Casa Zapata students performing in last year's Zoot Suit.
This weekend, Casa Zapata, the university’s Chicano and Latino residential theme house, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Zoot Suit Week with its production of Zoot Suit, a play about the historic Sleepy Lagoon murder trial in 1940s Los Angeles. The first performance is tonight, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m.
Zoot Suit Week has been the centerpiece of Casa Zapata’s residential programming since 1987, according to resident fellow GINA HERNANDEZ-CLARKE, director of arts in undergraduate education in the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Hernandez-Clarke shares resident fellow duties for the 80-student residence with CHRIS GONZALEZ CLARKE, a graduate student at the School of Education.
Each year, Casa Zapata students transform their residence into 1940s Los Angeles during Parents’ Weekend, generally offering a performance or reading of the play, as well as lectures and events about Mexican-American life and culture. Zoot Suit will be offered tonight, Feb. 23, as well as Feb. 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. in Stern Dining. All of the performances are free and open to the public. Opening night on Thursday also will feature actor and producer Daniel Valdez, who played the protagonist in the movie version of Zoot Suit. Zoot Suit was written by Luis Valdez in 1978 and is the first Mexican-American production in history to be featured on Broadway. The film adaptation was nominated for the 1983 Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture.
On Friday, Feb. 24, at noon in the Casa Zapata lounge, journalist and author Ruben Martinez will give a talk, Mexican Los Angeles: The Legacy of Zoot Suit, presented with El Centro Chicano and the Institute for Diversity in the Arts. The festivities conclude on Saturday with a dance featuring an alumni ensemble.
Zoot Suit takes place when violent racism against Mexican Americans was at a peak. The play features distinctive costumes, reflecting an era when men wore oversize coats with large lapels, baggy pants that narrowed at the cuff, long watch chains that fastened at the waist and broad-rimmed hats with a large feather. Women wore short skirts and pompadours. The style of dress was seen by many as a sign of Mexican gang intrusion on American culture. In Los Angeles, fights often broke out between Chicanos and white servicemen who frequented the same dance halls. These confrontations culminated in the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots.
