Inside LA STAGE History: Padua Hills Theatre and Las Posadas

@ This Stage: In December 1949, just one week before Christmas vacation, the fifth grade classes of Eastmont Elementary in Montebello were given a special treat: a field trip to the hills of Claremont to witness the annual Spanish-language performance of Las Posadas, performed by The Mexican Players at the Padua Hills Theatre. To hopefully clarify this adventure to her students, teacher Mrs. Rice called upon the one Spanish name in her class. “Julio, would you like to tell the class what Las Posadas is about?” 11-year-old Julio Martinez Jr., not long out of the streets of Manhattan’s Puerto Rican Harlem, volunteered, “What the hell is a posadas?”