Playwright Luis Valdez to speak at CSUMB about new book

Playwright, theater founder, director, screenwriter and actor Luis Valdez returns to California State University Monterey Bay on April 19 to speak about his new book “Theatre of the Sphere: The Vibrant Being.”

In the book, Valdez covers his creative principles, unique aesthetic, teaching methodology, his San Juan Bautista theater company El Teatro Campesino, the Theatre of the Sphere acting method, his poem “El Buen Actor/El Mal Actor,” and a bibliography.

He’ll be joined by the book’s editor Michael M. Chemers, a worldwide authority on dramaturgy and chair of the Department of Performance, Play and Design at UC Santa Cruz.

“The book is designed to be a teaching tool for anyone who wants to study in the traditions that Mr. Valdez taps into, and ones he created himself,” said Chemers.

Valdez is an award-winning playwright, worked with Cesar Chavez and United Farm Workers, was the first Latino playwright to stage a work on Broadway with "Zoot Suit," and directed the film "La Bamba."

"It is my great honor as well as my great pleasure to have the opportunity to work with [Luis Valdez] to help him bring his book into reality," Chemers said. "It was fortunate that Mr. Valdez was ready to go to press with his book at the same time that I was the scholar-in-residence at El Teatro Campesino, the oldest community theatre in America, which was founded by Mr. Valdez." 

The book’s publisher, Routledge, calls the book a “vital and indispensable text for today’s actor, as well as scholars and students of contemporary theatre, American and Chicano performance, and the process of theatre-making, actor training, and community performance.”

The book will be available for purchase and there will be a book signing, masks are required, and the event will be streamed. RSVP at bit.ly/Valdez2022.

The event is free and open to the public, takes place 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at CSUMB’s World Theater, 5260 6^th Ave., Seaside. It is sponsored by CSUMB’s Office of the President, the Office of Student Affairs, and the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.