What to see in independent theater: the best of the off circuit in Buenos Aires

When an independent play runs for 10 seasons, it’s undoubtedly a classic. Set in a hotel in a small town in Argentina’s littoral region, it believes in miracles; its protagonists are people who wait. They wait for everything: a change of life, a love relationship, a better future. And all believe in the miracles of “La Pilarcita,” a popular saint to whom one must offer a small specially made doll for the miracle to come true.

It is one of those delightful plays, with a profound and empathetic text, in which the audience is taken by hand through various emotions: from laughter to nostalgia, from nostalgia to sadness… and back to joy. María Marull’s writing and direction immerse you for a little over an hour in the rhythm and pulse of a hot town afternoon, with its melodies, characters, and beliefs.

Also recommended: The best of independent theater on Corrientes Street

Where: El Camarín de las Musas. Tickets, here.

With Mara Bestelli, Mónica Raiola, Walter Jakob, Daniela Korovsky, Pilar Mestre, Andy Pruss, and Sofia Saborido. Directed by Ignacio Sanchez Mestre.

A touching piece about the strength of those who are no longer here. A coastal landscape shrouded in fog, and a family grieving the loss of a father who seems to have arranged his own farewell: by the sea, with his favorite song, a whiskey, and only the guests he chose to share his time, space, and voice. Now, those left behind must face his absence while trying to reshape their story.

Where: El Galpón de Guevara, Guevara 326. Tickets, here.

With: Natalia Pascale, Fito Perez, Darío Serantes. Directed by: Malena Miramontes Boim.

La Maddonita returned to the stage after 3 years of uninterrupted performances with over 100 shows. Written by Mauricio Kartun, the play takes place in the early 20th century in a hot attic in Parque Lezama where a man takes photos of his wife and then sells them among the immigrant working class, highlighting the friction between desire, sex, and poetry.

Where: Itaca Complejo Teatral, Humahuaca 4027. Tickets, here.

A "dream team" of theatre in a play written by Santiago Loza, starring Mariano Saborido and directed by Juanse Rauch and Valeria Lois. Mario runs a hostel with his mother in a remote southern village. Beyond lies a port that ceased functioning with travelers, sailors, and passersby. There is a return, a farewell, and Mario’s desire to flee forever among the icy sea, burning sensations, chants, and lots of wind.

Where: Dumont4040. Tickets, here.

With: Delfina Colombo. Directed by: Iván Moschner.

A play that recovers a real event to give way to fiction: Javi trains to cross the Bermejo River that separates Chaco from Formosa. The pandemic leaves him on one side and his wife and little daughter on the other. Now that the moon shines and Yani and Lupe sleep on the opposite shore, swimming is the only way to get back to them — so Javi jumps in.

Where: Teatro El Grito, Costa Rica 5459. Tickets, here.

With: Luz Palazón. Directed by: Augusto Perez. Written by: Inés Garland.

A woman recalls the moment that condemns her. In a fragmented, indefinite space and time, she arranges her memories to tell what she has kept silent for too long. She is the consequence of slow and meticulous damage, but she is not fully aware of it. Her liberation, perhaps impossible, is tied to the tear.

Where: Camarín de las Musas, Mario Bravo 960. Tickets, here.

With Víctor Anakarato, Juan Rutkus, Darío Serantes. Directed by Darío Serantes.

A classic play by French playwright Jean Genet, premiered in Paris in 1947, telling the story of two maids who engage in a secret and perverse ceremony, pushing a diabolical ritual to the limit in which they worship their mistress while she struts around, enjoying the torture and shining with a triumphant feeling.

Where: Ítaca Complejo Teatral. Tickets, here.

With: Daniel Paccosi and Sol Berzgal. Directed by: Ana Forlouis.

Taxi driver Franco arrives at a local club bar to perform a monologue. Unexpectedly, a strange visitor appears: Oedipus, about to reincarnate in Buenos Aires with the purpose of purging his sins — incest and parricide.

The taxi driver plays along, improvising a TV interview in a passionate debate about sexuality, desire, death, ambition for power, and betrayal.

Where: Teatro Tadrón, Niceto Vega 4802. Tickets, here.

With: Miriam Odorico. Directed by: Giampaolo Sama.

