Key takeaways<\/p>\n
\n\tLA Escena, Los Angeles\u2019 biennial Hispanic classical theater festival, returns to UCLA from Sept. 17 to Oct. 5.
\n\tThe festival features staged readings of brand-new adaptations and inventive presentations of Hispanic classics, in Spanish and English.
\n\tThis year, audiences can enjoy eight live performances \u2014 all free to the public \u2014 and one livestreamed premiere from New York.
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LA Escena, Los Angeles\u2019 biennial Hispanic classical theater festival, returns to UCLA from Sept. 17 to Oct. 5. Since it began in 2018, LA Escena has brought the best of Southern California theater together with acclaimed performers from around the world to celebrate the theatrical tradition of the Spanish Golden Age in performance and adaptation.<\/p>\n
At LA Escena 2026,<\/a> audiences can enjoy eight live performances \u2014 all free to the public \u2014 and one livestreamed premiere from New York. The festival features staged readings of brand-new adaptations and inventive presentations of Hispanic classics, in Spanish and English.<\/p>\n LA Escena is produced by\u00a0UCLA\u2019s Diversifying the Classics<\/a>\u00a0project, which is based in the\u00a0UCLA College Division of Humanities.<\/a>\u00a0The festival\u2019s artistic director is Barbara Fuchs, UCLA distinguished professor of Spanish and English and the founder of Diversifying the Classics. LA Escena launched with a mission to promote Hispanic theater produced on both sides of the Atlantic in the \u201clong 17th century,\u201d a period from the late 1500s to the early 1700s characterized by significant cultural, political and social changes across Europe, and to expand modern audiences\u2019 concept of what constitutes the \u201cclassics.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery new edition of LA Escena is an opportunity to see what results when extraordinary artists encounter the Hispanic classics,\u201d Fuchs said. \u201cThe use of music, film and puppetry, and the striking repurposing of classical texts to think about our lives today \u2014 I am constantly amazed by the possibilities. I can\u2019t wait to share these new pieces with our LA neighbors!\u201d<\/p>\n LA Escena will open with performances from Spain and Mexico at the\u00a0UCLA Little Theater.<\/a>\u00a0Diversifying the Classics\u2019\u00a0Mex-Cl\u00e1sicos initiative,<\/a>\u00a0supported by the\u00a0University of California\u2019s Alianza MX program,<\/a> will bring two works from Mexico City: \u201cLa casa de empe\u00f1os\u201d by Christian N\u00e1jera and \u201cHistorias amorosas\u201d by Paola Izquierdo, adapted from pioneering baroque female dramatists Sor Juana In\u00e9s de la Cruz and Mar\u00eda de Zayas, respectively. Acclaimed Spanish company\u00a0J\u00f3venes Cl\u00e1sicos<\/a>\u00a0will present two tragedies: \u201cCanciones de Olmedo\u201d and \u201cAmar despu\u00e9s de la Muerte.\u201d<\/p>\n The lineup will also feature new works from Diversifying the Classics\u2019\u00a0Golden Tongues series,<\/a>\u00a0which commissions adaptations of Hispanic classics by local playwrights from diverse backgrounds, part of a longtime collaboration with legendary Los Angeles theater company\u00a0Playwrights\u2019 Arena.<\/a>\u00a0The festival will include the premieres of modern takes on classic plays by Lope de Vega, Pedro Calder\u00f3n de la Barca and Juan Ruiz de Alarc\u00f3n.<\/p>\n Other highlights include an \u201cilluminated lecture\u201d \u2014 a hybrid scholarly lecture and theatrical performance \u2014 by Fuchs in collaboration with Los Angeles-based\u00a0theatre dybbuk.<\/a>\u00a0They will delve into \u201cLa Celestina,\u201d the wildly popular 16th-century bestseller that uses humor to explore taboos around religion, class and sex.<\/p>\n The festival will conclude with the world premiere of Diversifying the Classics\u2019 newest translation, \u201cThe King Born a Woman\u201d by Luis V\u00e9lez de Guevara. New York\u2019s Red Bull Theater will livestream a staged reading on Monday, Oct. 5, and the recording will be available on demand for a week after. \u201cThe King Born a Woman\u201d is the latest in\u00a0Hispanic Golden Age Classics,<\/a>\u00a0Diversifying the Classics\u2019 ongoing collaboration with Red Bull.<\/p>\n