A, which I visited twice,
I took a total of 42 pictures. During the second visit, there were actually fewer signs than before.
Theater B was only photographed once and had 40 pictures. Theater C was also photographed once and had 26 pictures.
The results of the linguistic landscape study were inconclusive. I found no Spanish in the theaters. None of the theaters contained any reference to El Teatro Campesino. Since I also did not find any linguistic reference to El Teatro Campesino, I wondered what the semiotic nature of the signage was in these theaters. I divided the spaces into two categories: the public facing areas which here I will call the “extended house”10 and the backstage areas visible only to cast and crew. In the extended house, the three theaters included elements such as a donor wall (see
Figure 8), a “history” area (see Figure 9), and awards or sometimes art. These areas seemed, semiotically, to serve the purpose of showing the history of the individual theater, the service it provides to the community, and to cement its status as a necessary institution in the community.
10 In traditional theater terminology, the house is the area the audience sits in and I am including the rest of the public facing areas such as a lobby or concessions/food area in this portion.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 56
Since the theaters use this area to show their connection to the community, it does not seem likely that local theaters will be able to share El Teatro Campesino’s legacy with the public.
Figure 8: An Example of a Donor Wall
Figure 9: An Example of a Theater History Display 4.3. Representation Study Methodology
In order to get a fuller picture of the current state of Latinx participation in Kern community theaters, I emulate the Asian American Performers Action Coalition’s (AAPAC) yearly reports
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 57
“Ethnic Representation on New York City Stages”. The AAPAC is a non-profit group formed in
2011 in response to the lack of theatrical representation for Asian actors in New York theaters
(Asian American Performers Action Coalition, n.d.); though, in their reports, they include information on actors of all ethnic backgrounds and actors with disabilities. Their first report was released in 2012 and included five seasons of data and their most recent report included a decade of data. I followed the way the AAPAC determined an actor’s ethno-cultural background. They used visual identification for actors and, for actors of mixed ethno-cultural background, they looked at which way the actor was most frequently cast. I also relied on onomastic data, as names can often index an ethno-cultural identity.
Additionally, I look to Mastro and Greenberg’s (2000) study, “The Portrayal of Racial
Minorities on Prime Time Television.” In this study, the researchers looked at not only the participation of ethnic minorities in prime time television, but also their prominence and the attributes they portrayed.
For this section, my guiding questions were:
1. What is the ethnic representation on Kern County stages and how does that compare
to the population demographics?
2. Does ethnic representation vary across the role prominence of characters?
In terms of the methodology, the AAPAC reports group actors into ethnic categories using publicly available documentation and visual observation. I rely on onomastic information found on each theater’s website, their social media accounts, and local newspapers. Additionally, if an actor’s ethnic background was unclear, following the AAPAC “actors of mixed race were put into the category they were most likely to be cast in or had a history of being cast in”
(AAPAC 10-Yr, 2018).
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 58
Additionally, there are six ethnic categories: Caucasian, African American, Latinx and
Hispanic American, Asian American, and Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) and American
Indian (p. 48).11 As the data presented no evidence of any actors fitting the MENA and American
Indian categories, those groups do not appear in this study. Additionally, the AAPAC includes disabled actors in their report if they find any public information pertaining to this. I chose to omit this category since I found no such information.
