The sweeping changes brought forth by the pandemic led me to reshape my dissertation in order to develop non-academic skills that will allow me to better meet the shifting challenges of our times. Mine is a non-traditional project focused on the application of technologies and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (the process by which people build mental representations from words and pictures) to the field of remote instruction.

My work is a bilingual lesson on corrales de comedias, open-air theaters dominating the cultural landscape of the Spanish empire during the 16th and 17th centuries. It is comprised of an animated introduction and three chapters, as well as several knowledge check and scenario-based learning activities that touch upon the historical evolution of these theaters, the actors and institutions involved in its growth, the customs and complications of an incipient entertainment industry, and its impact on the development of the dramatic production of the Spanish Golden Age.

I will broadly describe the project and its theoretical foundations in the introduction. Then, I will explain the research process behind writing the lesson and some of the problems I encountered. Finally, I will reflect on the rationale behind the visual style of my lesson in terms of affective quality, instructional design, and historical accuracy. The appendices contain the lesson script, the results of the qualitative and quantitative evaluations completed by learners in the pilot study, as well as a discussion of the issues raised by learners and how they were resolved. Links to the most current version of the lesson, both in English and in Spanish, can be found in my personal digital portfolio: www.chechesilveyra.com.

In his political comedias, seventeenth-century Novohispanic playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón shows as much interest in criticizing the ethical behavior of male characters as he does in representing violence against the female ones. This intersection of gender and political power is analyzed in the texts from a gender-perspective and supported by recent historiography on the political agency of royal women during the Spanish Golden Age. Despite the aggressions against them, Alarcón’s female characters consistently act according to reason, morality, and law. Furthermore, the decisions that restore the order lost to the intricate movements of the plots are not exclusively proposed or executed by the male characters, but usually foreseen or directly suggested by the female ones. In appropriating the functions reserved for a few privileged men, these women propose an alternative mode of government that challenges the traditional relationships between gender roles and political participation as understood in imperial Spain.