Diversifying the Classics
A panel discussion with Barbara Fuchs and Laura Muñoz
Moderated by Kelsey Mesa
Booking and details
Dates Sat, Jan 24, 2026, 1pm
Venue Reading Room
Tickets $20
Please note: Children under the age of 4 are not permitted.
NOTE: This event’s start time has changed, from 2pm to 1pm.
Join Diversifying the Classics founder and director Barbara Fuchs and founding member Laura Muñoz, for a conversation about the project’s mission to uplift early modern Spanish-language drama, related dramaturgical work, and adaptation initiative Golden Tongues. This conversation will be moderated by director Kelsey Mesa.
About Diversifying the Classics
Since 2014, Diversifying the Classics has sought to foster awareness and appreciation of Hispanic classical theater in Los Angeles and beyond, expanding the canon to include the heritage of US Latino communities. Its multiple initiatives include original translations, performances, K-12 classroom education, and a database of scholars prepared to guide theater professionals approaching new and underrepresented texts.
How to attend the festival
Individual events – $20
Reading Room Festival All-Access Pass – $125
Access to all staged readings, panel discussions, workshops, and community celebrations included in the Festival.
Students – Free admission to readings and conversations
Admitted free one-half hour before event start time, with a valid ID.
Who’s Who
Barbara Fuchs
Barbara Fuchs (Playwright – Fuente Ovejuna) Folger Theatre: debut. Distinguished Professor of Spanish and English: UCLA. Founder and Director: Diversifying the Classics. Founder and Director: LA Escena Festival of Hispanic Classical Theater. Playwright: Fuente Ovejuna, a children’s version of Lope de Vega’s classic play. Author: Fuente Ovejuna, a picture-book adaptation of Lope de Vega’s classic play. Co-editor, with Aina Soley and Robin Kello: Golden Tongues: Adapting Hispanic Classical Theater in Los Angeles (Bloomsbury, 2024). Co-translator, with the Diversifying the Classic collective: Ana Caro: The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs; Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Love is the Greater Labyrinth; Lope de Vega: The Travels of Teodor, The Beast of Hungary, The Widow of Valencia, A Wild Night in Toledo; Guillén de Castro: Don Quixote, The Force of Habit; Calderón: To Love Beyond Death; Alarcón: What We Owe Our Lies, The Pretender.
Laura Muñoz
Laura Muñoz (Panelist) Laura Muñoz is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Colorado Mesa University with a specialization in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Spanish theater. Her research interests include bilingual theater, translation studies, adaptation studies, and the works of Valencian playwright Guillén de Castro. As a member of the Diversifying the Classics initiative at UCLA she has collaborated on a series of translations with Juan de la Cuesta, including 90 Monologues from Spanish Classical Theater. She has served as dramaturg for several staged readings and productions of Hispanic classical theater both in traditional and virtual stagings.
Kelsey Mesa
Kelsey Mesa (Director – Fuente Ovejuna) Folger Theatre: The Cuban Vote (Reading Room Festival); Taffety Punk Theatre Company: Othello, Antigonick, She Rode Horses Like the Stock Exchange, The Trojan Women, Charm. The Hub Theatre Company: The Pavilion, The Magi, Wish List; Catholic University: Crimes of the Heart; University of Maryland, College Park: Fefu and Her Friends. Awards: 2024 Helen Hayes Outstanding Production of a Play: La Salpêtrière (playwright). The Inkwell: Artistic Associate. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts: Manager of Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and Resident Director of the Kennedy Center Directing Intensive.