One way that my methodology differs from the New York City study is that I only include nonprofit theaters. Additionally, I observe the role prominence (as in Mastro and
Greenberg 2000, but with theater terminology replacing the television terminology). The terms used to describe role prominence in television are “main characters (essential to the evolution of the story line for the given episode), minor characters (involved but not integral to the episode’s story line), or background (non-essential)” (Mastro & Greenberg, p. 693). The way theater characters’ role prominences are generally described is lead, supporting, featured (usually has a character name and a few lines), and ensemble. With the exception of “featured”, these are comparable to the television categories. In the television study, the background category was eliminated from the study. However, in theater all the parts are significant because of their close proximity to the audience. Despite there being four categories in the way plays are presented on websites such as Samuel French, which licenses plays for production, or Stageagent.com, which provides play synopses, character breakdowns, and reviews; I chose to combine “featured” with
“ensemble”. This is because in the way theaters and newspapers wrote about the roles. They usually focused on lead characters with less focus on supporting characters and no mention of
11 The ethnic groupings in the AAPAC report give detailed descriptions of who is included/excluded in each group. For simplicity, I have included only the main name of each group without these descriptors. For a complete listing of the categories, see Appendix B: AAPAX Ethnicity Categories.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 59 featured characters. With the information publicly available, the three roles’ prominence levels were the most feasible way to divide the information. It is important to note that in cases when the roles’ prominence levels were difficult to discern due to a show being locally-written or not being featured on play licensing sites, I placed all actors in the ensemble category if the newspapers did not include the lead character information. Additionally, if the character role prominences were listed under a particular category on Samuel French or Stage Agent, but the local theater and/or newspaper depicted a character as more or less important in the local production, then I went with the local description of the character’s importance. While this may be a limitation in terms of not showing the full image from a ‘backstage’ casting perspective, it is the most balanced way I could see to approach the information which was available to the public.
The criteria for selection of theaters in this section are that they must be Kern County- based nonprofit theaters and they must provide plays and musicals for adult actors as their primary show type. Theaters or groups that focus exclusively on children’s theater are excluded, as is the Gaslight Melodrama because it is a different performance style. Based on these requirements, seven theaters were selected12: Bakersfield Community Theater (BCT), The Empty
Space (TES), The Ovation Repertory Theatre (Ovation), The Shafter Ford Theater (Ford), Stars
Theatre Restaurant (Stars) and Stars West Comedy Theatre (Stars West)13, and Tehachapi
Community Theatre (TCT).
For each of these theaters, casting information was gathered for 2017. The seasons for each theater are on different schedules, so casting information for 2017 was gathered by
12 The seven theaters are listed in alphabetical order with an abbreviation. I use the American spelling of theater throughout this project, but most of the local theaters use the British spelling. 13 Stars Theatre Restaurant and Stars West Comedy Theatre are both part of the nonprofit organization Bakersfield Music Theatre (which was previously known as Bakersfield Civic Light Opera). Despite their being part of the same organization, I justify listing their cast information as separate theaters because they have separate social media accounts, they list their season information separately, and they have different foci. Stars exclusively does musical theater shows and Stars West exclusively does comedic plays.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 60 choosing the season which had the most shows taking place during that year (see Table 1).
Table 1: 2017 Season Across Kern Theaters
THEATER SEASON NAME Bakersfield Community Theatre 89th Season
The Empty Space Summer/Fall Season 2017
The Ovation Repertory Theatre Inaugural Season
The Shafter Ford Theatre 2017
Stars Theatre Restaurant 2017-2018
Stars West Comedy Theatre Pre-Season & Season 1
Tehachapi Community Theatre 2017-2018
Casting information was only gathered for plays and musicals at these theaters. Special events such as concerts and fundraisers were not included. Since the theaters set their own seasons individually and since I chose to focus on the season that included the most time in 2017 for each theater, the actual time covered for this study begins in October 14, 2016 with Frankly at BCT and goes through April 29, 2018 with TCT’s production of Steel Magnolias.
4.4. Representation Findings
During this time period, there were a total of 409 roles14 at the seven theaters. Of these, 60 of the
409 roles went to Latinx actors which is roughly 15% (see Figure 10). Latinx actors were more represented than other minorities. MENA15 actors were not represented at all during this time period and 34 of the roles went to African American and Asian American actors.16 Interestingly, of 282 total actors, 14% were Latinx (see Figure 11), indicating an approximately equal ratio of
14 These were the roles which were publicly listed. There may have been other roles which were not publicly listed. 15 Middle Eastern or North African 16 25 roles went to African American actors and 9 went to Asian American actors.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 61 roles to actors between Latinx and Caucasian actors. This points back to the larger problem of a general underrepresentation (51% Kern County Latinx population vs. only 14% Latinx actors cast).
