Stages of a state: from São Paulo's Teatro São José to the Teatro Municipal, 1854-1911

This article uses the cases of the Teatro São José and the Teatro Municipal to explain how and why performance space in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, became an increasingly public issue between 1854 and 1911. Specifically, I analyse the ways in which the notion of the theatre as a public good evolved both in the discourse of paulistas and in the practice of legislation and contract negotiation. This article thus interprets planning history as a history of ideas and assumes cultural policy-making to encompass both government and non-government actors. To that end, utilizing legislation, government records, architectural plans, and the press as sources, I argue that theatres' 'publicness' in São Paulo was rationalized along three lines: their potential accessibility to a broad audience, their visibility, and their high cost. While public spending on the Teatro São José was justified on the grounds of economic development and moral and civic education, the Teatro Municipal garnered support as a project of Progressive Era urban reform that sought to affirm São Paulo's place in the civilized world.