Chicano theater company El Teatro Campesino brought its production of “La Carpa de los Rasquachis,” or “The Tent of the Underdogs,” to Galvin Playhouse Friday and Saturday night.

The play, originally written and directed by Luis Valdez, is about immigrant Jesus Pelado Rasquachi, who comes from Mexico to the U.S. as a part of the Bracero guest worker program in the late ’60s.

Rasquachi’s time in America is representative of the journey many immigrants experienced and are experiencing: marrying, starting a family, wanting to go back to Mexico but cannot because of obligations in the U.S. and encountering exploitation of questionable practices committed against farm workers.

The play gives the issue of immigration in America and the injustices committed upon immigrants a lighthearted comedic tone with El Diablo (The Devil) and La Calavera (Death) acting in embellished personifications and gestures that sway Rasquachi.

Theater senior Matt Watkins said he thought the play was fantastic and appreciated hearing voices of an underrepresented population at ASU.

Watkins also enjoyed the comedy and its role in captivating the audience in the content of the play.

“[Immigration] is a really difficult subject, and [comedy] makes it able for people of various backgrounds to listen and to engage in the conversation,” he said.

Tamara Underiner, associate professor for the School of Theatre and Film, brought El Teatro to ASU as part of the “Performance in the Borderlands” program, which brings in artists and scholars to perform, lecture and work with students.

Underiner said she hopes those who came out to see the play and those that attend future productions walk away knowing theater with a social pulse is good fun.

El Teatro Campesino was originally founded by Valdez in 1965 as part of the United Farm Workers Movement.

Valdez organized striking farm workers to join his company with the purpose of using theater as a way to educate farm workers of their rights.

Since then, the company has gone on to focus its productions on social and political issues with the help of Kinan Valdez, associate artistic director and son of Luis Valdez.

Kinan Valdez said he was born into the company, training and performing with them as he grew up. It wasn’t until the ’90s that he and his cohorts fully inherited El Teatro.

In keeping with the tradition of El Teatro’s multiple generational cast, Kinan Valdez and the company are working with youth.

“There’s an entire new generation that appears, that has this desire and passion to use theater to create social change,” Kinan Valdez said. “The idea of creating social change has always been a part of the mission of El Teatro Campesino.”

Reach the reporter at brian.bahe@asu.edu.