CASTING BY ETHNICITY (ALL THEATERS) Latinx and Hispanic American 15%
African American 6% Caucasian 76% Asian American 3%
Figure 10: Casting by Ethnicity (All Theaters)
ACTOR DIVERSITY Latinx and Hispanic American 41 14%
African American 16 6% Caucasian 218 78% Asian American 5 2%
Figure 11: Actor Diversity
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 62
In terms of Latinx participation in individual theaters, there were no outliers from the overall 15% average (see Table 2). Tehachapi Community Theatre had the lowest average, at
11%17.
Table 2: Latinx Participation at Kern Theaters
THEATER LATINX PARTICIPATION The Ovation Repertory Theatre 17%
Stars Theatre Restaurant 17%
Bakersfield Community Theatre 14%
The Shafter Ford Theatre 13%
Stars West Comedy Theatre 13%
The Empty Space 12%
Tehachapi Community Theatre 11%
It is significant to note that, according to the US Census Bureau, Hispanics or Latinxs (of any race) make up 51% of the population in Kern County (U.S. Census Bureau). Of those who are not Hispanic or Latinx, 36% identify as White alone, 5.2% identify as Black or African
American alone, and 4.5% identify as Asian Alone. Thus, we see that in the 2017 casting season,
Asian Americans were underrepresented on Kern stages and Latinxs were vastly underrepresented.
Looking at the data more closely might afford the opportunity to see how the casting process works specifically with Latinxs. In terms of casting in plays versus musicals (see Figure
12), Latinx participation does not seem statistically significant. Of all 409 roles, 250 were in
17 Tehachapi’s Latinx population of 34% is lower than the Kern average. Bakersfield Latinx population is 48%, and Shafter is 83%.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 63 musicals and 159 were in plays. In both show types, Latinx participation is approximately 15%, which is in line with the overall Latinx participation.
ETHNICITY BY SHOW TYPE 188 (ALL THEATERS) Caucasian 127 Caucasian 17 38 8 22 7 2 American American Latinx and Hispanic Hispanic and Latinx Latinx and Hispanic Hispanic and Latinx African American African American Asian American Asian American
PLAY MUSICAL
Figure 12: Ethnicity by Show Type (All Theaters) However, one can analyze the data for role prominence as well. Of all 409 roles, 81 were leads, 74 were supporting, and 254 were ensemble (see Figure 13).
ETHNICITY BY ROLE PROMINENCE
(ALL THEATERS) 192 44 11 5 Caucasian 13 63 8 60 4 5 3 1 Caucasian Caucasian Latinx and Hispanic American Hispanic and Latinx African American Latinx and Hispanic American Hispanic and Latinx African American Latinx and Hispanic American Hispanic and Latinx Asian American African American Asian American Asian American
LEAD SUPPORTING ENSEMBLE
Figure 13: Ethnicity by Role Prominence (All Theaters) There were a total of 81 lead roles. 13% of these went to Latinxs, 78% to Caucasians. For supporting roles, there were 74 total. Latinxs only represented 7% of these roles, while
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 64
Caucasians represented 81%. For ensemble, there were 254 roles. Latinxs represented 17% of these, while Caucasians represented 76%. While remembering that for this present study, the label “ensemble” covers all roles not easily identifiable as either leading or supporting, we see the most Latinx representation at the ensemble level.18
Pointing out the percentages of Latinx (or other ethnicities’) participation is not meant as a judgement of any particular theater, nor of Kern community theater in general. Rather, it is meant as a starting point from which Kern theater participants, both actors and management, as well as those who have an interest but do not know how to participate, can begin a dialogue about the current state of representation at our local theaters.
4.5. Conclusion
The lack of Spanish in the LL of community theaters is not a definitive sign of the theater’s acceptance (or not) of Latinx actors. Looking at the casting practices from a statistical perspective allows a view of how each ethno-cultural group relates to community theaters. Here a comparison shows that Latinx actors are cast more often at this level than they are in comparison to New York City stages. However, comparing Latinx participation in community theaters to the population demographics shows that Latinxs are underrepresented in Kern. They make up 15% of the acting roles but are 51% of the population countywide.
In the next chapter, I analyze my findings, provide suggestions for increasing Latinx participation in community theaters, and discuss my next steps.
