Bid on a private tour of Teatro Carmen with Executive Director Herb Stratford. The tour includes a behind-the-scenes update on recent archaeological excavations with Homer Thiel, for a group of up to 10 people.

About the Teatro Carmen

The historic Teatro Carmen, built in 1915, remains largely intact with the original theater space, the pressed metal ceiling, the proscenium arch, all in its original condition. It was built by Carmen Soto Vasquez (a member of the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame). Her goal was to create an arts and cultural performance venue (for the then over 50%) Spanish speaking community of Tucson.  It is the last known remaining theatre building of that era and genre.

The theatre is located in Barrio Viejo, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Tucson. The neighborhood is the largest surviving concentration of mud adobe Sonoran rowhouses left in the United States and has a remarkable inventory of intact buildings being used for residences and businesses.

The neighborhood, listed on the National Register, is currently being nominated as a National Historic Landmark District. Teatro Carmen is a contributing building to that nomination, due to its rich and diverse cultural history and social importance within the Hispanic community.

An archaeological testing project in the future patio area next to the theater also documented a Chinese grocery store and a pair of outhouses dating to the 1890s.