Project: Sites that Speak: Mapping Performing Arts Spaces in Spanish Miami

Sites that Speak is a multimodal publication that focuses on the development of Spanish theater in Miami through the re-search of its performing spaces from 1959 to 1980. It maps– literally and figuratively– the development of Spanish theater from garages to warehouses, from Teatro Martí –a Ku Klux Klan meeting space in the 40s– to the Gables Cinematheque, previous home of Teatro Avante. By doing a deep cultural mapping of Spanish theater in Miami, I demonstrate the ways in which claiming a space as a theatrical space, in addition to adding to the cultural development of our city, has contributed to the survival of theater as an art form, as intangible cultural heritage of a community in the making. In so doing, I also analyze the economic and socio-political transformation of the different communities that have contributed to the transformation of Miami into a global city.