Community theatre and indigenous performance traditions: An introduction to Chicano theatre, with reference to parallel developments in South Africa

Abstract

This article will focus on the theme of community and on the forms stemming from oral literature and musical tradition in Chicano theatre, while drawing comparisons with similar developments in South Africa. I will argue that the re-appropriation of traditional modes and their integration into stage performance replaced the formerly “Eurocentric definition of theatre” with a more indigenous specificity, a development that has been observed in South Africa as well (Hauptfleisch, 1988:40). We can thus speak of a certain divergence from standard contemporary Western traditions in both the Chicano and the black South African community theatre, a trend that is notable in both their themes and forms.