ABSTRACT
Chicanx/Latine theatre companies founded in the wake of the 1960s and ’70s rights movements are among the longest-lived companies in our field. For decades, these companies have contributed profoundly, producing theatre unwelcome in the mainstream houses of their regions, serving audiences hungry for work that represents their stories and cultures, nurturing the careers and aesthetics of Chicanx and Latine theatre makers, encouraging new companies, and transforming the American theatre. Their longevity is well worth investigating and their histories documented. One important organizational feature that many of these companies share: they are run by families. Keefe and Campos et al. have shown how Latine/Chicanx familism is distinguished as a cultural value and practice. This chapter posits that one element that sustains long-lived Latine theatres may well be their attention to the “family” aspect of theatre making, significantly as the ethos which guides their management practices. Conversations with the founders and leaders of three highly esteemed organizations, El Teatro Campesino, Pregones/PRTT, and the Latino Theater Company, illuminate the ways in which familism intentionally and inadvertently influences the ways they do business and the ways they strive toward ongoing sustainability, family-style.
