Bodacious Buggerilla

Amid the racial tensions that followed the Watts Rebellion in 1965, [Bereal] chose to distance himself from the art world for over two decades. During that period, he immersed himself in social justice movements, formed the "Bodacious Buggerilla" theater troupe, and traveled internationally to war-torn countries around the globe as a video journalist.

In the era of “America: A Mercy Killing,” Bereal founded the guerilla street theater troupe Bodacious Buggerilla, which performed on street corners and church steps, in laundromats, prisons, and nightclubs alongside headliners such as Richard Pryor. The troupe pilloried the status quo and its pillars of institutional racism and capitalism (often police who Bereal calls “urban terrorists,” were portrayed in pig masks), while also teaching black youth how to empower and defend themselves.

In South-Central in the ‘60s and ‘70s, everybody knew Bodacious Buggerrilla. The street theater group staged shocking and hilarious consciousness-raising skits at schools, churches, cafes, prisons, even Laundromats.

The Black street theater group Bodacious Buggerrilla was founded in Los Angeles (Calif.) by Ed Bereal (1937- ), an American painter and assemblage artist, as a reaction to the 1965 Watts riot (also called the Watts rebellion). He and former art students at the University of California at Riverside performed skits in bars, laundromats, and other street settings with a focus on social and political critique and often depicting racial stereotypes. According to Bereal, the group, having drawn the attention of the FBI, kept a farm in San Bernardino (Calif.) where they raised food for sustenance and conducted an extensive program for self-defense. Bodacious Buggerilla performed in the 1960s and 1970s; they reunited for a 2012 performance.