El Diablo Wears Prada

Everyone loves an underdog: Seabiscuit, American Idol Kris Allen, the Arizona Cardinals. If you’re a perpetual winner, on the other hand, we’re secretly hoping you’ll trip on your $800 Prada boots and do a face-plant.

California troupe El Teatro Campesino uses bilingual dialogue and song to tell the story of the ultimate underdog – an immigrant named Pelado – in Luis Valdez’s La Carpa de los Rasquiachis, or The Tent of the Underdogs. The play is “really the story of every immigrant,” says ASU associate professor Tamara Underiner, head of ASU’s Borderlands program, which is sponsoring the performance. “The idea is to take a look at the play, which was developed in the ’70s, and see if the dilemmas are still the same today.” Poor Pelado is manipulated by social workers, growers, and Sheriff J . . . er, El Diablo. Yep, not much has changed. But the play isn’t depressing, Underiner assures. “It will entertain the audience’s imagination [and] pleasure zones, so they can think about the real questions later.”