Latino Art, Play Part of Fiesta : Culture: In its third year, the Thousand Oaks event features works by 20 artists, a comic play, lectures, films, a craft display, music and food.

Those who like serious art and wacky theater will have an opportunity to experience both at California Lutheran University’s “Festival de Encuentros,” which will be held on the Thousand Oaks campus, with events running from Monday through Saturday, March 31.

The festival, now in its third year, will feature an exhibit by Latino artists and the comic play “Latins Anonymous,” as well as lectures, films, a craft display, traditional music and food. Admission to all events is free.

The works of 20 Latino artists will be on display in CLU’s Pearson Library. Assembled by the East Los Angeles gallery Self-Help-Graphics and its curator-artist Alex Alferov, artwork on display will offer disparate styles and approaches, from pre-Columbian imagery and the brilliant primary colors of Mexican muralists to whimsical interpretations of border stereotypes.

Among the artists whose work will be displayed is Frank Romero, a Los Angeles native whose large mural “Going to the Olympics” was commissioned for the 1984 Olympic Games. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and most recently at the L.A. County Museum of Art. His silk-screen print “Carro” will be shown at CLU.

Michael M. Amescua, who holds a degree in anthropology, strives to continue the Meso-American tradition in his works, which have been exhibited throughout California and at the 1988 Seoul Olympics International Artist Exhibit. CLU will display some of Amescua’s sculptures, which were created with paper or ceramic and metal in addition to his serigraph “Toci.”

New York’s Museum of Modern Art, among others, has featured works by Dolores Guerrero-Cruz. She employs a “women and dogs” motif that expresses the discomfort she has felt when walking down the street and hearing catcalls. Her work “ Perro en mi cama (Dog in My Bed)” will be exhibited.

Some of the art and posters exhibited will be for sale.

The week of March 26 kicks off with a three-day film series sponsored by the Latin American Students Organization. But the week’s highlight will be the presentation of “Latins Anonymous” at 8 p.m. March 29 in CLU’s Preus-Brandt Forum. The play is written and performed by Luisa Leschin, Armando Molina, Rick Najera and Diane Rodriguez, who offer characters that provide a range of comic possibilities--Luisa, the grown daughter of the president of Guatemala; Armando, raised in New York by Colombian immigrants; Diane, who is in the heart of the Chicano movement; and Rick, who has grown up in a Mexican-American home.

Co-directed by Jose Cruz Gonzalez and Miguel Delgado, “Latins Anonymous,” which made its debut nearly two years ago, has played at Plaza de la Raza, South Coast Repertory, Teatro Meta, Old Globe Theatre and El Teatro Campesino, and is now playing an extended engagement at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

On March 30, Dr. Miguel Dominguez, professor of Spanish and director of Mexican-American studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills, will deliver a lecture and slide presentation entitled “Interpreting Culture Through Art” at 10 a.m. in Preus-Brandt Forum.

And Miguel Juarez, whose specialty is the curating of Chicano art, will elaborate on this topic with a presentation on the Latino art in El Paso, Texas.

After the symposium by Dominguez and Juarez, a picnic will be held in CLU’s Kingmen Park at 11:30 a.m., with traditional food and music, as well as a display of Third World crafts.

MORE INFORMATION

California Lutheran’s “Festival de Encuentros,” Monday through Saturday, March 31. Call 493-3220 or 493-3300 for details.