The Angela peralta theater of Mazatlán: From eviction to resurrection

Sergio López Sánchez

Collaborators: Iván Hernández, Julieta Rivas Guerrero

Ayuntamiento de Mazatlán / CONACULTA / INBA-CITRU
México, 2004
363 p.

The Ángela Peralta Theater of Mazatlán (Teatro Ángela Peralta de Mazatlán), reopened in 1992 and declared an historical monument of the nation, is one of the oldest theaters still operating in the northwest of the country, a survivor of the theater infrastructure of the 19th century in Mexico. The building has fulfilled different functions: opera, zarzuela, theater and circus stage, cinema, box ring, bar, dance hall and even a place for burlesque (around 1969). On the 125th anniversary of its opening in 1874, the first edition of this documentary research, widely illustrated, rebuilt the history, seasons and adventures of this locale, first called Rubio Theater, then Ángela Peralta Cinema (1943) and finally Ángela Peralta Theater, as an homage to the diva who visited the port of Mazatlán with her Italian opera company in 1883, where she died before the day of her presentation. In this second version, corrected and improved, the author emphasizes “the impact of the means of transportation and the wide traveling of show companies which drove the creation of a series of theaters in the northwest of the country during the 19th century"; there are additional chapters widening the information on Ángela Peralta and about the companies and artists who imprinted a memory in this theater; a glossary of theater terms of the time and finally, indexes of companies and artistic enterprises, theaters and show centers, geography, names, as well as titles of cinema, theater and musical plays.