ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras (TJSF), a theatrical group founded in 2008 by, for, and with day laborers, improves the lives of day laborers everywhere through the creation of plays dramatizing the day laborer experience and community. TJSF’s genealogy and formation are explored, as are the ways their work methodology, shifts, or negotiations have influenced member recruitment, casting, rehearsals, and performances to more authentically represent their target audience. The chapter will also include a cursory interrogation of the ways in which TJSF’s work was or is inspired by their commitment to a theatrical representation of the day laborer. TJSF is the only Los Angeles-based theatrical group composed entirely of day laborers and so is uniquely positioned to advance the visibility of not only day laborers but workers everywhere through the creation of political plays by, for, and with members of one of the most vulnerable communities in Los Angeles, which at last count numbered nearly 30,000. TJSF’s work is especially relevant in light of an increasingly anti-immigrant climate in the United States.