18 Additional charts depicting the casting ratios for all ethnic groups are in the appendix.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 65
CHAPTER 5:
FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1. Findings
When I began this project, I wanted to investigate El Teatro Campesino’s legacy. I had no idea how large it would become, nor that I would end up dealing with issues of ethnic diversity.
Every time I found an answer to a question, many more came up. Despite having engaged in theater in my teens and early twenties, I encountered only a few works written by Latinx or
Hispanic playwrights (Luis Valdez and Federico Garcia Lorca). Doing research in the history of
Latinx theater contributions helped me realize the polyphony and richness of this tradition going back all the way to the mid 1800s.
From a local perspective, El Teatro Campesino was a non-traditional street theater group,
(Cohen-Cruz, Radical Street Performance: An International Anthology, 1998) that formed in
Delano to support the NFWA’s (UFW) political mission in a creative and didactic way. In preliminary exploration of newspaper and community archives, I found that the traditional community theaters of Kern County began having Latinx participation in the 1970s, but at this time it was limited to only a few actors. The most frequent name from this time period is Robert
Beltran. Throughout the rest of Kern community theaters’ history, Latinx participation increases, but there never is another Latinx-based theater group that fills the void left by El Teatro
Campesino’s relocation.
For an internal perspective of how Kern community theaters function, I interviewed actors of all ethno-cultural backgrounds. The main impulse was to gauge what they perceived to be the opportunities for Latinx actors, but I was also curious to see if they felt any connection to
El Teatro Campesino. Overall, the interviewees thought that there should be more Latinx
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 66 participation, though one actor questioned whether there would be an audience for Latinx theater and one actor said they believed there was enough Latinx participation. A surprising result for this section is that I realized that actors of many different backgrounds want access to better opportunities in community theater; this is true for actors of Latinx, African American, and ethno-culturally mixed background, as well as for women and working parents.
For an external perspective of the state of Kern community theaters, I analyzed the LL of three community theaters and the diversity in casting for the non-profit theaters. While the study of the LL was inconclusive in terms of there being no Spanish present in Kern community theaters, I was able to analyze the semiotic purpose of the materials which were displayed in these. Individual theaters showcased their respective histories to cement their status as a necessary institution in the community. This led me to believe that individual theaters are not the place to share El Teatro Campesino’s local origins because their primary goal is to tell their own history.
Additionally, in emulating the AAPAC’s report to find the ethnic diversity on Kern stages, I discovered that Latinx participation was 15% in the county. The Latinx population, however, is 51% countywide. Only three cities have community theaters: Bakersfield, Shafter, and Tehachapi. Bakersfield’s Latinx population is 48% and Latinx participation in its theaters is
15%, Shafter’s Latinx population is 83% and Latinx participation in this city is 13%, and
Tehachapi’s Latinx population is the lowest of these at 34% with a Latinx participation of 11%.
Despite having the lowest percentage of Latinx participation, Tehachapi theater is closer to proportional representation than the other two cities because it has a lower Latinx population.
5.2. Suggestions
In looking at the data gathered, it is evident that Latinx participation in Kern community
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 67 theaters is not representative of the population demographics. This problem is not unique to Kern
County, though. Per the 2010 US Census, the Latinx population of New York City was approximately 29%, nationwide it was 16.3%, yet the highest Latinx participation in New York
City productions was 7% in the 2015-2016 season due to a boost from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s
Hamilton (but the overall 10-year participation remains at about 4%) (Asian American
Performers Action Coalition, 2018) However, just saying that participation is not proportional without providing ideas of what can be done to help foster and further Latinx participation does not help.
Of course, one avenue for furthered Latinx participation would be to create a Latinx- based acting group that would follow in the footsteps of El Teatro Campesino. They were created in a time of political turmoil as a complement to a community organization. A non-profit organization with a social justice mission can be a potential partner. In this case, the group may follow in the agit-prop and non-traditional theater approach of El Teatro Campesino.
