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The Encuentro 2014 National Latina/o Theater Festival opened at the Los Angeles Theater Center on October 12, 2014 and ran until November 9, 2014. Although there have been Teatro festivals in this country for over 40 years, this was the first such event of its kind. More than just a program of performances, it was a many-faceted celebration that included six interrelated constituent parts which I will describe more fully below: Mellon Artistic Leaders Fellows, performances, tertulias, reflection sessions, devising projects and a final weekend Convening. It was a coming-together of theatre companies, artists, directors and scholars from the U.S. and Puerto Rico, all intent on expanding the breadth and scope of Latina/o theatre. From one-person shows to large cast productions, fifteen groups and individuals performed in five theater spaces in a five-story building that used to be a bank in downtown Los Angeles. This bank was built early in the 20th century when banks were designed to give the patrons confidence that the building would not crumble-as in the crash of 1929. Confidence is what this Encuentro, four years in the planning, was all about.
When José Luis Valenzuela, Artistic Director of the Latino Theater Company and the Los Angeles Theatre Center, told me what he envisioned, I didn't know what to say. Along with the performances, he also imagined the participants being grouped with other company members -directors, actors, designers, producers- working together, devising 10-minute pieces that would be showcased during the Convening at the end of the month. I thought he was crazy. But the man was confident that it would happen and he, alongside the Latino Theater Commons Steering Committee, HowlRound, the Latino Theater Company and others, collectively, raised the funds to make it happen.This Encuentro was a historic and life-changing event that few people realize has its precedents in the annals of Chicano/Latino theater history.
In 1965 the Teatro Campesino began performing in the fields of California alongside Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta and striking farm workers seeking better wages and decent working and living conditions. Within two years the Teatro Campesino began touring to campuses and other community sites, calling attention to many issues relevant to the Chicana/os such as the need for bilingual education and justice on the streets...