Lea este artículo en español aquí.
Christy Sandoval, the first female executive director of El Teatro Campesino, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Latino theater company, has been quietly making history since she assumed the general manager position in 2017. Teatro founder Luis Valdez said that Sandoval embodies a pivotal moment in the company’s progress.
“Christy represents a new generation of leadership,” he said. “The important point is that she grew up organically within the Teatro, so she understands the whole history of the company as well as the procedures, and she’s improved on them.”
Now, at the end of the first-ever extended run of “La Virgen de Tepeyac,” Sandoval has time to reflect on the production’s success, and on the transition from Mission San Juan Bautista to the playhouse.
“There was a sigh of relief after the first run-through,” she said. “I got to see it and feel it. That was the proof I needed that the story is still strong. Our actors did an amazing job of staying true to their characters, and the audience walked out with their spirits lifted. You can see the light in their eyes.”
After graduating from Watsonville High School, Sandoval performed in her first play with El Teatro in 2005, appearing as one of the devils in “La Pastorela” with only her student theater experience behind her.
“The play is in Spanish,” she said, “I saw people that spoke like me, sang like me and looked like me. It was multi-generational, and the atmosphere and the energy were very comforting and welcoming. It was just very, very lovely.”
At the time, Sandoval was working as a receptionist. She said she didn’t understand at first what fascinated her about El Teatro, but she knew she was attracted to it.
“Was it me being on stage?,” she said. “The characters? Was it storytelling in general? Was it being part of the magic-making? I didn’t quite know. I just kind of wanted to dabble with it, but I didn’t know if I could make a career out of it.”
In 2008, Sandoval’s day job began drying up and her responsibilities at the theater increased. She discovered her organizing skills were just as valuable as her acting skills to El Teatro, and she was invited into the company’s inner workings. At the same time, she began to move from an ensemble player to more significant roles. In 2007, she was cast as the shepherd Cuchara in “La Pastorela”—the first time that a female played the role.
“I feel like I earned my way up,” Sandoval said. “I learned from beloved actors in some of the classic roles. Playing Cuchara was an elevation into something deeper than the roles I had played before. And two years later, when I was cast in the major role of Satanas, I was given the space to make it my own.”
Again, she played a traditionally male role (with a distinctly bad side) and it was much more complex than anything she had done before.
“It’s a character that has to put on many disguises,” Sandoval said. “There’s a lot of personality from the actor that gets to be infused in that character, tailored and workshopped to what those disguises would eventually be in the play. It was fun trying to figure it out.”
In the following year’s “La Virgen de Tepeyac” production, she played La Criada, a comic-relief role that balances out the play’s heavier themes of conquest, sacrifice and redemption.
“Like before,” Sandoval said, “I got to watch how others before me did it and see how the audience just laughs it up and eats up that character. It’s fun to bring that type of joy to the play.”
Her last acting role was originating the character of Maruca in 2013 for Luis Valdez’s play about the Japanese internment, “Valley of the Heart.” After its playhouse debut, it was staged in San Jose and moved to an extended 2018 run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
“I am so honored to have that part of my resume,” Sandoval said. “It was my first time working closely with Luis as a playwright and director. It was a great learning experience as an actor and on the subject matter.”
Sandoval said Valdez was very open about his process, and she gained valuable insight into writing and directing.
“He was transparent about what he was looking for,” she said. “He gave himself permission to say, ‘I don’t know what it is yet, but we’re going to figure it out together.’ That was eye-opening, and it is something I try to bring into our other production spaces.”
Sandoval said another important part of her work has been managing the Teatro educational programs since 2011, sharing the methodology of creating theater in school visits and community workshops.
“I was fortunate to have taken workshops with Luis and other company members,” she said. “You kind of embody it, and you can teach it to somebody else through muscle memory. There was this need to be able to turn around and teach it, replicate it, and package it. So, I did a lot of that groundwork.”
Sandoval sees the Teatro’s community engagement as both instructive and almost therapeutic.
“I know many artists—whether they even identify as artists—crave a space just to belong to and create art themselves,” she said. “We want to keep that alive and help folks tap into that innate creativity. I want this to remain an open, welcoming space for any and all who need it.”
Last year, as an acknowledgment of her work in helming the theater with all its complexities— including shepherding the company through COVID, helping to transition the Christmas plays from the Mission to the playhouse, and finding funding in a tight economy—Valdez decided that naming her executive director would be fitting.
“We’ve been in the building now for over 40 years,” he said, “but she made it work in other ways that none of us would have even considered.”
Sandoval said she sees herself as just part of a cycle that the theater has gone through since it was founded in the fields of Delano almost 60 years ago.
“It’s healthy for people to come and go,” she said. “I see myself trying to honor the work of those who came before me in terms of the organization and the larger cultural history and significance. I see it as part of my work of honoring them to create the means to keep the theater moving forward.”
Valdez described Sandoval as “one of the brightest flowers to emerge out of our presence here in San Juan.”
“She is proof that if you have fertile soil,” he said, “flowers will grow. She’s very independent and resourceful and a rare find. I really love her. She’s a great example of what the Teatro can produce.”
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
The post Teatro Campesino executive director reflects on her career appeared first on BenitoLink.