Luis Valdez (born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, writer and film director.
He is regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States.
Valdez was born in Delano, California to migrant farm worker parents. Valdez graduated from James Lick High School in San Jose and went on attend San Jose State University (SJSU) on a scholarship for math and physics. He later switched his major and earned a degree in English in 1964.
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Luis Valdez (born June 26, 1940) is an American playwright, writer and film director.
He is regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States.
Valdez was born in Delano, California to migrant farm worker parents. Valdez graduated from James Lick High School in San Jose and went on attend San Jose State University (SJSU) on a scholarship for math and physics. He later switched his major and earned a degree in English in 1964.
According to Valdez when he was six years old, he watched a teacher use part of a paper bag to make paper-mâché masks for a theater production. This experience transformed him and would have a lasting effect. In college it helped lead him to the theater. Valdez's first full-length play, The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa. debuted at SJSU in 1963.
After graduation, Valdez spent the next few months with The San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he was introduced to agitprop theatre.
In 1965, Valdez returned to Delano, where he formed El Teatro Campesino, a...
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