Taking it to the streets

the long version

The performances of Luis Valdez's El Teatro Campesino, the farmworkers' theater, and Amiri Baraka's Black Revolutionary Theater (BRT) during the '60s and '70s offer preeminent examples of social protest theater during a momentous and tumultuous historical juncture. In Taking It to the Streets, Harry Elam compares the performance methodologies, theories, and practices of the two groups, highlighting their cross-cultural commonalities and providing insights into the complex genre of social protest performance and its interchange with its audience. He examines the ways in which ritual can be seen to operate within the productions of El Teatro and the BRT, uniting audience and performers in subversive, celebratory protest by transforming spectators into active participants within the theater walls - and into revolutionary activists outside.