ABSTRACT
Founders Macedonio Arteaga Jr. and Alicia Chavez-Arteaga reflect on their more than two decades of work with San Diego based Teatro Izcalli, a Chicanx/Latinx comedy troupe. Situated on the traditional unceded land of the Kumeyaay people and an international border with Mexico, Teatro Izcalli’s work exists within the dynamic cultural context of the borderlands and crossroads of knowledge. These unique markers inspire their engagement practices with the schools, their use of language, storytelling, comedy, restorative and indigenous circles/practices in partnership-building while working with youth of all backgrounds in a Chicanx-centric sensibility. Having traveled throughout the country to perform at conferences, universities, high schools, theatre venues, and community spaces, Teatro Izcalli shares how they have sought to elevate the teachings of the ancestors to foster social justice consciousness and bring healing through the power of laughter in the tradition of the short dramatic theatre art form of the Acto, created in the Civil Rights era by Luis Valdez and Teatro Campesino.
