A Noise Within Hosts LA ESCENA

A Noise Within (ANW), California's acclaimed classic repertory theatre company has announced it will partner with Diversifying the Classics to host the second edition of Los Angeles' Festival of Hispanic classical theater, LA Escena 2020, Nov. 12-16, 2020.

All events are free to the public, and RSVPs can be made on A Noise Within's website at www.anoisewithin.org/la-escena-2020.

This special-edition, largely virtual festival includes artists from Mexico City, Madrid and Málaga in Spain, as well as New York and Los Angeles in the United States, all exploring new directions in theater practice across a number of platforms.

Barbara Fuchs, Artistic Director of LA Escena, said that while the pandemic makes it impossible to bring the international and East Coast artists to L.A. in person this time, they will join together with work taking place mostly online and via an exciting site-specific, socially-distanced experience created for LA.

"Since launching our biennial celebration in 2018, we have been planning for this new opportunity to present Hispanic classics, from inventive productions of the original texts to translations and adaptations inspired by the Golden Age." Fuchs said. "Amid the devastating theater closures over the past few months, we have been impressed by the resilience and creativity of artists who have found possibility in adversity. The new forms and collaborations that have emerged as a result inspire and entertain, and we are excited to share innovative works that draw from centuries of tradition to find closeness and connection despite our current distancing."

The virtual version of LA Escena will reach an audience across the globe. The festival has established new partnerships to make this all possible-in addition to their original association with UCLA, A Noise Within, and Playwrights' Arena here in Los Angeles, they have also received the support from Acción Cultural Española AC/E, Programa HISPANEX and Tourspain in collaboration with Teatro Soho CAIXA Bank (Málaga), Teatro de la Abadia and Nave 73 (Madrid), Almagro International Festival of Classical Theatre and Festival Internacional de Teatro Clásico MX (Mexico City).

Jonathan Muñoz-Proulx, Director of Cultural Programming at A Noise Within, said this partnership has long been in the works.

"A Noise Within is honored to be hosting LA Escena 2020," Muñoz-Proulx said. "Ever since stepping into my current position as Director of Cultural Programming two years ago, I have been working with UCLA Diversifying the Classics to bring this international event to ANW. Up until this past March, we were looking forward to welcoming International Artists from across the globe to ANW's campus and two performance spaces. Though COVID-19 has required this year's festival to take place virtually, we now find ourselves with an incredible opportunity to merge Hispanic classical theatre with new technologies and platforms. The act of re-imagining these canonical texts has never been so exciting. Old meets New with this unexpected collision of classic stories with our current global moment."

The festival will include a combination of both English and Spanish performances. The full lineup and details can be found at https://www.anoisewithin.org/la-escena-2020/.

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