Another avenue to pursue may be to increase Latinx shows at local community theaters with a dedicated Latinx troupe. This was the case when BCT started Brown Boards Company in
2010 and produced Bordertown, but it would need to be something consistent that reaches out to the Latinx population. That was the way LA’s Latino Theater Company began 30 years ago—as a lab in partnership with a larger established theater company (Valenzuela, 2016). Additionally,
Teatro Luna in Chicago (Huerta, 2014) and Teatro Público de Cleveland (Tran, 2016) both began as a response to the lack of opportunities. Teatro Luna was specifically geared towards Latinas and Teatro Público de Cleveland was geared toward Latinx people in general, but more specifically towards those who had no theater experience (whether as an actor or audience member).
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 68
Another possible avenue to help in this area would be to create a traveling theater training group which emulates Boal’s practices of creating theater in unexpected places (Schechner,
Performance Studies: An Introduction, 2002) and, by extension, of using theater to challenge expectations for minority groups (Boal, 2000). I specifically believe that this would have to be a travelling group because it would be a way to provide this service to the outlying communities with higher Latinx populations (as seen in Shafter).
In terms of the juncture between theater and education, in the mid-70s Bakersfield Civic
Light Opera had a partnership to teach theater courses at Bakersfield Adult School. (The
Bakersfield Californian, 1974; The Bakersfield Californian, 1975). These courses taught backstage skills for the group’s current productions and created a link with community members in a different circumstance. An ethno-culturally based theatrical group would affect Latinx schoolchildren by preparing more culturally responsive teachers (Villegas & Lucas, 2002) and engaging student identity, sensitivity to diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds, and empathy
(Blazer, 2011; Singh, 2004). Whether by bringing educational theater offerings to adults or children, this is an avenue for collaboration that can provide benefits that extend past the theatrical stages.
Any of these options need to be marketed and publicized in ways that reach people who have never participated in community theater. Actor 1 believes that social media is the best way to reach people, particularly if postings are made through a local news media’s social media account. Actor 2 believes that having more of a conservatory-style training for acting students at
CSUB would create more interest in acting locally. Actor 3 asks for dialogue about ethno- cultural issues as a way to increase participation of ethnic minority actors. Perhaps making these dialogues open to the public could increase interest in participation as well.
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 69
Finally, scholarly research and writing on our local community theaters is essential to giving theater creators the tools to move forward with increased Latinx and ethnic minority participation. It is also essential to introducing Kern County in the on-going dialogues at the national level like those of the Latinx Theatre Commons (Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC), n.d.).
This group seeks partnerships between theater practitioners and theater scholars that are mutually beneficial and can bolster the visibility of Latinx theater productions (Montez, 2016; Boffone,
2016).
Looking to Luis Valdez again, at the first convening of the LTC, he stated that theater is at a different stage of development, the “new American Theatre” which recognizes the
“intersectionalities” that Latinxs and others experience as part of their daily lives (Montez,
2016). This statement, and the experience of reviewing the data, gives me the conviction that this is not just an issue of Latinx actors needing more representation. Increased theatrical representation for all ethno-cultural minorities can provide spaces for the exploration and maintenance of cultural identities and, potentially, of heritage languages.
5.3. Next Steps
My research into the current state of Latinx participation in Kern County community theaters does not end here. I will continue collecting data by interviewing Kern community theater actors. Additionally, I will interview Kern community theater managers to see how they view opportunities for Latinx actors. I will also conduct a countywide survey to examine how the average Kern resident interacts with local theaters. In the course of data collection for this project, I also realized that it would help to have a focus group with Latinx actors to see how this group specifically views its opportunities and what they think can be done to promote their participation in community theaters. This can be used to create a partnership between Latinx
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 70 theater participants in Kern which emulates the Latinx Theatre Commons. I will present my findings to Kern community theater participants at a neutral location like California State
University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield College, or the Beale Library. I also would like to share these through the local media to increase public knowledge of local theater. I have two goals regarding Latinx participation in community theaters. I would like to create a group that trains potential actors in rural or underserved areas to participate in community theaters (this training would not be limited to Latinx, as other groups are also underrepresented in community theater).
Additionally, I would like to either start an independent Latinx theater group, or help established community theaters increase their Latinx offerings.
