Teatro La Perla ("The Pearl Theater") is a historic theater in the city and municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Inaugurated in 1864,Ponce: La Capital del Sur de Puerto Rico Retrieved 12 July 2009. it is the second oldest theater of its kind in Puerto Rico,La Perla Theater. Puerto Rico Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16 April 2010. but "the largest and most historic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean."Teatro La Perla. Frommer's Puerto Rico. By Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince. Page 182. Retrieved 25 April 2010.Frommers. Ponce. Walking Tours. 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."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.Government of the Municipality of Ponce. Ponce Walking Tour. At VisitPonce.com It is located in barrio Tercero, in the Ponce Historic Zone.

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.Grand Inauguration for Ponce’s La Perla Theater. LetsGoToPonce: Insider's Guide to South Puerto Rico. Retrieved 15 April 2010.

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

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.Tourism Puerto Rico: Information about this Spanish American Caribbean Exotic Island: Ponce. Archived. 31 August 2009.

In this theater, in 1901, Frenchman Eduardo Hervet showed the first silent film ever to be run in Puerto Rico.Historia del Cine en Puerto Rico: la llegada del cine Puertorriqueño: Nuestro primer acercamiento al cine. Eduardo Rosado. Archived. 15 August 2009. The theater's first illumination technical director was Félix Juan Torres Ortiz.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.

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.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. It was again reconditioned between 1977 and 1979 at a cost of over $500,000.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. After Hurricane Maria it closed for a year, reopening on 1 November 2019.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. It was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places on 27 September 2021 ("La Perla Auditorium and Public Library").Weekly List 2021 10 01: Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 09/27/2021 Through 9/30/2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.

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.Let's Go:Home > North America > Puerto Rico > Southeast > Ponce : Sights. Retrieved 16 April 2010. 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.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. . 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 NadalCarmelo 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.

See also List of theaters of Ponce, Puerto Rico

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External links

Picture of the Theatre Information on various sites of Ponce Contact information Damage to Teatro La Perla by the 1918 earthquake Photo of Teatro La Perla in 1910, looking ENE