The Hispanic Theatre of San Diego Collection, divided into 10 series, documents the history of the Hispanic Theatre of San Diego and the professional career and personal life of its creator, Jesus Sierra-Oliva. The collection includes scores of Sierra-Oliva's musical creations, original artwork, play scripts, photographs, programs, video and cassette tapes of his productions, and correspondence. The primary foci of his creative talents were Walt Whitman and his Leaves of Grass, the Masonic music of Mozart, the soprano Maria Callas, Maximilian and Carlota and the history of Mexico, the poet Garcia Lorca, and Mexican painters Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The records also include personal papers relating to the life and family of theater founder Jesus Sierra-Oliva.

The Hispanic Theatre of San Diego, recognized for being one of the few entirely bilingual Spanish-English theaters in the world, began its quest for success in 1996 under the direction of the playwright and artist Jesús Sierra-Oliva. The theater has produced plays such as Adios Mama Carlota, Blood on Fire, La Divina, Frida Kahlo: From Hell to Glory, and Los Dioses de Barro, and was officially proclaimed a non-profit theatre company in 2000.

46.74 Linear Feet

The copyright interests in some of these materials have been transferred to or belong to San Diego State University. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. Permissions is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish.  Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.

This collection is open for research.