ETC Announces The Kick-off Of Salinas Valley Teaching Tour

El Teatro Campesino (ETC) is excited to announce the kick-off of their Salinas Valley Teaching Tour. Due to the generous donations made to the Monterey County Weekly Community Foundation Fund in support of El Teatro Campesino, ETC is able to provide free theater performances in the rural communities of Aromas, Castroville, Soledad, E. Salinas, Greenfield and Gonzalez.

This year's Salinas Valley Teaching Tour features free performances of Luis Valdez' ‘La Carpa de los Rasquachis.' ‘La Carpa de los Rasquachis' is essentially an immigrant's story-the epic tale of the Chicano farm worker in the United States of America.

‘La Carpa' unfolds with the struggles, frustrations and ultimate victory of Jesus Pelado Rasquachi in a rich saga is brought to life with Mexican ballads known as corridos. Corridos are earthy narratives often sung to celebrate life's triumphs and tribulations-usually with ironic humor and a rollicking Tex-Mex beat.

‘La Carpa de los Rasquachis' invokes the Carpa or tent shows-popular in the 1930s-40s-which would travel and perform in the areas around the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Drawing on this tradition, El Teatro Campesino has brought ‘La Carpa' back to many of these rural communities with a mission to entertain, inspire and organize audiences to social action. It is a mission that the new generation of El Teatro Campesino hopes to continue.

El Teatro Campesino will also be offering free Teatro Workshops in some of these communities as well. The workshops are open to anybody in the community that is interested in participating. The Teatro Workshops include instruction in the Luis Valdez Method of ‘The Vibrant Being,' as well as a visual arts component that includes Teatro mask making.

The ETC performers are honored to be invited to each of these communities and wants to thank the individuals and organizations that has helped to support ETC to make the 2010 Salinas Valley Teaching Tour possible. Streaming video will be available on El Teatro's website for those that are interested in monitoring our progress throughout the Salinas Valley Teaching Tour.

The free performances of ‘La Carpa de los Rasquachis,' and Teatro Workshops are part of El Teatro Campesino's Educational Outreach Program. It is the mission of the education program to bring free Teatro performances to as many communities as possible on an annual basis. If you would like to make a donation to support free theater programs you may send donations to El Teatro Campesino, PO Box 1240, San Juan Bautista, CA 95045-ETC is a 501c3 non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible.

For more information about The Salinas Valley Teaching Tour and other happenings at El Teatro Campesino, please visit www.elteatrocampesino.com. ETC wants to thank their members and patrons for their on-going support for the last 45 years.

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