Four classes come together in one project that will define our school's respect for our Chicano history. Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Robert Kennedy, and the rest of the farmworkers and their supporters. We've learned about the struggle that they had to go through. We've studied the Teatro Campesino, the plays on the picket lines. How did they influence others to join them? That's what we are here to learn about, rehearse, and perform Can we do it? ¡¡¡SI SE PUEDE!!!
Step one
We first watched a movie called Viva la Causa. We learned all about chicano history through this. How a small strike, with only 70 people, to the state capital, Sacramento, became a strike of 10,000 people who wanted their rights and will be remembered forever. For years they fought for their rights and they got it. They got what was rightfully theirs. This really inspired me to see what people had to go through in those times and how their struggle paid off. 50 years later we are still honoring them for how they stood up for themselves and helped our country, and more importantly, our people.
Step two
Read through scripts and choose our acto. The first script we read was called Los Vendidos, the sellouts. Our class instantly fell in love with this story. I loved reading Los Vendidos for the first time because I could already picture in on the truck and how funny and amazing it would be. After reading the other scripts we chose it.
Step three
Choose departments. I became an actor. I had the honor of standing on stage and showing the community how cruel the people were to the farmworkers through satire. Satire - An exaggeration of a topical issue that becomes so overplayed that it is funny yet gets a message out about the issue it is exaggerating.
Step four
Get Going! Next we auditioned for roles in our acto and started learning our lines. I became the Revolucionario, or revolutionary. We started blocking and going through the performance. Meanwhile, the education department was creating programs, the production department was creating picket signs for our strike to the flatbed truck where we would perform and choosing costumes for us, and the artistic department was directing. This was how we spent most of this project.
Step five
Chicano Park. Before we could complete our project we just had to check out the amazing history that we have in our own town! Chicano Park is a park in National City that is full of murals painted by the farmworkers back in the 70s. We took a field trip there and got to rehearse our actos in the heart of our chicano culture.
Step six
Exhibition. We set up for our actos and grabbed our picket signs. We did a short strike to our flatbed truck, performed, and went back to the classroom. We did a great job and I am so proud of our class, and happy to have gotten to be a part of this project. I am exited to see if Miss Wendy does this project again, and how it will look when I see it!