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Home , Alice McGrath, Sleepy Lagoon murder, Zoot Suit (play)

Que le watcha los cabrones Marking the 30th Anniversary of ’s

Shakina Nayfack

The opening image is iconic, at least here in drum. A white spotlight focuses at the base of . As the audience settles into their the drop as an oversized switchblade rips apart seats, dim lights glow on a gigantic newspaper, the newspaper, slicing through the propaganda. the Los Angeles Herald Express, Monday 7 June Enter El : the man, the myth. Black 1943. It’s the front page of the War Extra, patent leather calcos, perfectly pegged and painted on a huge 24-foot canvas. The head- pleated high-waisted trapos with a long gold lines scream war, both worldwide and local. watch chain almost reaching the floor. A bold Beneath the image of a Japanese air raid, several red shirt with an exaggerated collar, thin black bold titles tell tales of glaring yellow journal- suspenders, and a shining, silver cross hanging ism: Web of Zuit Crime Spreads—Entire L.A. beneath an open neckline. A fierce and chiseled Area Becomes Battleground; 200 Zuit Suiters Held jaw, perfectly trimmed facial hair above a tense for “Sleepy Lagoon” ; Jury Finds 12 Guilty top lip, black eyes staring intensely from a in Gang Slaying Trial. The house lights drop out brown face crowned with an elegant and im- and the smooth sound of a saxophone creeps in, maculately sculpted pompadour. He turns and, the low, swinging melody of Duke Ellington’s taking his time, slides his slender fingers down “Perdido” climbing slowly over a soft snare the front crease of his pants, pivoting sharply to repeat the gesture on the other leg. Reach- ing into his pocket he pulls out a comb, attending to his hair with utmost care and precision. When the grooming is complete, he reaches back behind the drop to retrieve a broad-shouldered black jacket, his tacuche. Bal- ancing his drapes on two fingers, he slips one arm in suavely, and then the other, popping the red shirt collar out and carefully adjusting the coat lapels. Then comes the tando, the wide- brimmed hat with a curved pheasant feather tucked in the band. He circles the hat in front, Figure 1. “Vamos a dejarnos caer un play, ¿sabe?” Camilo Cuellar as El arm extended, blowing off any Pachcuco. Zoot Suit, , Claremont, CA, 3 April 2008. (Photo speck of dust that might dare by Jason Foong) have settled on its brim. With

Shakina Nayfack is a theatre director, performance artist, and shotgun scholar. He is Artistic Director and Cofounder of Epic Megalopolis Productions (EpicMegaPro), and holds a PhD in Critical Dance Studies from UC Riverside. His writings on performance have been published by The Industry Stan- dard, The Chicago Cultural Center, in their program for “The Body Breaks: Butoh, Breakdancing, and Beyond,” Dance Research Journal, and most recently by the University of Illinois Press in the anthology Dancing Across Borders, edited by Olga Najera-Ramirez, Norma E. Cantu, and Brenda M. Romero (2009). CriticalActs

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 Figure 2. “¡Ya estuvo! Everybody go home!” Elias Rangel as Henry Reyna, leader of the 38th Street Gang (Mayra Rosales, Christopher Webb, Jason Morales, Rafael Elizalde, Lisette Mendez, Shruti Purkayastha, Eric Trujillo). Zoot Suit, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 3 April 2008. (Photo by Jason Foong)

one quick flip of the wrist, the tando rolls up his His will to be was an awesome force arm and lands rakishly atop his brow. El eluding all documentation… Pachuco freezes in his infamous lean, once A mythical, quizzical, frightening being more staring down the audience. “Perdido” Precursor of revolution fades out and El Pachuco makes his way down- Or a piteous, hideous heroic joke deserving stage. With something between a glide and a of absolution? strut, he moves effortlessly, yet full of control, I speak as an actor on the stage. time and space at his command. He is the The Pachuco was existential ultimate rebel, the dashing and daring provoca- for he was an Actor in the streets teur, el carnal de aquellas. After welcoming the both profane and reverential. audience in laid back, cooler-than-cool Spanish It was the secret fantasy of every bato peppered with caló 1—que le watcha mi tacuche in or out of the Chicanada2 ese… (check out my suit man…)—he stands tall To put on a Zoot Suit and play the Myth and speaks in refined, presentational English. más chucote que la chingada3 ¡Pos Orale! (Valdez 1992:26) PACHUCO: Ladies and Gentlemen, The original production of Luis Valdez’s the play you are about to see Zoot Suit opened on 28 July 1978 at the Mark is a construct of fact and fantasy. Taper Forum in Los Angeles, playing to packed The Pachuco style was an act in Life houses and rave reviews that shattered box and his language a new creation. office records. Arguably the most important Critical Acts Critical 1. Caló is Pachuco/ slang, before Spanglish, a hip and resistant mix of Spanish and English. 2. Chicanada is the caló term for the Pachuco lifestyle. 3. Loosely translated: more badass than a motherfucker.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 piece of Chicano Theatre, and the jewel in the positioned as the cornerstone of the Claremont crown of Valdez’s , Zoot Colleges’ Month celebration, Suit opened the stage door to Latino actors and with auxiliary activities ranging from art brought issues of the Mexican American com- installations, guest lectures, and a Chicano munity into mainstream consciousness. mural tour of Los Angeles. With minimal In a masterful work of historical fiction,Zoot advertising in predominantly Latino publica- Suit follows the stories of the 1942 Sleepy tions, tickets for the two-week run still Lagoon murder trial and the of managed to sell out well before opening night. 1943, redressing a moment of Angelino and Audience members flocked from the local American history when institutionalized racism community and ventured from all across and xenophobia sanctioned judicial discrimina- Southern —some from as far as San tion and violent attacks against Latino youth in Diego—to wait in the standby line before the East Los Angeles, as well as Latino, African show. Members of the Old Memories car club American, and Jewish youth across the country. of Los Angeles arrived in full Zoot Suit regalia, The story follows Henry Reyna and members parking their souped-up in front of of the 38th Street Gang, imprisoned for a mur- the theatre night after night. Nearly 1,000 der at an LA reservoir after a corrupt and un- nearby high school students were able to attend lawful mass trial. A peoples lawyer, George special weekday matinees, receiving an impres- Shearer, and a progressive reporter-turned- sive 12-page discovery guide developed by community organizer, Alice Bloomfield, come Martinez and her research assistants Claire to the boys’ defense and work against the Ryan, Lisette Méndez (who also played Della in bigoted press and racist criminal justice system the show), and Gina Alicia Lopéz, the project’s 5 to win their appeal—but not without long-term senior editor. Martinez also arranged a special sacrifice and enough cultural trauma to last staff appreciation performance, with each generations. Set against actual testimony from worker at the college receiving two complimen- the infamous trial and tary tickets, and a gracious welcoming speech headlines from the racist and war-hungry press, delivered by the director in both Spanish and the play weaves together music, poetry, and English. A special alumni event, certainly the heavily stylized text and movement to tell one highlight of the run, featured an open-mic of the most outrageous and overlooked stories reunion of original Zoot Suit cast members from of racial injustice in 20th-century United States the Mark Taper production and the 1981 film, history. Thirty years after the play’s premiere, also written and directed by Valdez. Awards of amidst heightened anti-immigrant hysteria and recognition were presented to Luis Valdez and wartime nationalist fervor, the relevance of the lifelong community activist Alice McGrath production remains just as strong. (Alice Bloomfield in the play), organizer of the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee. Actor and Professor Alma Martinez, original Nearly 30 members of the Leyvas family, cast member of the 1978 Zoot Suit production, real-life relatives of the show’s protagonist chose to honor its 30th anniversary by directing Henry Leyvas (Henry Reyna in the play), a revival of the show at Pomona College in were also present. Claremont, California.4 Working as assistant director and choreographer for the production Synchronistically, opening night of the 30th provided me with a unique critical position and anniversary production of Zoot Suit fell on the solidified my beliefs in the lasting importance same day as the opening of the Los Angeles of the show. It was the first timeZoot Suit had County Museum of Art exhibit Phantom been presented in the LA area since its pre- Sightings: Art after the . The miere over a generation ago. The show was title and content of the exhibit caused much

4. A liberal arts college located about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, Pomona College is the founding institution within the Claremont University Consortium (the ), which also includes Claremont McKenna College, Scripps College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, and the Keck Graduate Institute. 5. “The Zoot Suit Discovery Guide” was produced with support from a grant from the James Irvine Foundation. CriticalActs

