Draft:Diversifying the Classics

  • Comment: No sources here suggest the project as a whole is notable by Wikipedia's standards. Drmies (talk) 21:41, 23 March 2026 (UTC)


Diversifying the Classics

The Diversifying the Classics project at the University of California Los Angeles aims to disseminate knowledge of Hispanic classical theater to general audiences and theatermakers through various initiatives. The project was established in 2014 by the current director, Barbara Fuchs, Distinguished Professor of Spanish and English at UCLA.

Diversifying the Classics comprises various initiatives, including translations of Spanish comedia, the biennial LA Escena Festival, and Radio Comedia, a series of accessible episodes of Hispanic classical theater in Spanish, all designed to bring comedia to new audiences.

UCLA Working Group on the Comedia in Translation and Performance

The Diversifying the Classics Working Group produces an original comedia translation every year. The collaborative translations are developed by faculty, graduate students, occasional undergraduates, and theater professionals. These translations, published in a series with Juan de la Cuesta Press and also available open-access on the project website, include:

  • Women and Servants, translated by Barbara Fuchs from Mujeres y criados by Félix Lope de Vega.
  • Unhappily Married in Valencia, translated by Laura Muñoz and Veronica Wilson from Los mal casados de Valencia by Guillén de Castro.
  • A Wild Night in Toledo, translated by Diversifying the Classics from La noche toledana by Félix Lope de Vega.
  • What We Owe Our Lies, translated by Diversifying the Classics from Los empeños de un engaño by Juan Ruiz de Alarcón.
  • The Pretender, or A Man Beside Himself, translated by Diversifying the Classics from El semejante a sí mismo by Juan Ruiz de Alarcón.
  • The Widow of Valencia, translated by Diversifying the Classics from La viuda valenciana by Félix Lope de Vega.
  • The Force of Habit, translated by Diversifying the Classics from La fuerza de la costumbre by Guillén de Castro.
  • The Courage to Right a Woman's Wrongs, translated by Diversifying the Classics from Valor, agravio y mujer by Ana Caro.
  • To Love Beyond Death, translated by Diversifying the Classics from Amar después de la muerte by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
  • Love is the Greater Labyrinth, translated by Diversifying the Classics from Amor es más laberinto by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.
  • Don Quixote de la Mancha, translated by Diversifying the Classics from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Guillén de Castro.
  • The Beast of Hungary, translated by Diversifying the Classics from El animal de Hungría by Lope de Vega.

To contribute to actor training, the bilingual, facing-page 90 Monologues from Classical Spanish Theater, edited by Barbara Fuchs, Jennifer Monti, and Laura Muñoz was published in 2018.

The series also includes several translations by noted actor and director Dakin Matthews.

Performances and Adaptation

Since 2018, Diversifying the Classics has organized LA Escena, a biennial festival of Hispanic classical theater in Los Angeles. LA Escena is the only festival in the United States focused on Hispanic classical theater. This festival showcases the comedia in the original, in translation, and in adapted versions, with contributions from international performers.

  • LA Escena Festival 2018[1][2]
  • LA Escena Festival 2020[3]
  • LA Escena Festival 2022[4]
  • LA Escena Festival 2024[5][6]

Golden Tongues

Golden Tongues is a joint effort between Diversifying the Classics and Los Angeles company Playwrights’ Arena. Since 2013, this collaboration has commissioned and presented English-language, Los Angeles-based adaptations of Hispanic classical plays by Los Angeles playwrights. The anthology Golden Tongues: Adapting Hispanic Classical Theater in Los Angeles (Bloomsbury, 2024) collects 7 of the adaptations.

Mex-Clásicos

Diversifying the Classics collaborates with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) through Mex-Clásicos. The collaboration includes contemporary Spanish-language adaptations of early modern plays, as well as illustrated children’s book adaptations. Diversifying the Classics has collaborated with UNAM’s Festival Internacional de Teatro Universitario (FITU) and commissioned Mexican theatrical productions for LA Escena.

