Zoot Suit: Latino/a youth inclusion and exclusion on Texas stages

Abstract

ABSTRACTThough Latino/as currently comprise the majority of Texas public school students, Latino/a bodies and stories are underrepresented and excluded in school theatre programs throughout the state. In 2011, the Texas Education Agency reported that Hispanic students accounted for 50.2 percent of the state’s 4.9 million children enrolled in public schools, including pre-kindergarten and early childhood education. However, the theatre produced in school theatre programs representing Latino stories and characters is staggeringly disproportionate to the number of Latino youth attending Texas public schools. In May 2014, Edinburg North High School, the one school from the Rio Grande Valley included in the state meet, presented their production of Zoot Suit at the competition, which takes place annually on the University of Texas at Austin campus. This article explores Latino/a youth inclusion and exclusion and how the inclusion of this production of Zoot Suit has opened the door to more Latino stories being noticed, valued, and told throughout the Rio Grande Valley and the state of Texas.