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 debate (Gurza 2008) and parallels a theme that For Latino students attending the Claremont arose frequently in the post-show discussions Colleges, the experience of mounting the show moderated by Professor Martinez and myself. was a transformative one. Professor Martinez Everyone in attendance agreed that the timing went out of her way to recruit Latino students was right to remount Zoot Suit; that it applied from across the five campuses of the Claremont perfectly to the sociopolitical climate of the University Consortium—a task that had never present-day United States. From the criminalization of youth of color seen in the case of the Jena 6 (see Patterson 2007 and NPR 2007–2008), the police brutality unleashed at the 2007 May Day immi- grant rights demonstration in Los Angeles (see Hefland and Blankstein 2007), to the violent murder of Lawrence King (see Banks 2008),6 which occurred halfway through our rehearsal process, it is clear that this country still has problems dealing with difference. But if we are indeed living in a post-Chicano movement era, how can we use Chicana/o theatre and Chicana/o theory to continue the necessary struggle for social justice? In the recent TDR debate regarding the imperialist potential of Performance Studies [51:4 (T196) Winter 2007], Diana Taylor reminds us of the foundational and quite anti-imperialist goal of PS research: to recognize “that embodied practice trans- mits cultural knowledge, memory, and identity” (21). I argue, and hope that readers of this journal agree, that the same methodology we use in classrooms and in the field must be taken into the studios, rehearsal halls, and theatres of our aca- demic institutions. Too often college-level theatre departments shy away from doing culturally diverse works, claiming that Figure 3. “¡Con safos carnal!” Elias Rangel as Henry Reyna with their student base doesn’t provide them Camilo Cuellar as El Pachuco. Zoot Suit, Pomona College, the resources to cast shows with multiple Claremont, CA, 3 April 2008. (Photo by Jason Foong) roles written for actors of color. Students of color are relegated to extracurricular theatre been undertaken by the Department of Theatre groups—clubs that don’t receive the funding or and Dance. Many roles were cast with non- training to mount fully produced works. Why, majors, and all of the Chicano roles, including for instance, would students of color come out the parts of Henry Reyna and the famed, to audition for shows pulled from a canon they mystical master of ceremonies, El Pachuco, were effectually written out of? How could were cast with first-time actors. The Latino theatre departments blame students for not students, who came from engineering, finance, showing up to classes and productions that were politics, and literature departments, were not never intended to include them, regardless of simply putting on a play; they were learning Critical Acts Critical so-called “color-blind casting”? Chicano history through an embodied en-

6. Lawrence King, a 15-year-old boy, was shot in the head by a classmate because he was gay.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 counter with archetypal and stylized character- Watching from the proscenium, Henry sees his izations of their own community. Even the younger brother Rudy out dancing with friends, simple task of learning the Pachuco stance—a all chignon in his old tacuche, badass in his long lean back with an extended turned-out drapes. Benny Goodman’s “Bugle Call Rag” foot, braced on a slightly bent back leg, fingers wails as a group of white US Marines and their tucked coyly into the front pants pockets, chest well-quaffed girlfriends swing, spin, and flip and chin lifted, shoulders broad yet relaxed— across the stage. The are outnum- was an exercise in claiming and reclaiming the bered at the club, and one of the sailors tries to posture of social defiance that came to repre- get fresh with Rudy’s date, the hot-tempered sent the Chicano movement. Bertha. A fight breaks out and, just as Rudy is Within the production, there were a few surrounded, El Pachuco steps in and takes his concerns we needed to address upfront. I place. Action stops, and enter the Press. She considered myself the Alice Bloomfield of the delivers a newsflash straight out to the audi- production team, the tough Jewish broad ence, telling of the hundreds of servicemen who working as a white ally against racism, embold- have launched an all-out attack on Zoot Suiters ened by my foundations in queer and feminist in East LA. El Pachuco steps forward: thought. Before rehearsals began, I insisted that PACHUCO: Why don’t you tell them what we find ways to rewrite the jotos, putos, and I really am, esa, or have you been other homophobic terminology in the produc- forbidden to use the very word… tion,7 and concentrate on ways to revise some of PRESS: We are complying in the interest of the sexist, machismo dialogue in the script. the war. While a few of these moments are intended to PACHUCO: How have you complied? re-create the Pachucada in Brechtian gestic lan- PRESS: We’re using other terms. guage, others are simply reflective of a time be- PACHUCO: Like “Pachuco” and “Zoot fore radical women of color had a say in their Suiter”? own representation on the Chicana/o stage. PRESS: What’s wrong with that? The Zoot Martinez was intent on making more space for Suit Crime Wave is even beginning to women in the show. Her decision to cast first- push the war news off the front page. year female student Vanessa Williams-Hall as PACHUCO: The Press distorted the very the originally male role of the bigoted Press meaning of the word “Zoot Suit.” All it is created even more tension and alienation, con- for you guys is another way to say fronting the audience with a clear yet twisted Mexican. (80) intersection of racism and sexism as she screams from the house, “You savages weren’t even wear- He points his knife at her and walks toward her ing clothes when the white man pulled you out slowly, defiantly. Panicked, the Press backs up of the jungle” (Valdez 1992:80). This line alone, off the stage, into the audience, crossing through and the conversations it prompted within the the house, scrambling over people’s knees. cast, drove home the absurd reality of the PRESS: That’s going too far, too god- show’s discriminatory subject matter. damned far and it’s got to be stopped! In this climactic moment, El Pachuco snaps PACHUCO: Why? his fingers and freezes time. Henry Reyna has PRESS: Don’t you know there’s a war on? been in solitary at San Quentin, but El Pachuco Don’t you fucking well know you can’t escorts him out of his cell to see the Zoot Suit get away with that shit? What are we riots firsthand: fighting for if not to annihilate the enemies of the American way of life? PACHUCO: The navy has landed, ese—on (80–81) leave with full pay and war’s breaking out on the streets of The soldiers come back to life, running to the LA! (Valdez 1992:78) lip of the stage, hurling racist insults and vio- lent threats.

