After a one-year break thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the International Hispanic Theater Festival (IHTF) returns to Miami.

The event will begin on July 8 and although it will maintain certain restrictions, the organization has been able to confirm a program that includes seven shows from six American countries: Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Mexico and Uruguay.

Mario Ernesto Sánchez, director of the festival, also confirmed that "this year it will be in person, with social distancing and masks, until now, but, we don't know if the panorama will change." 

This year, the festival celebrates its 35th installment, and according to Sanchez, the event has "the mission to represent the Hispanic culture within the United States." 

The festival runs for three weeks, from July 8 through July 25, and performances will be Thursday or Friday through Sunday. The event will be held at the Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center Auditorium in downtown Miami, and the Lifetime Achievement Award for the Performing Arts will be presented to Argentine playwright Griselda Gambaro.

It will be hosted by Miami's Teatro Avante, which announced that during the festival, it will take the opportunity to premiere their play Ubú pandemia, by Abel González Melo and directed by Mario Ernesto Sánchez.

The curtain will open with the show Nociones básicas para la construcción de puentes, written and directed by Jimena Márquez and performed by the Comedia Nacional de Uruguay. 

From Ecuador, the play Barrio Caleidoscopio, written and directed by Carlos Gallegos and in charge of Teatro de la Vuelta, has been confirmed.

In addition, Fundación Internacional Teatro a Mil, from Santiago de Chile, will participate with Encuentros breves con hombres repulsivos, by David Foster Wallace and directed by Daniel Veronese. Colectivo Animal, from Bogota (Colombia), joins the festival with Un bosque encantando, written and directed by Camila Rivera, Tatiana Samper and Daniel Roa. The festival closes with Papá está en la Atlántida, a play written by Javier Malpica, directed by Esteban Castellanos and performed by Los Pinches Chamacos, from Mexico.

The Miami IHTF is supported by public funds and donations, and this year will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the Miami-Dade County Auditorium and the Key Biscayne Community Center.