Ep. 83: American Pachuco with David Alvarado

In every episode, the culture critics at Token Theatre Friends bring their fresh perspectives to the performing arts on their podcast and video series. You can find the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, and Stitcher (look for the all-red logo). The video series is available on YouTube. The TTF theme song is by Sean Mason (with vocals by Francesca Ramos). The video animation is by Brad Ogden, with logos by Jason Simon.

In this episode, Jose speaks to filmmaker David Alvarado about American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, his documentary on the founder of El Teatro Campesino and the Chicano artist behind Zoot Suit and La Bamba. The film, which won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award at Sundance and is narrated by Edward James Olmos, premieres Tuesday, October 6 on PBS as part of American Masters and VOCES. Alvarado looks back on watching La Bamba over and over as a kid, and how Valdez’s journey from farmworker theatre to Hollywood showed him a path he could follow as a Latino artist. They also talk about Valdez’s use of theatre as a tool for social activism and why that legacy still matters today.