7. Joto and puto are Spanish slang and common anti-gay epithets. CriticalActs

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 PRESS: KILL THE PACHUCO them at length about their motivations for BASTARD!! (81) doing the show and the ways their participation Every year, thousands of teenagers across had affected their lives outside rehearsal. Elias the country go to prom in Zoot Suits. The spoke of connecting with his family history high-waisted trapos, the long hang of the through the show, Christian of building con- drapes, the mean lean all “reet” (slick) with the fidence speaking in front of crowds. Eric told lifted chin…some things never go out of style. me how out of place he felt his first year at When I was in high school, the Cherry Poppin’ Claremont McKenna College. In addition to Daddy’s ska hit “Zoot Suit Riot” was the hottest dealing with the culture shock of coming from tune of the Swing revival. But what of the Watts, Los Angeles, to a mostly white private politics behind the fashion, the statement college in Claremont, Eric was especially behind the stance? Valdez’s play unearths this disheartened when asked by a classmate if he dark moment of US History, and as the Press was accepted to the prestigious college because steps on our toes (actually and metaphorically), he was good at sports. He and the others we are forced to face a certain reality, the power credited the show with helping them to feel and permission we give the media to get away more represented as Latino students at the with murder. colleges and for creating an even deeper sense of community and camaraderie. This relation- Audiences laugh at the “savages in the ship, I came to learn, was cemented in an inde- jungle” line out of shock and discomfort. It’s pendent organization all five are a part of, the hard to imagine those words being uttered Claremont Cabrones.8 without repercussion; it’s scary to realize that the same ideology is still being employed. It be- The Claremont Cabrones is an “officially comes easier to criticize historically what we unofficial” fraternal organization founded in fear critiquing in the present: how quickly one 2005 by students Vincente Lopez, Antonio 9 who dissents might be labeled anti-American, Gonzales, and Eduardo Herrera. Consisting how threatening a resistant posture becomes mostly of Latino students but with members of when it’s claimed by disenfranchised commu- many ethnicities, this group of young men has nities, how blatantly an industrial complex— created a support network across the Claremont military, prison, or otherwise—can sweep our Colleges for students who might otherwise feel streets, schools, and homes free of the sus- lost within the predominantly privileged, pect “minority.” Caucasian student body. Of the five Cabrones members in Zoot Suit, four were attending the Mounting Zoot Suit at Pomona College had school on some form of merit-based diversity a widely and deeply felt impact within the scholarship and four were the first in their Latino student community. Claremont families to attend a university. In addition to the McKenna students Elias Rangel (Henry Reyna), pressures of challenging coursework and an Camilo Cuellar (El Pachuco), Eric Trujillo exhausting rehearsal schedule, these young men (Joey), Rafael Elizalde (Smiley), and Christian also made time to mentor at-risk youth, Aparicio (Rafas) were all, as mentioned above, organize charity projects, host social events, first-time actors coming from different work campus jobs, and provide support for one departments within the college for the experi- another in the face of personal and professional ence of working on the production. In several challenges. All of the Cabrones came to see Zoot one-on-one coaching sessions outside of Suit, many more than once, and as an organiza- rehearsal, I had the opportunity to talk with tion they also offered to host our cast party.

8. Cabrón is a Spanish slang term with multiple translations, positive and negative. In this case it is used to refer to a slick, sly guy, not unlike the Pachuco in attitude and manner. 9. The Claremont Cabrones are also known as Sigma Theta Chi, and the University has refused official recognition on the grounds that fraternities are not allowed within the Claremont Colleges. At the end of the 2008 school year, after

events described in this article, the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College granted the organization Acts Critical official club status, hence their “officially unofficial” tag line. My analysis of the Cabrones is from an ethnographic perspective, attending events and hearing firsthand from the students I worked with what the group meant to them. For more information on the organization please visit http://www.claremont.edu/org/sigmathetachi.