I also intend to increase contemporary knowledge of El Teatro Campesino. I will collect a nuanced grouping of historical texts, data, and images by reaching out to former participants of
El Teatro Campesino, the current ensemble in San Juan Bautista, CA, and community members who watched or joined in this group’s presentations. I will also visit UC Santa Barbara’s El
Teatro Campesino archives. With this information collected, I will present it to the community in partnership with a local museum or library.
5.4. Conclusion
It has been my privilege to conduct this hands-on research with the community, and I feel that it has helped me grow as a scholar. I’ve enjoyed reaching out to local theaters and theater participants to witness their contributions to the community and realize the importance and impact of what they do. As important as it is to increase Latinx representation, they are already contributing to it as part of their daily lives.
I cannot stress enough how vital it is to have this scholarship on Latinx representation in the arts, and it must be done in conjunction with the communities affected. The data and results
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 71 must be shared with them. There is tremendous potential for this sort of research to impact people’s everyday lives. It follows the impulse of the LTC which advocates for documenting and creating scholarship on Latinx theater as it occurs so that there is a record and a way to disseminate and foster continued participation.
While I do not think that one person can change everything about the way an entire ethno-cultural group relates to power structures, I think of the expression “cada uno aporta su granito de arena”–literally, everyone contributes a grain of sand, but figuratively, if everyone does their part, then we can have an impact on Latinx representation and participation in the arts.
It begins here at the local level.
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APPENDIX A:
SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THEATER ACTORS IN KERN
Warm-ups
• Greet conversation partner warmly. Tell me a little about yourself.
• How long have you lived in Kern County?
• What has been your favorite role in theater? Least favorite?
• What was your most recent role in theater?
• Which theater do you normally perform in?
• Which languages have you had to use in plays?
Contemporary theater and current opportunities
• Briefly, tell me about some of the roles you have played in the last five years.
• Do you often get cast in a certain type of roles? Or do you get cast in different types of roles? Explain.
• What do you think is the most important part of participating in community theater?
• What are your goals in theater?
• In your opinion, what are the best qualities a theater should have?
• Describe a hypothetical director you would like to work with.
• What is your dream role?
• What do you think are your current opportunities in Kern community theater? How do you feel about this?
El Teatro Campesino
• In your opinion, what is Cesar Chavez’s impact?
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 73
• In your opinion, what is the legacy of El Teatro Campesino?
• In your opinion, what is the legacy (or importance) of Luis Valdez?
Kern Theater & Latinos
• How do you self-identify, ethnically speaking?
• Can you name a Latino actor or theater professional who is influential, whether nationally, regionally, or locally?
• What do you think Kern County is most known for in general?
• What is Kern County known for in regard to Latinos?
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 74
APPENDIX B:
AAPAC ETHNICITY CATEGORIES
In their 10-Year Edition of the Ethnic Representations on New York City Stages Report, the AAPAC groups actors into six ethnic categories, as follows:
• Caucasian (White, not of Hispanic background)
• African American/Black not of Hispanic background (includes Caribbean American)
• Latinx and Hispanic American (referred to in previous reports as Latino)
• Asian American (includes people whose ancestry comes from East Asia, South East Asia,
the South Asian peninsula, and Asian Pacific Islanders)
