Teatro_La_Perla

Teatro La Perla

Teatro La Perla

Historic theatre in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Teatro La Perla is a historic theater in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Inaugurated in 1864,[3] it is the second oldest theater of its kind in Puerto Rico,[4] but "the largest and most historic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean."[5][6] The theater was named La Perla in honor of the Virgin of Montserrat (Spanish: La Virgen de Montserrat), known as "The Pearl of the Mediterranean."[7][8][9][lower-alpha 1] It is located in barrio Tercero, in the Ponce Historic Zone.

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Design

The theater was designed in the 1860s by Juan Bertoli Calderoni (a Ponceño of Italian heritage resident of the city) and it bears a neoclassical structure with an impressive six-column entrance. The building was badly damaged by the 1918 earthquake. However, it was rebuilt in 1940 using the original plans and reopened in 1941 with better acoustics technology. It closed in 2006 for renovations and reopened on 14 March 2008.[10]

History

Teatro La Perla was built under the initiative of Francisco Parra Duperón and Pedro Garriga in May 1864.[11] It was inaugurated on 28 May 1864 with the play La campana de la Almudaina of the Majorcan writer Juan Palou y Coll by the theatrical company of Segarra & Argente.[12]

Teatro La Perla in 2003

Teatro La Perla served as a stage not only to give life to the theatrical artistic culture in the region, but it also served as a place of assembly for those who were dedicated to the social issues in Ponce and in Puerto Rico as a whole. It served this function both at the end of the Spanish regime and in Puerto Rico's early years as a United States territory.[13]

In this theater, in 1901, Frenchman Eduardo Hervet showed the first silent film ever to be run in Puerto Rico.[14] The theater's first illumination technical director was Félix Juan Torres Ortiz.[15]

It was significantly rebuilt by Lorenzo J. Vizcarrondo, an engineer, "a few years before" 1913, to make up for the deterioration it had suffered over years of less-than-complete upkeep.[16] It was again reconditioned between 1977 and 1979 at a cost of over $500,000.[17] After Hurricane Maria it closed for a year, reopening on 1 November 2019.[18] It was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places on 27 September 2021 ("La Perla Auditorium and Public Library").[19][20]

Capacity and museum

The theater has a seating capacity of 1,047 and is now a regular venue for concerts, opera, plays, and various civic and educational activities such as school graduations.[21] The lobby of the theater has a small museum dedicated to the history of the building and past shows.

Prominent events

Teatro La Perla has been host to several significant events, among them:

  • 7–9 March 1887: political assembly that gave birth to the Puerto Rico Autonomist Party.[22]
  • 16 April 1896: Juan Morel Campos suffers a stroke while performing on stage and died three weeks later
  • February 1987: inauguration of the Festival de Teatro Luis Torres Nadal[23]

See also

Notes

  1. 1913 Ponce historian Eduardo Neumann Gandia states it was named "La Perla" because of its beautiful byzantine-style facade. (See: Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1913. Reprinted in 1987 by Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. p. 117.)

References

  1. [1]
    A regañadientes teatristas ponceños llegan al Teatro La Perla: buscan revivir el desaparecido Festival Luis Torres Nadal. Agustin Muñoz. El Sol de Puerto Rico. 24 October 2019. Accessed 4 November 2019.
  2. [2]
    Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y la campana de la Almudaina: Historia de Ponce desde sus comienzos hasta la segunda década del siglo XX. Page 574. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Impreso por Editora Corripio, C. por A. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. LOC Catalog Number: 85-90989. Registration Number: TX-1-977-212.
  3. [3]
    Ponce: La Capital del Sur de Puerto Rico Archived 2 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 12 July 2009.
  4. [4]
    La Perla Theater. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  5. [5]
    Teatro La Perla. Frommer's Puerto Rico. By Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince. Page 182. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
  6. [6]
    Frommers. Ponce. Walking Tours.
  7. [7]
    Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y la campana de la Almudaina: Historia de Ponce desde sus comienzos hasta la segunda decada del siglo XX. Page 111. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Impreso por Editora Corripio, C. por A. Santo Domingo, República Dominicana. LOC Catalog Number: 85-90989. Registration Number: TX-1-977-212.
  8. [8]
    Government of the Municipality of Ponce. Ponce Walking Tour. At VisitPonce.com Archived 16 March 2010 at WebCite
  9. [9]
    Government of the Municipality of Ponce. VisitPonce website > Disfrutalo > Ponce es para Ti > Paseo de Arte y Cultura> Teatro La Perla.
  10. [10]
    Grand Inauguration for Ponce’s La Perla Theater. LetsGoToPonce: Insider's Guide to South Puerto Rico. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  11. [11]
    Acosta, Ivonne (29 September 2008). "Teatro La Perla" (in Spanish). Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  12. [12]
    Socorro Girón. Ponce, el teatro La Perla, y la campana de la Almudaina: Historia de Ponce desde sus comienzos hasta la segunda decada del siglo XX. Pages ix and 574. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Gobierno Municipal de Ponce. 1992. Impreso por Editora Corripio, C. por A. Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana. LOC Catalog Number: 85-90989. Registration Number: TX-1-977-212.
  13. [13]
    Tourism Puerto Rico: Information about this Spanish American Caribbean Exotic Island: Ponce. Archived. 31 August 2009.
  14. [14]
    Historia del Cine en Puerto Rico: la llegada del cine Puertorriqueño: Nuestro primer acercamiento al cine. Eduardo Rosado. Archived. 15 August 2009.
  15. [15]
    Llega Festival de Teatro Luis Torres Nadal . Sandra Torres Guzmán. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Year 32. Issue 1577. Page 24. 19 February 2014.
  16. [16]
    Eduardo Neumann Gandia. Verdadera y Autentica Historia de la Ciudad de Ponce. 1913. Reprinted in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1987, by Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Henry Cobb, editor (1987 edition). p. 117.
  17. [17]
    Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 145.
  18. [18]
    A punto de subir el telón en Ponce: “¿Enchismás?” será la producción que marcará la reapertura del teatro La Perla, que ha estado cerrado desde el huracán María. Rosalina Marrero-Rodríguez. Primera Hora. 17 September 2018. Accessed 9 July 2020.
  19. [19]
    Weekly List 2021 10 01: Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 09/27/2021 Through 9/30/2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  20. [20]
    "Weekly listing". National Park Service.
  21. [21]
    Let's Go:Home > North America > Puerto Rico > Southeast > Ponce : Sights. Archived 4 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  22. [22]
    Reinaldo E. Gonzalez Blanco. El Turismo Cultural en Ponce durante el Plan Ponce en Marcha, 1990-2000. Neysa Rodriguez Deynes, Ed. Ponce, Puerto Rico: Professional Editions. 2018. Page 13. ISBN 978-1-64131-139-7.
  23. [23]
    Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945-2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 148.
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