Mentidero: Fourteenth International Spanish Golden Age Theater Symposium

MENTIDERO FOURTEENTH INTERNATIONAL SPANISH GOLDEN AGE THEATER SYMPOSIUM CATHERINE LARSON Indiana University March 9-12, 1994 marked the fourteenth Spanish Golden Age Theater Symposium, held in El Paso, Texas in conjuntion with the 19th Siglo de Oro Festival. More than 65 papers were presented and total registration exceeded 90 comediantes. The highlights ofthe conference included a plenary session, "The Comedia in its Context" (with William R. Blue's "Comedy in the 1620s," Shirley B. Whitaker's "The Spanish Court in 1623: What the Prince ofWales Saw," and Louise Steins's "Moving the Affections, Claiming Audible Space: Baroque Music and Spanish Golden Age Theater"); a general session on the Electronic Comedia and its applications for teaching and research (led by Matthew D. Stroud, Margaret R. Greer, and Sharon Voros); and a special session, "Depth Perception: Cervantes's Dramas, with Interludes," led by Ellen Anderson and Dawn Smith, who were joined by fifteen fellow attendees who brought Cervantes' entremeses and comedias to life through performance. This gathering paralleled the 10th anniversary celebration ofthe Association for Hispanic Classical Theater, Inc. Recognized for their many contributions were Donald T. Dietz, David Gitlitz, and Matthew D. Stroud, founding members of the AHCT; Ruth Lauer, administrative assistant for the last several years; and Franklin Smith and Walker Reid ofthe Chamizal staff(in whose honor future traslation awards will be named). Among the many positive aspects ofthe symposium this year were both 147 148BCom, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Summer 1994) the "new blood" injected into the conference and the presence ofmany eminent Comedia scholars. Specially notable attendees were Everett W. Hesse, Jack H. Parker, and Walter Poesse. We also welcomed a number of new members of the profession, as well as talented graduate students. In addition , José Amezcua from the Universidad Metropolitana at Ixtapalapa (México, D. F.) brought 1 1 students to the conference and festival. Among the offerings ofthe nineteenth Festival del Siglo de Oro were El perro del hortelano (in English translation), El anzuelo de Fenisa, La Gatomaquia , Los balcones de Madrid (in translation), and El alcalde de Zalamea . The Program co-chairs, Catherine Larson, Charles Ganelin, and José Luis Suárez, wish to thank the University ofTexas at el Paso—and particularly the Department of Languages and Linguistics—for its hospitality and continued support. We are especially grateful to the comediantes, from whom we all learned and without whom the conference could not continue to function. We look forward to seeing all ofyou at the 1995 symposium. At the next Kentucky Foreign Language Confererence, to be held in April 1995 in Lexington, sessions in medieval and Golden Age drama arebeing organized to honor Professor John Lihani, former associate editor of the Bulletin ofthe Comediantes and founding editor ??La Coránica. For additonal information, please contact the organizer of the homage, Professor Roxana Recio, Dept. of Classics and Modern Languages, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska 68178 (Tel. 402-280-2508; FAX 402280 -2320). ...