Chicano Theatre is a relatively young genre of theatre in comparison to the traditional theatre that date some back centuries. It was in the 1960’s that the term Chicano became prevalent in the United States. Chicano is used only of Mexican Americans, not of Mexicans living in Mexico. It was originally an informal term in English as in Spanish, and the spelling of the first recorded instance in an American publication followed the Spanish custom of lowercasing nouns of national or ethnic origin . The transition of the meaning Chicano has varied throughout the decades, but it still holds its politically charged roots strong.
Many of this theater where just to make people in keep their culture of laughter and humorous performance forms involving buffoonery,acrobats, clowning and satire has been an important part of the Mexican social formation since before the arrival of the Europeans. With the arrival of the European came a loaning more different ways of keep them entrain they focused on blending the cultures. With the Europeans came the “ Los Voladores” , and ‘El BOBO” this are just example that started the
Chicano theater how many call it. The Voladores where usually man who where high up in sticks wrapped them self in ropes and flew around doing different movements to keep the audience entertained . Like the Los Voladores, El BOBO is character who by his silly comments towards his master or collie while performing, people found it humerus , it was to keep them entertain but also informed and make them understand the experts of there journey. The generation went by and chicanos and latin region where continue by the years.
Also the inspiration of Chicano Theatre comes from the Chicano Movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. This was a time where the Vietnam War played a great part in the United States, where Mexican­Americans were trying to fight racism, inequality, separation between their own races and move toward a better way of life. Specially one of the more famous movements during this era the United Farm Workers fought for La Causa which was burst by the revolutionist Cesar Chavez.
The whole Chicano movement ignited interest in America about the Mexican American culture and led to much more equal rights towards the race as a whole. With this movement came a form of theatre to recapture the decades of struggle and convey it to an audience who might not have had the opportunity to get a real life perspective of living in poverty and fighting for equality.
The Mexican history is filled with different forms of performance art and theater that continue to influence modern art and performance. Among these forms of art and theater performance is Las Carpars According to many examples shown in class, the words Carpa is used to define tents and comparable structures that were build with an aim of being used for theatrical performances . In essence, Las Carpas were theatrical performances that were performed in tent circuses and they traveled from one region to another while being performed. In other words, Las Carpas were the traveling performances that were performed among the Mexicans in the 17th and the 18th century. Alternatively, it is important to note that these shows were not performed just in a single region but rather in different region since the performers traveled to show forth their performances in different areas in Mexico. Las Carpas were the traveling shows that were common in Mexico and South Texas
There are different forms of this traditional form of art that have influenced or rather that have been incorporated in the contemporary forms of art and as result, there are various aspects of contemporary art that emanates from Las Carpas performances. To begin with, the critical parts that comprise the contemporary art have been heavily borrowed from Las Carpas forms of entertainment include acrobats, skits, plays and other forms of art .These aspects of art were either