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 On the opening night of Zoot Suit, being held (offstage) by the cops, who are Claremont McKenna College hosted a dinner trying to arrest him for stealing George for faculty and administration in the Mirian Shearer’s car. George, their lawyer, is at the Miner Cook Athenaeum. The Dean of the party with the others, and he and Alice run out College, the Dean of Students, and many other to resolve the situation. Henry races to follow high-level college personnel were in atten- them, but is stopped by his girlfriend, Della, dance. Christian, cast member and Cabrón, and his father, Enrique. held a work-study job at the Athenaeum and DELLA: Henry, No! was able to secure a table at the dinner for a HENRY: What the hell do you mean, no? group of Cabrones. When Professor Martinez Don’t you see what’s going on outside? took to the podium to welcome the guests, she DELLA: They’ll get you again! That’s what made a special statement about the group of they want. well-dressed gentlemen seated toward the side HENRY: Get out of my way (he pushes her of the hall. Pointing out their vibrant support our of the way […]) of the production, and their comrades in it, she ENRIQUE: Hijo! asked that the young men stand to be recog- HENRY: Get out of my way, jefe! nized by the university leadership. A thunder- ENRIQUE: You will stay here! ous applause erupted as the shocked and HENRY: Get out of my way! humbled students stood to be acknowledged ENRIQUE: ¡TE DIGO QUE NO! (Valdez together for the first time by university 1992:94) administration. In the closing scene of Zoot Suit, as the boys Enrique throws Henry to the ground. In an from 38th Street are returning to the barrio, we instant he springs back to his feet, fueled by hear that one of them, clad in his drapes, is anger and an instinct shaped by these gross

Figure 4. “The Family” (Mayra Rosales as Lupe, Jason Morales as Rudy, Elias Rangel as Henry, Edgar Muñiz as Enrique, Brittni Stemno as Dolores, Lisette Mendez as Della). Zoot Suit, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, 3 April 2008. (Photo by Jason Foong) CriticalActs

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Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram.2009.53.3.162 by guest on 26 September 2021 abuses of power. Henry raises his fist to strike References his father. Night after night, the entire audience Banks, Sandy. 2008. “Why the Hostility Toward gasps. A thick moment of silent tension. The Differences?” Los Angeles Times, 26 February. cycle of violence, the internalization of http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/26/local/me- institutional discrimination, the pain of stolen banks26 (1 June). youth—these things drip palpably from the Gurza, Agustin. 2008. “Chicano Art, Beyond knuckles that hover in front of the father’s face. Rebellion.” Los Angeles Times, 6 April. www. Enrique does not flinch. Henry holds for a latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ca- moment, body and breath, and then collapses chicano6apr06,1,6199783.story (1 June). into his father’s arms. The family comes Hefland, Duke, and Andrew Blankstein. 2007. together, huddling, deliberately off-center. “Bratton Reassigns 2 LAPD Leaders.” Los Angeles Times, 8 May. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/ The Press enters alongside this closing may/08/local/me-lapd8?s=o&n=o&rd=www. tableau. We learn that Henry Reyna returned google.com&sessid=bdf8359d192896f659f8f0785 to prison shortly after his release, murdered an 0e722c328a6d3eb&pg=2&pgtp=article&eagi= inmate, struggled with addiction, and died in &page_type=article&exci=2007_05_08_local_me- 1972. Yet El Pachuco encourages us to imagine lapd8 (1 June 2008). different ways to end the story, calling forth National Public Radio (NPR). 2007–2008. “The Case each of the principal characters to suggest other of Louisiana’s ‘Jena 6.’” Npr.org. www.npr.org/ potential outcomes of his struggle. My favorite templates/story/story.php?storyId=14533821 (1 June 2008). has always been the one offered by my would- be counterpart: Patterson, Orlando. 2007. “Jena, O.J. and the Jailing of Black America.” New York Times, 30 September. ALICE: Henry Reyna married Della in 1948 www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/ and they have five kids, three of them 30patterson.html (1 June 2008). now going to the University, speaking Taylor, Diana. 2007. “Who in the World Are We caló and calling themselves Chicanos. Talking To?” TDR 51, 4 (T196):20–23. (Valdez 1992:94) Valdez, Luis. 1992. Zoot Suit and Other Plays. Perhaps, if we must question the relevance of Houston: Arte Publico Press. remounting Zoot Suit in an era after the Chi- TDR: The Drama Review 53:3 (T203) Fall 2009. cano movement, we need look no further than ©2009 New York University and the Massachusetts to the students calling themselves Cabrones. Institute of Technology Critical Acts Critical

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