• Middle Eastern/North African, or MENA (referred to in previous reports as Arab
American/ Middle Eastern)
• American Indian (referred to in previous reports as Native American)
Additionally, this group also collected data on actors with disabilities. As this thesis specifically focuses on Latinx participation in Kern county theater, this fell outside of the scope of this project. (Asian American Performers Action Coalition, 2018)
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 75
APPENDIX C:
2017 CASTING IN KC COMMUNITY THEATERS
ETHNIC BREAKDOWN AT A GLANCE
Caucasian 83% SHAFTER FORD Asian American 4% African American 0% Latinx and Hispanic American 13%
Caucasian 89% Asian American 0% TCT African American 0% Latinx and Hispanic American 11%
Caucasian 80% STARS COMEDY WEST Asian American 0% African American 7% Latinx and Hispanic American 13%
Caucasian 70% Asian American 1% STARS African American 11% Latinx and Hispanic American 17%
Caucasian 75% OVATION Asian American 4% African American 4% Latinx and Hispanic American 17%
Caucasian 74% Asian American 4% EMPTY SPACE African American 10% Latinx and Hispanic American 12%
Caucasian 85% BCT Asian American 0% African American 1% Latinx and Hispanic American 14%
Figure 14: Ethnic Breakdown at a Glance
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 76
LEAD ROLES BY ETHNICITY (ALL THEATERS) Latinx and Hispanic American 11 13% African American 4 Caucasian 5% 63 78% Asian American 3 4%
Figure 15: Lead Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters)
SUPPORTING ROLES BY ETHNICITY (ALL THEATERS) Latinx and Hispanic American 5 7% African American 8 11% Caucasian 60 Asian American 81% 1 1%
Figure 16: Supporting Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters)
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 77
ENSEMBLE ROLES BY ETHNICITY (ALL THEATERS)
Latinx and Hispanic American 44 17% African American 13 5% Caucasian 192 Asian American 76% 5 2%
Figure 17: Ensemble Roles by Ethnicity (All Theaters)
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 78
INDEX
AAPAC ...... See Asian American Performers Action Coalition American Delano ...... 24, 33 Asian American Performers Action Coalition ...... 12, 18, 52, 53, 57, 80 Bakersfield Civic Light Opera ...... 34, 35, 37, 60, 69 Bakersfield College ...... 12, 33, 35, 37, 71 Bastién, A. J...... 48, 80 BC ...... See Bakersfield College BCT...... See Theaters – Bakersfield Community Theater Blommaert, J ...... 53, 80 Boal, Augusto ...... 21, 39, 69, 80, 84 Bracero program ...... 26, 81 Brecht ...... 21, 39 Broyles-González, Yolanda ...... 25, 27, 28, 32, 81 burden of representation ...... 20 California State University, Bakersfield ...... 12, 71, 92 Callahan, L ...... 55, 81 Chavez, Cesar ...... 26, 27, 44, 72, 83, 89 Chavez, Liz ...... 35 Cohen-Cruz, Jan ...... 25, 29, 81 Cook, V ...... 54, 81 CSB ...... See California State University, Bakersfield CSUB ...... See California State University, Bakersfield Denzin, Norman K...... 24, 40, 82 Elam, Harry J...... 25, 83 Ethnography ...... 6, 13, 16, 17, 22, 24, 42 Ethnomethodology...... 8, 19, 22, 82 Ford ...... See The Shafter Ford Theater Gerould, Daniel ...... 24, 80, 84 Gorman, Lillian ...... 25, 84 Great Grape Strike ...... 26 Huerta, Jorge ...... 20, 32 Itliong, Larry ...... 26, 27 James, A ...... 54, 85 Johnson, Ken ...... 36 Kanellos, Nicolás ...... 20, 85 Latinx Theatre Commons...... 12, 70, 71, 85 Lincoln, Yvonna ...... 24, 82 linguistic landscape...... 13, 18, 52, 53, 54, 56 Linguistic Landscape ...... 9, 12, 54, 56, 80, 92 LL ...... See Linguistic Landscape LTC ...... See Latinx Theatre Commons M.E.Ch.A ...... See Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 79