A multi-award-winning play featured at major festivals. A free adaptation of Luigi Pirandello’s novel "One, No One and One Hundred Thousand," where the discovery of a seemingly insignificant physical detail becomes a unique and disturbing event to analyze doubts about existence, our beliefs, the roles we choose or those imposed on us. The challenge is to abandon the hundred thousand masks to wear just one.

Where: Timbre 4, México 3554. Tickets, here.

By the company Toia&Callaci of Agustina Toia and Severio Calacci.

Third season in Buenos Aires for this play that was acclaimed at international festivals. A journey through women who fought for their ideals and marked the course of history with a common denominator: their name. Juana Manso, Juana the Mad, Joan of Arc, Pope Joan Giovanna Marturano, Juana de Ibarbouru, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz inspire us with their struggle and passion.

Where: Jean Jaures 858, La Carpinteria. Tickets, here.

Written and directed by María Figueras. With Aymará Abramovich, Ezequiel Baquero, Agustín Daulte, Miguel Ferrería, Mercedes Moltedo, Malena Resino, and the voice of Rafael Spregelburd.

A small shop is living its last days and becomes the makeshift home for a widow and her two children. In their search for happiness, they travel a path full of obstacles, misunderstandings, secrets, and hidden dreams. Who wouldn’t want to go to a place that doesn’t hurt? Is love a form of resistance? These and other questions arise as they coexist with an unsettling presence.

Where: Espacio Callejón, Humahuaca 3759. Tickets, here.

With: Cristina Blanco, Gabriela Calzada, Vanesa Cardella, Ariel Cortina, Gisella Crimi, and cast. Directed by: Francisco Civit.

A choral, tragic, vibrant, and overflowing comedy inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae. The play follows a group of women who meet in an underground bingo hall, and amid bingo cards, confessions, and challenges, they find much more than chance in the game: a space of resistance, community, and liberation.

Everything changes with the arrival of Dionisia, a figure as magnetic as disruptive, who drags them into a celebration where festivity becomes ritual and laughter, defiance.

Where: Ítaca Complejo Teatral. Tickets, here.

With: Malena López and Daira Escalera. Directed by: Raúl Ríos.

It’s midnight on December 2, 1847, in Buenos Aires, and Anne Marie Périchon de Vandeuil de O’Gorman, aka La Perichona, once a proud beauty in another era, now elderly and imprisoned in her son’s estate tower alongside Esculapia, her faithful slave and caretaker who attends to all her demands. Will love prove stronger than the tragic fate pursuing the family?

Where: Teatro del Pueblo. Tickets, here.

With: Graciela Edul, Flor Gallo Pecca, Darshan Gonzalez, Rocío Lopez Acuña and cast. Directed by: Silvana Amaro.

In its fourth season, this play follows a group of high school seniors on a study trip to Puerto Madryn with two young coordinators. Together, they navigate the warmth of adolescence and the cold of the south, dealing with hidden desires, visions, confusions, and memories.

Where: Teatro Azul, Corrientes 5965. Tickets, here.

With Patricia Carbonari, Natalia Pascale, Ana Rodriguez Arana. Directed by Ana Alvarado and Laura Yussem.

Second season of this play that follows three women: a conceptual artist, a Bolshevik feminist, and a woman out of a Marguerite Duras novel who wake up in an unknown place and start a conversation debating female condition, the need to love freely, and to boldly walk the world’s streets. Their stories and discussions unfold loves, encounters, breakups, and violence, ultimately defining a commitment: to swear never to die of love.

Where: Ítaca Complejo Teatral. Tickets, here.

With: Priscilla Barreda Oro, Romina Campagnolo, Juan Sebastián Cruz, Carlos Demarco, Cristian Mendez, Florencia Moreno. Directed by: Emilio Urdapilleta.

Chiqui is a young boxer fighting both in the ring and within his family environment against a fate marked by his father and coach’s expectations and obsession, who sees in him the chance to fulfill his own frustrated vocation. A raw and moving portrait of the inheritance of unfulfilled dreams, sacrifice, and the toughest fight of all: being yourself.

Where: Teatro Fandango, Luis Viale 108. Tickets, here.

