The four roads.

Founded in 1965 by Luis Valdez, El Teatro Campesino was initially the cultural wing of the United Farm Workers union in California's central valley. With a pointed political mission, ETC performed their actos in the fields, agitprop improvisations communicated eloquently with the workers, who could neither read nor write, but recognized themselves and their values in the actos. By 1970 ETC had gained an international reputation, with major contributions to Chicano culture in the U.S. and to the development and expansion of the boundaries of theater everywhere. Theirs is a popular theater rooted in the American streets, early California history, Mayan/Aztec mythology and Mexican folklore and spiritualism, all geared toward expression of social, political and cultural perceptions. Valdez believes in a total theaterone where an elevation of sensation is achieved through a trinity of music, dance and drama to stimulate a New American Audience, a celebration of cultural diversity. The Four Roads is a documentary celebrating El Teatro Campesinos 25th anniversary. A retrospective showcasing the groups broad spectrum of theater projects, it contains a rich array of archival footage and interviews. The documentary is organized by the Mayan myth of the Four Roadscentral to ETCs philosophy and aesthetichere presented as the four roads of creation: the Road of the Heart, the Road of the Body, the Road of the Mind, and the Road of the Soul. It is a fitting homage to the outstanding artistic contributions of El Teatro Campesino to Chicano culture and to popular theater around the world. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics