Art & Culture

El Teatro Campesino to host family-oriented event this weekend

Open to the public, the event will feature original stage productions, live music, children's activities, and more
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On Saturday, March 25, El Teatro Campesino (ETC) is hosting its first-ever Teatro Family Day. Open to the public, the event will feature El Teatro stage and film productions, live music, children’s activities, food, and raffle prizes.

Timed to coincide with this weekend’s Fine Arts and Quality Crafts Festival in San Juan, Teatro Family Day runs from 2-7 p.m.

ETC’s Education Program Director, Christy Sandoval, explained in an email to BenitoLink that the weekend event is an outgrowth of El Teatro’s artist residency program. Initiated in 2012, the program serves the county’s seventh-grade students with a 13-week, enrichment curriculum focusing on the Conquest of Mexico through “visual art, music, culture and puppet theater,” according to ETC’s website.

Sandoval added that the family-oriented day will give the public “a rare opportunity to some of the original actos,” the short, one-act plays conceived by El Teatro’s founder, Luis Valdez, during the 1965 Grape Strike led by the late, labor leader Cesar Chavez. 

In addition, attendees can learn about the theater group’s upcoming productions, as well as the various, local projects it’s involved in.

Saturday’s event is also a fundraiser for El Teatro’s “Artists in the Schools,” an educational program serving county schools which is partly paid for by a grant secured through the California Arts Council.

According to ETC’s Facebook page, the purchase of a $12 wrist band includes: access to film screenings, acto performances, exhibits and a chance to enter a raffle. A family package costs $45 and includes: four wristbands, six tacos, one face painting and three $1 raffle tickets.

Sandoval hopes that Teatro Family Day becomes an annual event, adding that, “the mission of El Teatro Campesino is to make teatro a creator of vibrant community, and we feel families and the intersection of multiple generations is a pivotal part of that vibrancy.”

For more information about El Teatro Campesino visit its website or contact the playhouse at:
705 Fourth Street
P.O. Box 1240
San Juan Bautista, CA 95045
(831) 623-2444

Frank Pérez

I’m a lifelong resident of San Benito County. I reside in Hollister with my wife, Brenda. For over two decades, I've been a faculty member at San Benito High School, where I teach world history, Mexican-American history, and Ethnic Studies. I've been reporting for BenitoLink since 2015. My passion is delving deeper into the nuances of the local, historical record, while including lesser-known stories of our past. My hope is that county residents will have a greater appreciation for the diversity and complexity of San Benito County, realizing that its uniqueness depends upon our responsibility as its stewards.