{{short description|Mexican actress and university professor}} {{Expand Spanish|topic=bio|Minerva Mena|date=November 2011}} [[File:MinervaMena.jpg|thumb|right|Minerva Mena performing in ''La casa de Bernarda Alba'']] '''Minerva Mena Peña'''{{Family name footnote|Mena|Peña|lang=Mexican}} (September 11, 1930 – December 10, 2004) was a Mexican actress and university professor. She was a founding teacher of the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and was active in the world of theater in the state of Nuevo León.

== Early life == Mena was born in Monterrey on September 11, 1930,<ref name="acero">{{cite book |last=Salinas |first=J.P. |title=Monterrey entre montañas y acero |publisher=Villacero |year=1996 |isbn=9789686908015 |lccn=97217964 |url=https://archive.org/details/monterreyentremo0000pedr/page/166/mode/2up?q=%22Minerva+Mena%22 |pages=167}}</ref> the daughter of Jesús Mena Gutiérrez and Felisa Peña Martínez, who formed the musical comedy duo Mena-Peña, performing zarzuela and operetta. They were itinerant variety singers, announcers, and pioneers of radio entertainment in Monterrey, Nuevo León, where they settled in the mid-1930s.<ref name="pompa">{{cite book | last=Pompa del Angel | first=Irma Margarita | title=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, 70 años de siembra | publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León | date=2003 | isbn=978-970-694-124-4 | url=http://www.google.com/books/edition/Universidad_Aut%25C3%25B3noma_de_Nuevo_Le%25C3%25B3n_70/pZlDAUCKRYgC?hl=es-419&gbpv=1&pg=PA202&printsec=frontcover | language=es | access-date=April 1, 2026 | page=202}}</ref> She had two older brothers, Raúl Rubén,<ref name="elnorte"/> a director and choreographer especially of musical revues, and Jesús Daniel, a set designer and visual artist in Monterrey; the two sometimes collaborated. Mena's parents set up a variety tent called "Carpa México" on Calzada Madero in Monterrey, which burned down a couple of times. After these financial setbacks, her parents decided to leave the business and seek a stable income as announcers and commercial singers on local radio.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

Her first studies were with a teacher who was an actor with the zarzuela company. Mena's early theatrical performances were playing child roles in the shows her parents produced, alongside her brothers. At the age of 11, she enrolled in a dance academy, and her dream was to become a classical ballet dancer, but after her father died in a car accident, she accepted a position offered by the same dance school to teach newly admitted students. During her childhood and early youth, she played roles in theater, radio dramas, and made radio commercials.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

== Adult career == At the age of 16, she choreographed a student musical revue at the then-University of Nuevo León. She later acted, directed, and worked on makeup and costume design. She also participated in dance, radio, film, and television. She had a role in the first Mexican soap opera, ''Agonía de amar'' ("The Agony of Loving"), produced in Monterrey. She gained the most recognition in character roles and in the title role in Federico García Lorca's play ''The House of Bernarda Alba''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

She ventured into production alongside architect Refugio Luis Barragán, her husband at the time. The two purchased a theater they named the Teatro Mayo and dedicated it to experimental productions.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Inauguración Teatro Mayo |magazine=La Quincena |issue=212 |location=Monterrey, Nuevo León |date=September 2022 |page=40 |issn=1665-7241 |url=https://laquincena.mx/La%20Quincena%20212%20COLOR.pdf |access-date=2026-04-01 |language=es}}</ref>

She was the founding teacher at the School of Performing Arts at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL), where she worked as a lecturer in the specialization of Biomechanics and Corporal Expression until her retirement in 1996. On June 11, 2009, through a tribute paid by the UANL, one of the classrooms at the Faculty of Performing Arts was named after her and a commemorative plaque was installed.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

== Personal life == In 1966, she married Barragán. In the 1970s, the couple separated and later divorced. They had three children: Marcela (1966–2024), José Luis (1969), and Gabriela Guadalupe (1972–2025).<ref name="elnorte"/>

On December 10, 2004, Mena died in Monterrey after suffering from a cerebral embolism for nine months. Her death occurred four days after that of her ex-husband.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

== Awards and recognition == * Best actress medal – Fifth Regional Mexican Theatre Contest (V Concurso Regional de Teatro Mexicano), 1959<ref>{{cite journal |title=Memoria Universitaria No. 172 / Mayo de 2024 |journal=Memoria Universitaria. Boletín del Centro de Documentación y Archivo Histórico de la UANL |volume=15 |issue=172 |page=14 |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |date=May 2024 |url=https://memoria.uanl.mx/index.php/mu/issue/view/110/78 |language=es |access-date=1 April 2026}}</ref> *Revelation of the Year, ''El Heraldo de México'' newspaper, 1965.<ref name="elnorte"/> *Public Recognition for Civic Merit, Presea Estado de Nuevo León, 1990 (theater category)<ref name="elnorte"/><ref name="pompa"/><ref name="acero"/> *UANL Arts Award, 1991 (as an actress).<ref name="elnorte"/><ref name="pompa"/><ref name="acero"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Pompa del Ángel |first=Irma Margarita |year=2000 |title=Reseña histórica de la difusión cultural en la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |location=Monterrey, Nuevo León |pages=115 |url=https://cd.dgb.uanl.mx/bitstream/handle/201504211/6476/9320.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref> *Recognition – Tribute, CONARTE, CONACULTA, INBA, UANL, 2000<ref name="elnorte">{{cite news |author=Rosa Linda González |title=Perfiles e Historias |newspaper=El Norte |date=6 August 2000 |page=2D |url=https://www.elnorte.com/libre/offlines/Perfiles/Pdfs/Perfiles_100.pdf |language=es |access-date=1 April 2026}}</ref>

Mena is the subject of the book ''Conversaciones con Minerva Mena'' by Hernando S. Garza Lozano.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garza Lozano |first1=Hernando S. |last2=Estrada Bellmann |first2=Erick |title=Patrimonio Cultural de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |year=2013 |volume=1 |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |url=http://eprints.uanl.mx/3180/ |access-date=2026-04-01 |language=es}}</ref>

==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}}

== External links (photographic record) == * {{cite journal |title=Memoria Universitaria No. 109 / Febrero 2019 |journal=Memoria Universitaria. Boletín del Centro de Documentación y Archivo Histórico de la UANL |volume=10 |issue=109 |publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León |date=February 2019|page=11 |url=https://memoria.uanl.mx/index.php/mu/issue/view/85|language=es |access-date=1 April 2026}} * Festival Internacional Cervantino [https://repositoriofic.festivalcervantino.gob.mx/acervo-fotografico/224720-2/ 1981]

Category:1930 births Category:2004 deaths Category:Mexican stage actresses Category:Mexican television actresses Category:Actresses from Monterrey Category:Actresses from Nuevo León