Comedia for Children/Theater for Young Audiences

Cuentos que son teatro is a series of illustrated children’s books followed by mini-plays for children to represent, published by Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. Published and projected titles include:

  • Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega
  • La vida es sueño by Calderón de la Barca
  • El rey naciendo mujer by Vélez de Guevara
  • La fuerza de la costumbre by Guillén de Castro
  • Valor, agravio y mujer by Ana Caro

DTC has collaborated with LA Librería, a Spanish-language children’s bookstore in Los Angeles, to offer workshops based on the adaptations.

A version of Fuente Ovejuna for young audiences was presented at the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Reading Room Festival in January 2026.

In collaboration with UCLA’s Department of Theater, DTC has led after-school workshops for middle- and high-school students at the Bresee Foundation in Koreatown. Students learned about comedia by participating in activities such as adapting plays into podcast form then submitting the podcasts to NPR's Student Podcast Challenge. Students also had the opportunity to workshop a comedia adaptation trailer.

Collaborations with Red Bull Theater

Since 2020, Diversifying the Classics has collaborated with on staged readings of translations in both live and online formats, with related talks by DTC members These include:

  • Ana Caro, The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs, November 2020
  • Sor Juana, Love Is the Greater Labyrinth, September - October 2021*
  • Lope de Vega, The Capulets and the Montagues (trans. Dakin Matthews) September - October 2022
  • Guillén de Castro, Don Quixote, September - October 2023*
  • Lope de Vega, The Beast of Hungary, September 2024
  • Lope de Vega, The Travels of Teodor, November 2025

*In collaboration with Repertorio Español

Radio Comedia

Radio Comedia, coordinated by Marta Albalá Pelegrín, brings the comedia tradition to new audiences by offering plays from the Hispanic Golden Age in short, accessible episodes in Spanish to stream freely, together with pedagogical materials and interviews with actors, directors, and scholars.[7]

Plays adapted into audio in Spanish by Radio Comedia in collaboration with Jóvenes Clásicos:

  • Mujeres y criados by Lope de Vega
  • Valor, agravio y mujer by Ana Caro
  • Amar después de la muerte by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, a musical adaptation with 12 original songs

Audio Short plays by Radio Comedia in collaboration with the Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe (Radio Entremés):

  • La tierra de Jauja (‘The Land of Jauja’) by Lope de Rueda
  • El Marión (‘The Ladies’ Man’) by Francisco de Quevedo
  • La Ropavejera (‘Second Hands’) by Francisco de Quevedo

The Mentidero by Radio Comedia

Radio Comedia’s The Mentidero hosts interviews in English with scholars and theater professionals to transmit knowledge about the processes of theater.

  • “[The Mentidero] Robin Kello interviews Professor Michael Hackett Part I.” Radio Comedia
  • “[The Mentidero] Robin Kello interviews Professor Michael Hackett Part II.” Radio Comedia

References

  1. ^ Cooper, Matt (15 September 2018). "The week ahead in SoCal theater, Sept. 16-23: 'The Cake,' 'Nightwalk in the Chinese Garden' and more". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  2. ^ Infante, Victoria (10 October 2018). "Agenda de LA: los eventos que no te puedes perder". La Opinion. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  3. ^ Cooper, Matt (12 November 2020). "17 culture picks: 'Dr. Katz' with Jon Hamm, 'The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro'" - LA Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  4. ^ Hewitt, Alison. "Sept. 12–18: Hispanic classical theater festival returns to UCLA". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  5. ^ "LA Escena 2024". Spain arts & culture. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  6. ^ Ogden Smith, Rebecca (1 May 2025). "LA Escena: Celebrating Hispanic Classical Theater Since 2018". Comedia Performance. 22 (1): 41–45. Retrieved 23 March 2026.
  7. ^ Albalá Pelegrín, Marta (1 March 2023). "Radio Comedia, an Open-Access Podcast by Diversifying the Classics". Comedia Performance. 20 (1): 111–117. Retrieved 23 March 2026.

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