History of Ángela Peralta Theater

Since its opening until 1940, Teatro Rubio was a stage for all kinds of cultural manifestations and shows, including operas, zarzuelas, dramas, civic events, circus performances, boxing matches, and wrestling matches. It also served for a time for carnival events to choose the queens and for masked balls. The most significant event recorded in the history of the theater, curiously, did not happen inside it but in the nearby hotel. In August 1883, the Italian Company of Ángela Peralta "The Mexican Nightingale" presented an opera performance; however, the diva could not sing because she had contracted yellow fever aboard the ship she arrived on, dying a few days later in Room No. 10 of the Hotel Iturbide, located next to the Theater. That death marked the history of the theater and the cultural life of Mazatlán.

In 1943, Teatro Rubio became Cine Ángela Peralta, which operated until 1964. Then, the building remained closed for five years. Already deteriorated and in frank abandonment, it was used to present a Burlesque show during the 1969 carnival. The building, over time, deteriorated; from an opera house to a theater, to a cinema, vaudeville, a stage for noisy carnival parties, then adapted as a boxing arena; now named Ángela Peralta since 1943, it was destined to be a movie theater and ended up as a "pulmonía" workshop (a local public transport). A devastating cyclone that hit the port in 1975 completely destroyed the interior of the hall, the stage, and the foyer.

Despite the significant efforts of various groups of Mazatlán citizens to reopen it, the Teatro Rubio building, now known as Teatro Ángela Peralta, was left at the mercy of nature, turning into ruins after twenty years of disuse. In 1987, against the will of the then owners, municipal authorities decided to rehabilitate the building. Thus began the reconstruction process, which included negotiations for the acquisition of the property. Finally and happily, the procedures and remodeling were completed on October 23, 1992, when, for the third time, this theater was inaugurated.