María Ana de Jesús Guerrero Torija (April 17, 1867 - January 23, 1928), better known as María Guerrero, was a prominent Spanish theatre actress, producer and director.

Life and work

María Guerrero Torija was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1867. She enrolled at the Official School of Declamation, in the prestigious

Madrid Royal Conservatory The Madrid Royal Conservatory () is a music college in Madrid, Spain. History The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mostenses Square, Madrid. In 1852 it was moved to the Roy ...

, where she was trained in the theatre with dramatist Teodora Lamadrid. Guerrero debuted in 1885 and later performed for José de Echegaray, one of the principal figures in the

Culture of Spain The culture of Spain is influenced by its Western world, Western origin, its interaction with other cultures in Europe, its historically Catholic Church in Spain, Catholic religious tradition, and the varied national and regional identity in Sp ...

, at the time. She later performed for French dramatist

Benoît-Constant Coquelin Benoît-Constant Coquelin (; 23 January 184127 January 1909), known as Coquelin aîné ("Coquelin the Elder"), was a French actor, "one of the greatest theatrical figures of the age." Biography Coquelin was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Cala ...

, and with

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

.''La Vanguardia'' (24 January 1928)
/ref> She married Fernando Díaz de Mendoza, the Marquess of San Mamés, in 1896, and the following year, the couple relocated to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. A commercial success at the local

Teatro Odeón The '' Odeon Theater'' (''Teatro Odeón'' in Spanish) was a theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was built by Don Emilio Bieckert in the end of the 19th century. In July 1896, it hosted the first ever film screening in Argentina. It was demol ...

, her productions of

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name o ...

s and adaptations of classics in

Spanish literature Spanish literature is literature ( Spanish poetry, prose, and drama) written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the Kingdom of Spain. Its development coincides and frequently intersects with that of other ...

(particularly

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

's) took her company to theatres nationwide. Retaining contractual obligations in Spain, the couple purchased Madrid's ''Teatro de la Princesa'' in 1908. The couple also set aside a share of their fortune in 1918 for the construction of a new, grand theatre house in Buenos Aires. The project caught the attention of both local high society and the King of

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

, who collaborated with its construction by commissioning artisanal material for the theatre, named in honor of Spain's legendary novelist and dramatist,

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelist ...

.Teatro Cervantes: historia
/ref> The Cervantes Theatre was inaugurated in 1921 with a production of Lope de Vega's '' La dama boba'' (''The Foolish Lady''). The proliferation of theatres in Buenos Aires and the advent of the

radio in Argentina Radio in Argentina is an important facet of the nation's media and culture. Radio, which was first broadcast in Argentina in 1920, has been widely enjoyed in Argentina since the 1930s. Radio broadcast stations totaled around 150 active AM statio ...

soon eroded the Cervantes' audience base, however, and in 1926, the couple was forced to auction the institution, which was purchased by the Argentine government. They then returned to Madrid, where Guerrero died in 1928, at the age of 60. The Teatro de la Princesa was purchased by the Spanish government following her death and in 1931, it was renamed the '' Teatro María Guerrero''. Among her grandchildren were the well-known Spanish actor,

Fernando Fernán Gómez Fernando Fernández Gómez (28 August 1921 – 21 November 2007), better known as Fernando Fernán Gómez, was a Spanish actor, screenwriter, film director, theater director, novelist, and playwright. Prolific and outstanding in all these fiel ...

References

External links

Teatro María Guerrero
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerrero, Maria 1867 births 1928 deaths 19th-century Spanish actresses 20th-century Spanish actresses Argentine theatre directors Argentine women theatre directors Spanish stage actresses Spanish theatre directors 20th-century Spanish businesswomen 20th-century Spanish businesspeople Actresses from Madrid 19th-century Spanish businesswomen 19th-century Spanish businesspeople