Best known for the play “Zoot Suit” and the film “La Bamba,” playwright, director and filmmaker Luis Valdez was born in Delano, California to migrant farmworkers from Mexico. As a child, Valdez put on shows in the labor camps he worked in with his family after developing an interest in theater. During the Delano grape strike, Valdez started El Teatro Campesino, a theater company that helped mobilize farmworkers. Known as a pioneering leader of the Chicano Movement, Valdez’s work blends theater with political activism, using the arts as a tool for social change.
This timeline takes a closer look at Luis Valdez’s life and the major milestones in his career.
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Luis Valdez is born in Delano, California to Armada and Francisco Valdez, the second of 10 children.
June 26, 1940
Luis works in the fields with his parents and attends local schools, where he
develops an interest in theater, often putting on puppet shows in the labor camp.
Late 1940s-50s
Valdez attends San José State University (SJSU) with a scholarship to study math and physics. He intends to become an engineer but soon switches his major to English and theater.
Late 1950s-1960s
Valdez writes and performs his first full-length play for the drama department at SJSU, The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa.
1963
Valdez graduates from SJSU and travels to Cuba, where he hears Fidel Castro speak. He then joins the San Francisco Mime Troupe, where he begins to engage in political theater.
1964
Valdez returns to Delano to join the United Farm Workers strikes. He is soon elected picket captain.
1965
Valdez founds the El Teatro Campesino (“The Farm-Workers’ Theater”), as part of the United Farm Workers movement. Valdez develops his “actos” – short theatrical pieces – and one of their first plays, Death Is Not a Scab. El Teatro performs in the fields and at migrant camps,
reaching Chicanos across the state.
1965
Valdez participates in the March to Sacramento, which culminates in UFW negotiating the first union contract with the Schenley corporation. El Teatro performs in every city that the march goes to, drawing people to the movement.
Spring 1966
El Teatro broke from UFW to continue touring the country. While they still maintained a
strong allegiance to the union, their focus shifted entirely to theater, performing, and reaching
new audiences. El Teatro eventually settled in Fresno. The company began performing on
college campuses, where they often recruited new members.
1967
Lupe Trujillo joins El Teatro on their first international tour through France after
graduating from Fresno State College. Luis and Lupe marry shortly after.
1969
Valdez creates and directs the short film/documentary I Am Joaquín (Yo soy Joaquín) based on the poem by Rodolfo Gonzáles; beginning to bridge theatre to film.
1969
Valdez continues to lead El Teatro Campesino, expand its productions, tour, and gain recognition for Chicano theatre. He begins to develop pieces for television such as Los Vendidos.
1970s
El Teatro moves to San Juan Bautista where they are currently located.
1971
El Teatro hosts Peter Brook and his International Center for Theater Research. They participate in an eight-week experimental workshop and perform The Conference of the
Birds.
1973
Valdez receives a Rockefeller Foundation Grant to create “Zoot Suit” at the Mark Taper
Forum.
1977
“Zoot Suit” premieres at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, bringing the Chicano experience to an unprecedented level.
1979
“Zoot Suit” premieres on Broadway at the Winter Garden theater in New York City, making it the first play by a Latino to show on Broadway.
1979
Valdez directs the film adaptation of “Zoot Suit” for Universal Pictures, which receives a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
1981
Valdez writes and directs the film La Bamba, bringing a Chicano story to an even wider audience. La Bamba goes on to make over 50 million dollars in the United States.
1987
Valdez wins a Peabody Award for a PBS Television adaptation of his play “Corridos:
Tales of Passion and Revolution.”
1987
El Teatro Campesino produced its first feature length film La Pastorela: A Shepherd’s Tale, that airs on PBS and internationally.
1991
Luis continues to write and direct plays, films, and television programs while also
expanding El Teatro to new audiences with the creation of a multimedia digital center.
1990s-2000s
Valdez and El Teatro begin an extended association with the San Diego Repertory
Theater, where they develop and create two new pieces for world premieres.
2000-2005
El Teatro produces a 25th Anniversary production of “Zoot Suit” that runs for a year
and launches a U.S. Southwestern Tour in 2004.
2002-2003
Luis is awarded the U.S. National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama for his
lifetime contributions to theatre and film.
2015
“Valley of the Heart” premieres in October at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
2018
Valdez continues to lead El Teatro, working closely with his two children to pave the way for a new generation of theater-goers and to build a bridge for contemporary issues. His newest play “Adios Mama Carlota” premieres in May of 2025.
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