Oh, Wild West!: the California Plays

“Midway through Water & Power comes a scene so perfectly written, so chilling and yet so hilarious [it] encapsulates all the anger and social criticism fueling [the play], beginning with the agonizing realization (also central to Culture Clash’s smash Chavez Ravine) that the fates of the L.A. many are held in the hands of the often capricious and heartless few.”—Variety

“The funniest show the Bay Area comedy troupe has ever written. Culture Clash uses the story [of Zorro] as a starting point for a devastatingly hilarious satire of just about everything Californians hold dear.”—Contra Costa Times


In this trio of plays, Culture Clash rewrites California’s past in the performance troupe’s own irreverent comic style, interweaving pop culture with their home state’s local history. In Chavez Ravine, called “a hell-raising home run” by Variety, they cover the land grab that uprooted an entire community and built Dodger Stadium. In Water & Power, the topic is the assimilation of Latinos and their rise to political influence. And in Zorro in Hell, Culture Clash re-imagines early California through the eyes of the original masked man.

Culture Clash formed in 1984 to fill a unique role in American arts. Their nominal mission is to show cultures in opposition and, by opposing them, bring them closer together. But their talents are too expansive to be restricted to just "political theatre." Culture Clash have managed to gerrymander theatre’s traditional map, erasing the borders between any and all districts they choose to explore. They have a style all their own with a foundation that harkens back to the best vaudevillians of the U.S. and Latin America. Comedy and satire is what they feed on, in the tradition of Lenny Bruce, the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, and Catinflas.