With Omar Lopardo, Gonzalo Álvarez, Luciano Medina, Federico Justo, and cast. Directed by Claudio Gallardou.

Also of interest: One-person shows featuring talented actors on stage

A comedic operetta following the adventures, loves, and fates of three rural bandits from the 1930s, idealized by the townspeople as justice warriors who "steal from the rich to help the poor." With texts written in verse, the play is based on true events, showing how mistreatment by the authorities pushes these daring rebels outside the law, bringing the music and songs from the South and the littoral region to the audience.

Where: Teatro del Pueblo. Tickets, here.

With: Laura Otemin. Directed by: Mónica Felippa.

After going through some romantic adventures, the most important couple in a woman’s life contacts her wanting to get back together. This triggers her to revisit her past years and decide about the future in an intimate and contemporary piece that addresses, with humor and reflection, themes like relationships, social mandates, and choices.

Where: Teatro El Crisol. Tickets, here.

Directed by Luciana Acuña. With Tatiana Saphir, Carla Di Grazia, Luciana Acuña, Matías Sendón, Agustín Fortuny.

It’s the 19th century, and the legend tells of distant chronicles of dancers who died burned by the flames of the gas lamps used in the theaters of the time. Five performers transport us to another era, in tune with music and emotions, to learn about their tragic stories wrapped in flames.

Where: Arthaus Central, Bartolomé Mitre 434. Tickets, here.

With Rocío Hernandez and Pascual Carcavallo. Written and directed by Tomás Landa.

Third season for this innovative play that tells the story of Mara and Pablo, a couple looking for new ways to revitalize their love. On this journey, they decide to involve a third person to reignite the flame. Each performance features a surprise special guest who improvises a complete scene, challenging the actors to adapt in real time to the proposal of each new visitor. Additionally, the audience participates in the experience by incorporating clothing items into the set design, which are then donated to the Moksha Foundation.

Where: Nun Teatro Bar, Juan Ramirez de Velazco 419. Tickets, here.

With: Stella Brandolin, Erica Spósito, Rolo Sosiuk, Paula Berré, Gabo Yamil. Directed by: Carolina Solari.

After her divorce, a famous actress decides to return to her childhood home in the Temperley neighborhood, but her gambling addiction takes her life in an unexpected direction. The play sensitively addresses the impact of gambling addiction, a dependency that affects relationships and decisions. Between memories and bets, Destino Temperley invites reflection on the limits between chance and destiny.

Where: Teatro Border, Godoy Cruz 1838. Tickets, here.

With: Camila Conte Roberts, Alejandro Casagrande, Federico Julián Martinez. Directed by: Juan Tupac Soler.

Eloísa is alone at home. Rodolfo, her neighbor, is alone at home. Enrico accidentally arrives at his uncle Rodolfo’s house; he seems to feel alone too. Eloísa has been undergoing therapy for a while, Rodolfo wants to shoot his first movie before he dies, and Enrico doesn’t know what he wants from life.

Though none planned it, Eloísa, Rodolfo, and Enrico end up with a shared project and stop being alone in this world — at least for a while.

Where: Savia Espacio Cultural, Jufré 127. Tickets, here.

Directed by Carlos Belloso. Cast: Carlos Belloso, Alejandra Oteiza, Beto Bernuez, Pepe Arias, and Eduardo Marcos.

With Carlos Belloso leading the cast, this comedy follows the story of Pedro, a baker and union leader who, during the Peronist government, is chosen to represent the working class at the Argentine Embassy in the Soviet Union, where he discovers the contradictions and entanglements of the Stalinist regime.

Where: Fridays at Palacio El Victorial, Saturdays at Teatro El Vitral. Tickets here.

With Claudia Cantero, María Inés Sancerni, Agustín Gagliardi, Nicolás Levin, and Manuel Attwell. Directed by Laura Paredes.

Written by Laura Paredes together with filmmaker Mariano Llinás, the play is set in a near future where bullfighting is banned and two Argentine researchers lecture about the life and work of Federico García Lorca in a recently closed bullring. While they present, the former staff of the ring wanders, sleepwalking and unemployed, reciting the “Gypsy Ballads.”

Where: El Portón de Sanchez. Tickets, here.