La Carpa de los Rasquachis was originally produced in 1974, and underwent several revisions until 1976, when it was locked into the definitive version seen in this revival performed by a new generation of El Teatro Campesino actors more than twenty years after its premiere. The "carpa" (itinerant tent show) presents the epic life story of farmworkers in America. Told through the struggles, frustrations and ultimate victory of a single Chicano, the Rasquachi ("working-class," "underdog") saga comes alive in "corridos" (Mexican ballads) that tell of life's tragedies with an ironic, rollicking earthy good humor. The story follows Jesus Pelado Rasquachi, leaving his own mother and brother in Mexico as he heads for the United States, in hopes of "getting rich" as a "bracero". Misfortune and fate, however, stalks his every footstep, in the guise of El Diablo and La Calavera. Tricked and betrayed at every turn, Jesus Pelado becomes a pathetic comic figure in the hands of the growers, contractors, bar owners, and social workers, and ultimately, the undertaker.
La carpa de los Rasquachis (2001)
Program: La carpa de los Rasquachis
Additional Info
- Video: Video in HIDVL
- Title: La carpa de los Rasquachis
- Alternate Title: The Rasquachi Tent Show
- Holdings: program, video (HIDVL)
- Duration: 01:10:51
- Language: English
- Date: Sep 2001
- Location: Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, California.
- Type-Format: play, performance, community theater
- Cast: Kinan Valdez, Anahuac Valdez, Bertha Desiderio, David Alvarez, Irma Aceves-Valdez, Josh Sanchez, Katrina D. Valdez, Lakin Valdez, Primavera Flor Valdez ; Emiliano Valdez, Josh Cabibi, Mario E. Perea, Jeremiah Martinez, Mary de Anda (musicians).
- Credits: El Teatro Campesino, producer ; Anahuac Valdez, producer ; Kinan Valdez, director ; Lakin Valdez, director ; Luis Valdez, writer ; Emiliano Valdez, musical direction ; El Teatro Campesino, set design ; Dorothy Martinez, costumer design ; Sarah Guerra, stage manager.
Image Gallery
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https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/item/588-campesino-carpa-rasquachis.html#sigProIda8f0df28d5
https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/hidvl-collections/item/588-campesino-carpa-rasquachis.html#sigProIda8f0df28d5
Published in
El Teatro Campesino: Works