Lupe Valdez says she never tried to be at the forefront of anything.
“But at this point in my life, I’ve stopped saying no to a lot of things.”
For over five decades, the San Juan Bautista-based playwright-actress-costume diseñadora has been a vital figure in Chicano film and theater. Among other achievements, she is the co-founder of Teatro Campesino, a unique Chicano theater that inspired a national trend of theater troupes. This Monday, Valdez will be presented with an Icon Award from the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, during the organization’s Mexico Day festivities in San Juan Bautista.
“I started out in theater first, after seeing campesinos perform an acto in 1968 on a flatbed truck in my hometown of Cutler,” Valdez says. “I had never seen a live performance like that ever before. It felt like the circus had arrived into town.”
The performance was political theater. It made a huge impact on her.
“My parents were farm workers, so to see an actual performance that talked about human rights and social justice put on by farm working actors…it stayed with me.”
In the late ’60s, the playwright-producer transferred to Cal State Fresno. There, she attended a class taught by Luis Valdez. She fell in love: with theater, and with the profesor.
Today, Luis and Lupe have been married for over 54 years.
“At the time, there were no Chicano history classes, no books published for us students to learn about Mexicans or our history, in the United States. Luis mimeographed his course materials for us…his class covered a lot of subjects.”
The lack of documentation and record keeping is an issue that extends outside academia and publishing. In researching Lupe Valdez for this story, this writer struggled to find her name in the credits of many plays and films she co-produced and starred in.
“Back when we started doing theater, we didn’t publicize things as much,” she explains. “We had no cellphones to announce performances and events like we do nowadays on all the major social platforms. A lot of the things I did, and that Luis and I did together in the beginning, had little to no publicity in major papers or anything like that.”
Since the ’60s, Valdez has played a vital role in revolutionizing Chicano theater and film, as producer, actress and advocate for farm worker rights. Alongside her husband, she has worked behind the scenes on major productions like Los Vendidos and La Bamba and the internationally acclaimed Zoot Suit.
In particular, she holds The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa close to her heart. She worked closely with her husband on it, his first full-length production and her second co-production and starring role.
“We’ve had a long history together, and our work, it’s a partnership all the way through,” she says.
The couple’s other joint productions include the film I Am Joaquin. Inducted into the Library of Congress in 2010, it was produced by the Valdezes and based on a poem by Mexican-American activist Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales.
Valdez says for a good narrative, “you need to grab people by the commonalities we all have.” Take, for example, La Bamba.
“Why it became such an iconic film, it wasn’t so much because it was a Latino film. I think it was because it said something to a large population. It’s about sibling rivalry, and that’s all of us. We’re all mirror reflections of each other. Any story that can get someone to say, ‘hey, you’re not all that different from us’ is a good story.”
When it comes to her own life, she sees it in three acts:
“The first act is of my youth. A beautiful time, spent performing on flatbed trucks and traveling the world. The second, as bookkeeper for the Teatro.”
This act was integral to the wider cultural conversation and development of Chicano film and theater. After the success of Zoot Suit and La Bamba, Luis enlisted her help in co-writing several commissioned plays. She was accepted into the Writers Guild of America.
In the third act of her life, she has found a passion for costume design. From accessories to traditional garments, she now conceptualizes Chicano theater through its costumes, considering cultural identity, family dynamics and gender presentation to enhance the visual artistry and aesthetics for each production.
“In this last act of my life, it’s been a joy to discover this love for costume design. It’s like painting: we’re bringing characters to life by painting them with clothes.”
PJIFF Mexico Day: Awards Ceremony
Mon, 4pm, $10
The Barn at Mission Farm, San Juan Bautista
