LA Escena 2024

The “LA Escena” Festival of Hispanic classical theater returns from September 12–17, 2024, featuring new interpretations of comedia at UCLA’s newly renovated Nimoy Theater as part of the fourth edition of Diversifying the Classics’ biennial celebration.

LA Escena is Los Angeles’ first Hispanic classical theater festival, organized by UCLA’s Diversifying the Classics, which is part of the Division of Humanities. Since the inaugural edition in 2018, LA Escena has brought the best of Southern California theater together with acclaimed performers from around the world to celebrate the comedia in performance and adaptation.

This year LA Escena will offer productions at the Nimoy Theater by the internationally recognized Spanish theater company Grumelot, three new adaptations from their popular Golden Tongues series, and a new performance of the translation of Sor Juana’s Love is the Greater Labyrinth by director Sarah Grunnah.

Valor

• On Thursday, September 12 at 7 pm.
• Excerpts from an opera by Pedro Osuna and Amanda Hollander, directed by Peter Kazaras.

Summoning all her courage, Leonor crosses geographical boundaries and defies social expectations of gender in order to bring her fickle lover, Don Juan, to justice and restore her lost honor.

La última gran aventura de la Monja Alférez

• On Thursday, September 12 at 8 pm.
• By Ismael Rojas and Tamara Garduño Pacheco.

Erauso sets out on one final journey, accompanied by his loyal donkeys. As he faces death under a fiery sun, he has one last conversation with his many selves.

I Put a Spell on You

• On Friday, September 13 at 7 pm.
• By Rosie Narasaki, based on Ana Caro’s El Conde Partinuplés.

Rosaura, Queen of Constantinople, needs to marry in order to keep her throne. Can magic conjure the perfect suitor?

Amar por ver amar (o recuperar lo perdido)

• On Friday, September 13 at 9 pm.
• By Grumelot.

A theatrical lecture by Grumelot on the recovery of joy after loss, based on El perro del hortelano by Lope de Vega.

Love is the Greater Labyrinth

• On Saturday, September 14 at 4 pm.
• By Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, directed by Sarah Grunnah, translated by Diversifying the Classics.

The Greek hero Teseo is ready to face the deadly Minotaur inside Crete’s labyrinth in order to quell its king’s insatiable thirst for vengeance. But soon, Teseo will discover that the labyrinth of the heart is a far greater challenge.

Diálogo entre el amor y un viejo

• On Saturday, September 14 at 7 pm.
• By Rodrigo de Cota (Los Colochos).

What would you say to Love, if you had it face-to-face? And what might Love have to say back to you?

La tinta de mi honra

• On Saturday, September 14 at 9 pm.
• By David Gaitán.

A close-knit community is rocked by the appearance of a mysterious new technology that may not be as helpful as it seems. Written in prose and streaked with wit, this play by Mexican playwright David Gaitán explores the sinister underbelly of human creation.

Flickers

• On Sunday, September 15 at 1 pm.
• By Diana Burbano, based on Juan Ruiz de Alarcón’s La cueva de Salamanca.

A director aims to succeed in early 20th-century Hollywood by adapting a centuries-old comedy written by his ancestor. While conjuring marvels and mischief, he ignores the all-too-real perils that surround him.

Fling

• On Sunday, September 15 at 3 pm.
• By Zharia O’Neal, based on Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Los empeños de una casa.

Who are we, truly, in the dark? Four young beauty-pageant contestants trapped during a blackout are forced to reckon with their own ambitions, bare their secrets, and come together.

The Marvelous Puppet Show

• On Sunday, September 15 at 5 pm.
• By Theatre Dybbuk. An illuminated lecture on Miguel de Cervantes’ El retablo de las maravillas.

How does who we are shape what we see and believe? And how do the purveyors of media manipulate those distinctions?

The Beast of Hungary

• On Tuesday, September 17 at 4:30 pm.
• By Lope de Vega, directed by Nadia Guevara.

The Beast of Hungary tells the story of a queen forced into the wilderness by her power-hungry sister. The fallen queen steals her niece and raises her as a feral girl, but when that girl falls in love, she must confront human society for the first time…