El Instituto Nacional de Estudios de Teatro, en el marco de la política cultural oficial (1936-1955)

Abstract

The creation of the National Institute of Theater Studies in 1936 was the result of a new conception of the National State as an active agent within the artistic and cultural sphere. In this framework, the National Comedy Theater and the INET played a prominent role as agents of important promotion policies within the new field of state action. In the thought of the first director of both institutions, Antonio Cunill Cabanellas, “the conviction that theater is an important factor in the spiritual development of a country should be rooted” and, therefore, the INET devoted itself to the task of study and dissemination of the history of the national theater. That conviction and initial impulse were maintained for almost fifteen years, and the successive governments, until in 1950 the closure of the institution was decided. In this paper it is proposed to give a brief account of the development of the INET during its early years and to provide an approach to a subject not addressed so far and that in its time generated controversial views: the first closure of the INET that lasted between the 1950s. and 1958.