CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION through Dec. 21 at El Teatro Campesino’s packing shed playhouse in San Juan Bautista, “La Pastorela” is an adaptation of a 16th-century Mexican passion play first staged by the company 50 years ago as a puppet show.
Reflecting the values of this farmworkers’ theater company, founded six decades ago at the beginning of Cesar Chavez’s Grape Strike in Delano, it is a timeless celebration of faith, family, and the continuity of tradition.
“Every year,” said Teatro founder Luis Valdez, “we have actors who have been in it for years, and others who have never done theater before. It’s a labor of love for the community, and it’s always new in its own way.”
Ancient Mexican pageant with farmworker roots
Used by Franciscan missionaries to teach Christian doctrine in the Americas, the play follows a hermit and a group of pastores (shepherds) on a journey to Bethlehem to witness the birth of the Christ Child.
Along the way, they are tempted by devils, led by Satanás and Luzbel (Satan and Lucifer), who try to lead the band astray, but, at every turn, are rescued by angels led by San Miguél (St. Michael).
The puppet show version, written by Valdez in 1975, was based on a worn copy of the script that Longina Montoya, the grandmother of a cast member, had brought with her from San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
“This was the pageant as it had been done in her childhood,” Valdez said. “Every village has its own pastorela, and this was one of many variations with the same themes done everywhere in Mexico over the years.”
It was staged no more than three times in an old warehouse that preceded the current playhouse. Valdez described that production as “very much an experiment.”
“We made rod puppets with movable mouths,” he said. “We were working with Celastic, which you dip in acetone. It’s practically illegal now.”
The following year, Valdez revised the script to expand the play’s scope as a live processional through the tiny town. Set pieces were performed at stops along the way until the finale, a nativity scene set in front of Mission San Juan Bautista.
It was a bit of calculation on Valdez’s part. On arrival in San Juan, with a population of less than 2,000, the troupe’s reputation as labor activists made them unwelcome among the local farmers. Valdez reasoned he could break down resistance if he could get the townsfolk to participate in processions and plays.
It worked.
“The old guard sat on the sidelines,” he said, “perhaps amused. But the rest appreciated the youthful spirit and participated. It became our gift to our new hometown of San Juan.”
From puppets to processions and spectacle
Valdez’s son, Kinan, the director of the current production, had his first acting experience at four years old, playing an angel in one of the street shows. His brother, Anahuac, played a devil, and in the final battle between good and evil, Kinan could not bring himself to “kill” him, as called for in the script.
“I was crying,” he said. “When I finally did stab him, I ran off into my mother’s arms.”
In 1980, heavy rains threatened to cancel the production until the mission’s pastor, Father Amancio Rodriguez, opened the church to the troupe. First performed at the front altar, the play was recast over the years, becoming a fully realized spectacle, with over 60 cast and crew members.
“It was envisioned as having a central location in the middle of the Basilica,” Kinan said, “and all the journeys, instead of happening down the streets of San Juan, would occur in and around the building itself.”
With the center stage representing the Earth, the altar was reserved for the angels, and the back of the church, decorated with a massive “Hell’s Mouth,” served as home to the devils. The pastores’ symbolic pilgrimage to Bethlehem now traversed the nave and both side aisles several times during the play.
The Hermit would make his first appearance in the play from the pulpit above the stage, which is otherwise too fragile to be used in church services. And, in the climactic scene between Luzbel and San Miguél, the protagonists were wheeled into battle astride huge wooden horses.
Luis also added a song not included in Montoya’s recitation, “Una Corona de Espina,” a conchero song from Mexico, performed in a scene in which Luzbel enacts a self-crucifixion.
“It is Luzbel confronting the shepherds,” Luis said, “telling them about their savior. He’s born poor, he’ll die on the cross shouting, ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ It reveals to the shepherds their own mortality.”
The Mission was also featured in scenes from the 1991 PBS Great Performances version of “La Pastorela,” starring Linda Ronstadt and Cheech Marin.
Smaller stage, deeper intimacy
When technical issues kept the El Teatro out of the mission in 2019, the play reverted to the smaller playhouse venue. Luis said that it was a blessing in disguise, as the production had become “too automatic” after so many years in the same venue.
“We’re inside our own house,” he said, “so it changed the tenor and revived it. We needed to rediscover its internal workings again. The space is much smaller and tighter, but the intimacy is something that cannot be taken for granted.”
Kinan had directed and acted in performances of “La Pastorela” in the mission over the years, and Luis asked him to handle the transition to the smaller stage. The proscenium of the playhouse was removed, replaced with a center stage to maintain the in-the-round experience.
“We had the basic template,” Kinan said, “But we had to make slight adjustments for this particular space. A lot of the songs and the journeys, for example, were timed to fit the size of the mission.”
It also meant refocusing the performances: where before, the actors had to play to two distinct audiences at the front and back of the mission, now they had to be aware of the people spread out to the four sets of seats surrounding the stage.
“We had to lean into an in-the-round experience fully,” Kinan said. “But changes to the play have happened over time, and we honored that.”
“The actors, the costumes, the makeup, it was just a stunning production. We left still talking about all the incredible things that they incorporated in that show.”
Jose Aranda, San Juan City Council member
The new setting in the much smaller theater space has made the production more intimate. Instead of playing to an audience of 800 people in the Mission, the actors now come almost face-to-face with the audience, allowing them to interact in a way they have not had since the street performances.
In some ways, it has made the production feel more alive and more moving, while still delivering the emotional impact audiences have come to expect. San Juan City Council Member Jose Aranda saw the play for the first time this year and described it as “amazing.”
“It was way beyond what I could imagine,” he said. “The actors, the costumes, the makeup, it was just a stunning production. We left still talking about all the incredible things that they incorporated in that show.”
A second pageant, “La Virgen del Tepeyac,” a retelling of the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, runs in alternating years with “La Pastorela” and the two have long been the defining expression of the town’s spirit during the Christmas season.
“I think it’s in the spirit of the pieces,” Luis said. “They will always maintain their popular roots, as rough as they sometimes might seem. They are the soul of San Juan on display.”