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=Loa (Spanish Play)= A loa is a short theatrical piece, a prologue, used to introduce a comedia in the Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro). The purpose is to initially capture the interest of the audience and to set the mood for the rest of the performance. This Spanish prologue uses praise and laudatory language to introduce a full-length play.

History
During 16th century public presentations of comedias in Madrid, Spain, performances would begin at 2pm. Audiences would arrive early and vendors would sell foods. Soon these audiences would become impatient and start loudly hissing, whistling and shouting. One hour before the performance, musicians came onto the stage to sing a ballad (seguidilla) and immediately after an actor or member of the company came on stage to "echar la loa" or "throw out praise" by reciting a loa. Most comedia playwrights (autors) also wrote loas asking the audience for silence in order to enjoy the afternoon of theatre.

Loas sometimes did but often didn't have any relation to the full-length play being presented. Loas appeared in two distinct forms. The first was in a monologue form and the second was in the form of a short dramatic scene.

In order to gain the audiences attention and appreciation, one could commend the story or the author; reprimand negative critics or thank those that were positive and the audiences present that day; discuss and argue about the play that was to be presented. The third method was not often used because audiences would be told the outcome of the play before they were able to hear it. In turn, the Spanish loa was created as a mixture of all of these methods of achieving audience appreciation before the full-length play began.

Bartolomé de Torres Naharro
Bartolomé de Torres Naharro, Spanish dramatist, is the earliest known writer of Spanish comedias. It is important to note, in order to be considered a Spanish comedia, a Spanish play must only be in verse and in three acts (jornadas). Content can be comedic or tragic. In Naharro's volume of plays, Propaladia (published in 1517 in Naples), he uses what is called an introito. Introitos and aurgumentos are early forms of the loa that provide a summary or explanation of the comedia that follows it.

Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega is said to have "perfected" the Spanish comedia. The drama of the Spanish Golden Age is often characterized by his work so that pre- Lope de Vega drama of the 16th century is said to have used the introito which was soon replaced by the loa. His loas tend to have no connection to the play that follows and are characterized by their playful, humorous, trivial and always ending with a positive appeal to the audience for the rest of the performance. Vega's loas vary from 100 to 400 lines and he is thought to have written a lot of them but nearly all have been lost.

Agustin de Rojas Villandrando
Agustin de Rojas Villandrano published and became well known for his loas in his Entertaining Journey. His loas included monologues and short sketch scenes that the whole company of actors participated in. His most famous loa is the Loa en Alabanza de la Comedia.

A translation: "Who with these is not aquainted?    Who, whom fame of them not reached?     Who in wonderment beholds not     Their rare wit and sounding phrases? And allowing that it is true,    Is it not strange that I should venture     In their name now to entreat you    That, because of the great rev'rence Which to their rare works is owning,    While their plays are prepresented,    You may pardon the shortcomings    Of the players who perform them." The subjects of praise in his loas varied from praising a city, the company of actors performing, thieves, the day Tuesday, teeth and pigs.

A translation of the end of the swine praising loa: "And if long have been my praises   Of an animal so lovely,    May he who should be one pardon    Me, and therefore not feel shameful." Published in 1604, Rojas' novel, El viaje entrentendio depicts the life of 16th century Spanish actors. It starts with characters leaving the city Seville. Rojas writes a loa that praises Seville which is meant to be spoken to the people of that city.

Quiñones de Benavente
Quiñones de Benavente similarly wrote loas that were used to preface any comedia mostly unrelated to the loa.

Calderon de la Barca
Calderon wrote loas specifically for plays that had been previously written, which he called autos. He also wrote loas for his own plays that were used specifically to understand the particular play that followed. An example is in his loa to Los tres mayores Prodigos.

Lope de Rueda
Lope de Rueda wrote and spoke himself, introductory notes called Introito que hace el Autor. He also wrote introitos or argumentos for his later plays, Colloquio de Camila and Colloquio de Timbria.

Staging
Normally loas were written with the use of regular doors, windows, curtains and stage but in this example machinery is also used. In the stage directions of Loa que se hizo de limosna en Toledo, para el Santo Christo del Pradillo de la Vega, two actresses playing specific descend onto the stage. The loa ends in a dance with torches that are handed to the actresses from below the stage.

Evolution into the New World
Because of the monologue form of the Loa, it is also considered the origins of monologue in Latin America. Monologues appeared in loas or laudatory prologues or introductions in the plays of Spanish America and are called elogios dramaticos in Brazil.

Other Sources
de la Cruz, Sor Juana. Poemas de la unica poetisa americana musa dezima. Antonio Bordazar, 1709, Valencia.

de Rojas Villandrandro, Agustín. El viaje entretendio de Agustin de Rojas, natural de la villa de Madrid. B. Rodríguez Serra, 1901.

de Torres Naharro, Bartolomé. Propalladia and Other Works of Bartolomé de Torres Naharro, edited by Joseph Gillet, University of Pennsylvania, 1951, Philadephia.

de Torres Naharro, Bartolomé. Propalladia. Joan Pasquesto de Sallo, 2007, Naples.

García Berrio, Antonio. Teoría de la literatura. Cátedra, 2007, Spain.

Gies, David Thatcher. The Theatre in Nineteenth Century Spain. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Huerta Calvo, Javier, et al. Diccionario de teatro español. Planeta Publishing Corporation, 2005.

Huerta Calvo, Javier. El teatro breve en la Edad de Oro. Laberinto, 2001, Madrid.

Huerta Calvo, Javier. Historia del teatro breve en Enspaña. Iberoamericana, 2008.

Huetra Calvo, Javier. Historia del teatro español. Gredos, 2003.

Umpierre, Gustavo. Songs in the Plays of Lope de Vega: A Study of Their Dramatic Function. Tamesis, 1975.