Political Theater

Paper Summary:

Political theater, at its best, emphasizes an important societal issue of the day and delivers a message to viewers of all backgrounds and interests without being a political party line or single-dimensional in nature. This paper examines two theaters in this category, El Teatro Campesino from California and The Bread and Puppet Theater in New York. It describes the formation and history of these two theatrical companies and examines their messages through the shows which they produce.

From the Paper:

"El Teatro is popular theater geared toward expression of social, political and cultural messages. It is a theater rooted in the American streets, early California history, Mayan/Aztec mythology and Mexican folklore and spiritualism (Heyward). It cannot be ignored. Valdez, like Schumann believes in a total theater?one where an elevation of sensation is achieved through a range of different emotions and art forms to make the audience more politically aware."

More papers on Political Theater:

• Research Paper # 49813 : "Political Theater"
• Essay # 49415 : "Radical Theater of the 1960s: Of Chicanos and Puppets"
• Essay # 63085 : "The Roman Theater"

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