THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: THE LAST BROWN BERET AND DEL ZAMORA ON ADAPTING A PLAY INTO A MOTION PICTURE, RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT ON CONSUELO JIMENEZ UNDERWOOD AND A PERFORMANCE OF EASTSIDE HEARTBEATS.
This week we visit with producer/director and actor Del Zamora as he tells us about his epic film project, The Last Brown Beret. The film is based on a previous stage play written by Alfredo Ramos, The Last Angry Brown Hat, first produced way back in 1992. Del has taken the play and given a new life in this major motion picture. The film is about four friends who were members of the Brown Berets, a militant Chicano activist organization of the 1970s. In the film, decades have passed and the four friends meet up at their old movement hangout to reflect on what they did and did not accomplish back in the heyday of the Chicano civil rights movement. In the first of our two videos, Del speaks about how the film came about and its importance. In the second video, Del speaks about how he went about adapting the stage play to the motion picture screen. Check out this film and please contribute to completion funds at: https://gofund.me/89d5ef7f
Also this week, Ricardo Romo brings us a look at a new book edited by Laura E. Perez and Ann Marie Leimer which features the phenomenal art work by Consuelo Jimenez Underwood. As always, Dr. Romo’s insightful analysis brings the art work to life.
And lastly, we visit 0101 Casa in East Los Angeles. In 1998, Tom Waldman and David Reyes wrote Land of a Thousand Dances, about Chicano rock and roll They went on to write and produce a musical based loosely on the music group Cannibal and the Headhunters (who opened for the Beatles in 1965). Here we present the opening number from the musical “Eastside Heartbeats.” The play ran from May 5 to May 29, 2016 at the 0101 Casa Theater but it still hold sup today. Check it out!
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia