Teatro La Perla facts for kids
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La Perla
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Teatro La Perla
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| Address | Calle Mayor and Calle Cristina (NE corner) |
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| Location | Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| Coordinates | 18°00′44″N 66°36′42″W / 18.012139°N 66.611757°W |
| Owner | Autonomous Municipality of Ponce |
| Operator | Carmen Martinez Aja, director |
| Type | Indoor theater |
| Genre(s) | music, concerts, theatre |
| Seating type | soft seat, reserved seating |
| Capacity | 1,047 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1860 |
| Built | 1860-1864 |
| Opened | 28 May 1864 |
| Closed | 1918-1941 (earthquake) 2006-2008 (renovations) |
| Reopened | 2008 |
| Architect | Juan Bertoli Calderoni |
| Tenants | |
| Festival Luis Torres Nadal | |
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La Perla Auditorium and Public Library
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| NRHP reference No. | 100007054 |
| Added to NRHP | 27 September 2021 |
Teatro La Perla is a famous old theater in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It opened in 1864, making it one of the oldest theaters in Puerto Rico. Many people say it's the biggest and most important theater in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean! Its name, La Perla, means 'The Pearl'. It was named after the Virgin of Montserrat, who is sometimes called 'The Pearl of the Mediterranean'. You can find it in the historic part of Ponce.
Contents
Theater Design and Look
A designer named Juan Bertoli Calderoni created the theater in the 1860s. He was from Ponce but had Italian family. The building looks like an old Greek or Roman temple, with six big columns at the front. This style is called Neoclassical.
The theater was badly damaged by a big earthquake in 1918. But it was rebuilt in 1940 using the first designs. It reopened in 1941 with even better sound quality. It closed again in 2006 for updates and opened its doors once more on March 14, 2008.
History of Teatro La Perla
Teatro La Perla was built because Francisco Parra Duperón and Pedro Garriga wanted it. It first opened on May 28, 1864. The very first play shown there was La campana de la Almudaina. It was performed by a group called Segarra & Argente.
Teatro La Perla was not just for plays and music. It was also a place where people met to talk about important social issues. This happened when Puerto Rico was still under Spanish rule and when it first became a United States territory.
In 1901, a Frenchman named Eduardo Hervet showed the first silent film ever seen in Puerto Rico right here. The theater's first lighting expert was Félix Juan Torres Ortiz.
The theater was fixed up many times over the years. An engineer named Lorenzo J. Vizcarrondo rebuilt parts of it before 1913. It was also updated between 1977 and 1979. After Hurricane Maria in 2017, it closed for a year. It reopened on November 1, 2019. On September 27, 2021, it was added to the US National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very important historic building.
Seating and Museum Inside
The theater can hold 1,047 people. Today, it hosts many different events. You can go there for concerts, opera, plays, and school graduations. In the front area of the theater, there is a small museum. It tells the story of the building and shows from the past.
Important Events at the Theater
Teatro La Perla has been the site of several big moments:
- March 7–9, 1887: A meeting was held here that led to the creation of the Puerto Rico Autonomist Party. This party worked for more self-rule for Puerto Rico.
- April 16, 1896: The famous musician Juan Morel Campos had a stroke while performing on stage. He passed away a few weeks later.
- February 1987: The Festival de Teatro Luis Torres Nadal began here. It is a theater festival named after a famous writer.
See also
- List of theaters of Ponce, Puerto Rico
