As a part of the celebration of the International Day of Theater, the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras (UPR-RP) campus is honoring the life and work of legendary Puerto Rican theater aficionado Victoria Espinosa to commemorate what would’ve been her 100 years of life. The celebration consists of a year long list of activities, plays, lectures, workshops and more. Espinosa quill be honored commencing March 23, 2022 with Teatro Rodante Universitario’s production of La Zapatera Prodigiosa (also directed by Espinosa herself), a handful of students’ short 10-min plays, and a lecture discussing Espinosa’s different roles and finishing the same week of March in 2023. It distinctly promises to be a huge celebration full of life and theater.
Espinosa was born on March 26, 1922 in San Juan. She was a director, essayist, producer, archivist, librarian, author, investigator and all around lover and fighter for the arts. Her peers and students describe her as a force of nature, with magical produccions, a clear vision and strict attitude towards the craft. The theatrical legend created her most famous work while working as a professor at the Drama department of the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras. She directed many famous classics and modern debuts that skyrocketed her talent as a creator. The emeritus professor loved and directed many of Federico Garcia Lorca and Rene Marques’ plays, adding her own magical touch to these classics.
She obtained her Bachelors in Drama and Masters in Hispanic Studies at UPRRP and her Doctorate in Practical Theater in the Universidad Autónoma de México, where she became a professor and eventually director of their Drama department. She returned to UPRRP after 16 years of absence, but this time as a professor in the Hispanic Studies Department. She was recruited, however, to work in the filing and conservation of the university’s extensive collection of productions and plays. Here, she stood out with her meticulous techniques in conserving each and every important scrap and paper that was a part of the department’s history.
Vicky, as she was affectionately known, passed away on July 6 of 2019, but not without leaving an everlasting imprint on those that were left behind. In the conversations shared in the first week’s conferences, many of Espinosa’s ex-students, collaborators, friends and colleagues reminisced on the memories they shared of her. They spoke of her “dictatorship-like” directing methods (as quoted by her peers who found this word the most accurate to describe her stubborn ways), her infamous rehearsal schedules, her focused vision and magical interpretations of the plays she brought to life on the stage. To those of us who did not know her, these stories became golden, heavenly treasures. Through her peers’ laughter and tears, it felt as if we knew Vicky as well, as if she were standing right there with us.
It is clear that Victoria Espinosa’s life and work left an unerasable mark in Puerto Rico’s theater scene as well as in our hearts. Her legendary life will continue to be celebrated, studied and admired for years and years to come. In the year of what would have been her100th anniversary, let’s all continue to celebrate Victoria by supporting all the activities taking place at the festival and raising her voice onto her well earned pedestal. Victoria Espinosa, the teacher of teachers, the honorary master, the lover of theater. ¡Que viva el teatro!