Kerry Ohta
Kerry Ohta
Kerry Ohta working at the office of El Malcriado, Delano, 1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.
Kerry Ohta making a mask for Teatro Campesino, 1966. Photo by Emmon Clarke.
Kerry Ohta, a Japanese American from Forestville, California, was a full-time volunteer, active in the Teatro Campesino, according to Marcia Brooks. Ohta wrote and produced artwork for projects like El Mosquito Zumbador. She was briefly married to Agustín Lira and was close to her uncle Pete Seeger, who visited Delano a few times and performed fundraising concerts for the volunteers.
El Teatro Campesino members Kerry Ohta, Luis Valdez, and Agustín Lira performing, Berkeley, 1967
Kerry Ohta (left) plays the American consumer, Luis Valdez (center) is wearing a pig nose and plays Perelli Marrano, and Agustín Lira (left) plays the character of Don Coyote in an act depicting the farmworkers’ struggle against one of the main Delano growers, Fred Perelli-Minetti. The involvement of the American consumer in the boycott was one of the key weapons in the farm workers’ non-violent strike against the agribusiness abuses. El Teatro Campesino was often on tour, and this performance took place in Berkeley. “To many of you these actos may seem to be satire,” said Luis Valdez to the audience that night “but, in the eyes of the farm workers these are the realities.”
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