Mastro, Dana ...... 19 McDonald, E ...... 54, 86 Meinhof, U ...... 54, 87 MENA ...... See Middle Eastern/North African and American Indian Mendoza-Denton, Norma ...... 14, 25, 87 Messick, Randy ...... 38 Middle Eastern/North African and American Indian ...... 12, 59 Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan ...... 12, 35 myth ...... 32 National Farm Workers Association ...... 12, 26, 28, 29, 30, 33 NFWA ...... See National Farm Workers Association Ortega, Phillip ...... 30, 87 Ovation ...... See Theaters – The Ovation Repertory Theatre Perez, Ruby Nelda ...... 24 Pilgrimage ...... 10, 27, 30 Plan of Delano ...... 27, 91 population...... 26, 44, 58, 62, 63, 65, 67, 68 pure myth ...... 30, 32 Ramírez, Elizabeth...... 20, 88 Rodriguez, Franco ...... 53, 84 Rodríguez-Medina, M. J...... 56, 88 roles...... 19, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 59, 61, 63, 64, 65, 72, 81 Sandoval-Sánchez, Alberto José...... 20, 24, 88 Schechner, Richard ...... 24, 25, 88 sociolinguistics ...... 14, 16, 25, 53 sociology ...... 22 Spitzmüller, J ...... 54, 89 Stars ...... See Theaters – Stars Theatre Restaurant Stars West ...... See Theaters – Stars West Comedy Theatre Stavans, Ilan ...... 29, 89 TCT ...... See Theaters – Tehachapi Community Theatre Teatro Campesino, El ... 8, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 39, 42, 43, 44, 53, 56, 66, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73, 81, 83, 92 TES ...... See Theaters – The Empty Space Theaters Bakersfield Community Theater ...... 12, 33, 34, 35, 37, 60 Bakersfield Independent Theatre ...... 37 Bakersfield Music Theater ...... 37 ComedySportz ...... 37 CSUB’s Dore Theatre ...... 37 Illusions of Grandeur ...... 37, 38 Kern Island Arts Fest...... 37, 38 Melodrama Musical Theatre ...... 37 Paradox Theatrical Associates ...... 37, 38 Stars Dinner Theater ...... 37 Stars Theatre Restaurant ...... 12, 34, 60, 61, 63, 89
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 80
Stars West Comedy Theatre...... 12, 60, 61, 63 Stone Soup Theater ...... 37, 38 Tehachapi Community Theatre ...... 12, 60, 61, 63, 86 The Empty Space ...... 12, 60, 61, 63, 90 The Ovation Repertory Theatre ...... 12, 60, 61, 63 The Shafter Ford Theater ...... 12, 60 The Space ...... 37 The Spotlight Theatre ...... 15, 37, 38, 90 Theatre of the Oppressed ...... 21 UC ...... See University of California UFW ...... See United Farm Workers Union United Farm Workers Union ...... 12, 27 University of California ...... 3, 12, 89, 92 Valdez, Luis ...... 14, 16, 20, 21, 27, 32, 66, 70, 73, 83 Zent, David ...... 38, 91
LATINX THEATER IN KERN COUNTY 81
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VITA
Estrella Amaro-Jeppesen
EDUCATION
MA., Spanish, California State University, Bakersfield, 2018.
B.A., History, emphasis in Europe, Minor in Creative Writing, emphasis in Fiction, University of California, Riverside, 2013.
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
Department of Modern Languages and Literature, California State University, Bakersfield, 2016-2018.
PUBLICATIONS
Amaro-Jeppesen, E. (Accepted) Linguistic Landscape of community theaters in the birthplace of El Teatro Campesino. Conference Proceedings from 26th Conference on Spanish in United States and 11th Conference in Spanish in Contact with Other Languages.
PRESENTATIONS AT PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES
Amaro-Jeppesen, E. Linguistic Landscape of community theaters in the birthplace of El Teatro Campesino. 26th Conference on Spanish in United States and 11th Conference on Spanish in Contact with Other Languages, Provo, UT, April 2017.
Amaro-Jeppesen, E., and M. Parada. “Everybody knows a Maria, Jesus, Carlos, or Jose”: A socio-onomastic analysis of the Twitter hashtag #mexicanpeoplenames and Onomastic Practices for Latino characters on Prime Time Television. 9th International Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, Queens, NY, April 2018.
Amaro-Jeppesen, E. #mexicanpeoplenames: An Onomastic Study of Twitter and Prime Time Television. 32nd Annual CSU Student Research Competition, Sacramento, CA, May 2018.
ACADEMIC AWARDS
Outstanding MA Graduate in Spanish, School of Arts & Humanities, California State University, Bakersfield, May 2018.
Most Improved IRB Protocol Writing, Grants, Research, and Sponsored Programs, California State University, Bakersfield, 2018.
Student Research Scholars Grant, California State University, Bakersfield, 2018.
Graduate Student-Faculty Collaborative Initiative Stipend and Mentorship, California State University, Bakersfield, 2018.