On Saturday night, the Laredo stage was lit, lit with a visual feast of 1940s outfits and hairstyles, swing dance numbers, clever props and set changes, and colorful cuts of the zoot suit traje. The feast was amplified even further by the live orchestra onstage and the wonderful slang and cadence spoken by the Mexican-American who lived once-upon-a-time in East Los Angeles.
Nearing the end of its two-week run at the Martinez Fine Arts Center, Zoot Suit – the iconic Chicano play written by Luis Valdez that premiered in 1978 – was presented by the creative team of the Laredo Theater Guild International (LTGI) led by director José “Joe” Flores and producers Linda Howland and Suzanne H. Alford.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the play you are about to see is a construct of fact and fantasy,” goes the unforgettable opening line told to the audience by The Pachuco, brilliantly played by Charlie Palacios.
“It was the secret fantasy of every vato in or out of the Chicanada to put on a Zoot Suit and play the Myth, mas chucote que la chingada,” The Pachuco says before the set changes to a dancehall scene.
Palacios, an award-winning high school theater director in the Valley, was brought in two days before opening night to replace Jason Angco-Barrera who fell ill. With less than two days to learn the script and musical numbers – The Pachuco is the show’s main singer – Palacios pulled off an incredible feat, nailing his character and getting off-book during the show’s run.
With his lyrical, slow movements on stage – strutting like a peacock – Palacios masterfully delivered the essence of the inextinguishable light that lives in the Chicano soul.
The Pachuco represents the alter ego of Henry Reyna or Hank, the main character played by Benjamin Lule, a somewhat idealistic leader of a tight-knit neighborhood circle of family and friends. The Pachucho, however, voices the ugly reality of being Chicano in America. The interaction between the two characters allows the audience to witness the inner conflict in Hank’s mind.
The power of the play’s story and Valdez’s authentic dialogue thrusts Zoot Suit out of the confinement of ethnic theater and into the pantheon and heights of American theater. It IS a piece of Americana, ese.
Based off real life events, Hank is at center of the Sleepy Lagoon Trial during World War II. He and his friends are wrongfully accused of the murder of José Williams. They are subjected to a kangaroo court presided over by a racist judge, expertly played by John Kilburn (who plays two other characters in the show).
At the trial, the judge hears cross-examination of the main witness, Hank’s girlfriend Della Barrios (played by Loraine Zapata who delivers a heartfelt performance), by the villainous prosecutor (furiously played by the multi-faceted John Maxstadt) who symbolizes the infuriating and unlevel playing field that Chicanos experienced within the legal system.
“Que traes, Hank? Haven’t you learned yet,” The Pachuco asks.
“Learned what?” Hank responds.
“Not to expect justice when it isn’t there. No court in the land’s going to set you free,” The Pachuco answers.
The play brings to the forefront the contradictions of an America fighting fascism abroad while at war with its own ideals at home. Hank is being crushed by the vice of the WASP establishment that includes law enforcement, the judicial system, and the mainstream press.
The four boys of the 38th Street Gang would have faced death or life in prison – sacrificed at the altar of American racial hysteria – had it not been for the grassroots mobilization efforts undertaken by the optimistic underdogs: reporter Alice Bloomfield (a bold performance turned in by Allyson Tellez) and attorney George Shearer (played by the charming Ben Hinojosa) who is on a quixotic quest to attain justice for Hank. Alice and George represent the true ideals of what America should be.
Hank and his friends – Smiley (Reynaldo Tijerina), Joey (Adan Villarreal), and Tommy, the barrio White boy (Orlando Joel Valdez Romero) – shine in their scenes throughout the play with their chemistry and locker room banter.
The play is a precursor to the infamous Zoot Riots of 1943, in which American sailors while on leave rampaged “East Los” with total impunity. The Los Angeles Police turned a blind eye to the violence perpetrated by U.S. servicemen on Chicano youth, and instead arrested dozens of young Mexican-Americans for rioting.
The LA City Council in turn criminalized and banned the wearing of zoot suits which included the wide-legged trousers (drapes), billowy coats (tacuches), flashy shoes (calcos), long chains (cadenas), and fedora-like hats (tandos). Eighty years later, in 2023, the City of Los Angeles formally apologized for this miscarriage of justice.
Kathy Peiss, in her book Zoot Suit: the Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style writes that this moment was “perhaps the first time in American history that fashion was believed to be the cause of widespread civil unrest.”
“The Press distorted the very meaning of the word ‘zoot suit.’ All it is for you guys is another way to say Mexican,” The Pachuco tells the representative of the mainstream press.
In what is arguably the best line of the play, The Pachuco says, “This is 1942, or is it 1492?”
In that one sentence, he captures the ongoing oppression suffered by Chicanos since the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492.
What struck me about the play and the words expressed during the trial and by the mainstream press is that the systems of oppression and racial scapegoating continue to this day. They are resurrected time and time again by the dark undercurrent of nativism that uses fear and lies to create division and hatred in America.
More stories like this must be told to help us arrive at a more complete understanding of the American experience, and the historical experience of fellow Chicanos in other parts of the country.
The struggle continues … Hay les watcho.
