Theater companies from Mexico, Spain, L.A., New York to take the stage at UCLA’s LA Escena festival
Sean Brenner I UCLA
Free live performances take place at newly renovated Nimoy Theater, Sept. 12-17
Bringing together the Old World and the new, the fourth edition of UCLA’s biennial Hispanic classical theater festival, LA Escena, takes place from Sept. 12 to 17. For the first time, all performances will be presented at the newly renovated UCLA Nimoy Theater in Westwood.
LA Escena 2024 will include 10 live performances — all free to the public — and one livestreamed presentation. The festival features staged readings of brand-new adaptations and inventive presentations of works from the 17th-century Golden Age of Spanish theater. Performances will be presented in Spanish and English, and the festival dates coincide with the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 15.
LA Escena is produced by UCLA’s Diversifying the Classics project, which is based in the UCLA College Division of Humanities. The festival’s artistic director is Barbara Fuchs, a UCLA professor of Spanish and English and the founder of Diversifying the Classics.
Los Angeles’ first Hispanic classical theater festival, LA Escena launched in 2018 with a mission to promote greater inclusion of Hispanic culture in the theatrical canon. The series celebrates the Spanish Golden Age’s rich tradition from both sides of the Atlantic, and through creative reimaginings onstage, LA Escena demonstrates how those works still speak to audiences today.
“To see these vibrant works in the hands of contemporary artists, and to introduce them to new audiences — that is the true joy of LA Escena,” Fuchs said. “The plays are constantly reimagined. That’s what makes them classics.”
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Photo credit: UCLA’s Diversifying the Classics