SOURCE: Chicano Theater: Themes and Forms, Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 1982, 274 p.

In this essay, Huerta examines the Chicano experience depicted in four plays by Valdez: The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa, Bernabé, Dark Root of a Scream, and Zoot Suit.

Cucarachas on the Walls and Vendidos in the Closet: The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa

Of Luis Valdez' four plays to be discussed in separate chapters of this book, The Shrunken Head of Pancho Villa is the most concerned with the identity of the Chicano. Bernabé is a contemporary myth that mingles indigenous deities with barrio characters in a search for cosmic revelation. Dark Root of a Scream is another modern mythical play that investigates the past and the present through a young Chicano who died in Vietnam. Finally, Zoot Suit recalls the Mechicanos of the 1940s and...