Festival Fío-Fío: Rediscover the Present with Regional Theater in Biobío

From September 23 to 30, the Biobío Region will welcome spring with the sixth edition of the Fío-Fío Regional Theater Festival. This event aims to strengthen the circulation of local creations and foster collaborative efforts among artists, cultural spaces, and communities through free performances focused on the performing arts.

Initiated by Sidarte Biobío in collaboration with Teatro Biobío, supported by the Regional Government, Sernatur, and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage, the festival will showcase 8 performances including plays, dance, and circus acts, selected from 42 applications across Concepción, San Pedro de la Paz, Arauco, Nacimiento, and Alto Biobío.

This year’s theme, Rediscover the Present, underscores the value of face-to-face meetings at a time when screens facilitate connections but often compromise their quality.

«Our theme this year invites audiences to join the performances, experience the local stories that resonate within a hyper-digital global context, and connect on a sensitive and human level within our shared ecosystem,» stated Valentina Durán, the festival’s general director.

Fernanda Castillo, executive director of Teatro Biobío, emphasized that «the Fío-Fío Festival is a significant initiative not only to strengthen local artistic creation and enrich cultural offerings in the region but also to enhance collaboration as a strategy for regional development, which we are keen to promote from Teatro Biobío.»

The festival also enjoys support from the Municipality of Concepción; the Spanish Department and Theater Program of the University of Concepción; Andrés Bello University; and 17 organizations that are part of the Corredor Biobío, with additional support from the municipalities of Nacimiento, Alto Biobío, Arauco, and San Pedro de la Paz.

Eight Proposals for Rediscovering the Present

The festival kickoff is scheduled for Tuesday, September 22, at 7:00 PM, featuring a blend of analog and digital experiences, old and new. In the Ruins of the Enrique Molina Theater – declared a Historical Monument in April 2009 for its significance to 20th-century cultural life in Concepción – the La Obra theater company will present a segment of Cómicos sin candilejas, highlighting Chilean theater in the 1920s.

Following this, at 8:30 PM, a mapping presentation designed by Universidad San Sebastián will illuminate the façade of Teatro Biobío.

The official program kicks off on September 23 at Teatro Biobío with The Best Magic Trick Ever Seen, performed by the companies L’Aristotelia Chilensis and Frío Colectivo, directed and written by Leyla Selman, who recently represented Chile with 8 performances at the 60th edition of the Festival Off Avignon in France.

The festival will continue with theatrical works such as The Viewer of Plays Made in Santiago on September 24 at the Casa de la Cultura in Nacimiento, written by Carlos Soto Molina – recognized with an honor for his career at the XXII National Dramaturgy Showcase 2026 – and directed by Oscar Cifuentes; Dear, Vagrant, and Twisted on September 25 at Teatro Biobío, by local actress Leslie Sandoval; and Dolores on September 26 at the Cultural Center in Arauco, which ties into the notion of horror.

In the second half of the week, the festival will venture beyond conventional spaces with The Journey of Parchecurita and the Chungungos on September 27 at Parque Laguna Grande in San Pedro de la Paz, featuring a family-friendly outdoor performance that combines rock, theater, and play.

Dance will also take the spotlight with Intronauta on September 28 at Teatro Biobío, created by contemporary choreographer and dancer Joel Inzunza, followed by the street theater production The Voices of Víctor on September 29 at Plaza Ralco in Alto Biobío, which pays tribute to the work of national singer-songwriter Víctor Jara.

On September 30, back at Teatro Biobío, the theatrical piece Plegaria will be presented, addressing the tragic death of a minor in SENAME, prompting a reflection on collective responsibility in such cases. The festival will conclude with a celebration at the notable cultural venue Casa de Salud.

The Fío-Fío Festival will also feature parallel activities, such as the sector meeting The Stage We Share: Meeting, Advances, and Agreements, which will gather organizations from Corredor Biobío, artists, and partners from Sidarte Biobío.

«Lastly, we will have special guests, including actresses Liliana García and Blanca Lewin, and actor Alonso Quintero, which aims to reach and attract audiences of all ages while linking local stage creation with other artistic circuits,» the festival organizers stated.

Notable programmers from significant venues will also be attending, such as Gonzalo Araya from Teatro Sidarte and Manuel Díaz, programmer from the International Theater Festival Teatro a Mil, Chile’s oldest theater festival.

Complete Program

The Best Magic Trick Ever Seen
L’Aristotelia Chilensis and Frío Colectivo
September 23, 19:30 | Main Hall, Teatro Biobío
A woman, urged by Rosa whom she has just met, tries to solve a problem she didn’t know was a problem; she has a strange addiction and attends wakes. To begin a sort of therapy, she arrives at an Alcoholics Anonymous group.

The Viewer of Plays Made in Santiago
Compañía Teatro Tiresias
September 24, 19:00 | Casa de la Cultura de Nacimiento
In a shopping gallery in Concepción, A, a religion teacher, and B, a non-binary influencer, wait for their cell phones to be repaired. The absence of screens opens an uncomfortable conversation that turns the wait into a battleground over gender, faith, class, charity, politics, and representation. Amidst prejudices, interruptions, and moments of closeness, both positions expose their dogmas and contradictions. An uneasy comedy that moves towards mourning.

Dear, Vagrant, and Twisted
Proyecto QVT
September 25, 19:30 | Main Hall, Teatro Biobío
An absurd language-based production that tells the story of three sisters who inherit their grandparents’ house, which is so vast that they struggle to manage it. To solve their domestic difficulties, they decide to rent a room to a very peculiar tenant, a model, who turns their house upside down and plunges the sisters into mysterious situations.

Dolores
Theater of Horror
September 26, 19:00 | Centro Cultural de Arauco
This play, directed and written by Javier Ibarra, tells the story of a woman who escapes from her ex-husband with her daughter. Running late, they decide to stay in a cabin along the way, where they are welcomed by a solitary and eccentric man who finds the girl reminiscent of a past love. The desperate mother fails to realize that they have arrived at the wrong place.

The Journey of Parchecurita and the Chungungos
From Parchecurita and the Chungungos
September 27, 12:00 | Parque Laguna Grande, San Pedro de la Paz
A playful and participatory invitation for the whole family to discover, alongside the protagonist, the importance of caring for our natural environment and protecting life in southern Chile. A performance where theater and music unite to transform environmental awareness into a true celebration.

Intronauta
Joel Inzunza Co.
September 28, 19:30 | Main Hall, Teatro Biobío
This contemporary dance piece intertwines body, sound, and lighting in an immersive experience inspired by concepts of transition, mutation, and inner journeys. Intronauta explores the boundary between the visible and the invisible, the tangible and the ethereal.

The Voices of Víctor
Laburatorio Theatre
September 29, 12:00 | Plaza Ralco, Alto Biobío
The Voices of Víctor is an active street theater production that recovers Víctor Jara’s work through live music and public space. Through a scenic language that integrates singing, acting, and dance, the production proposes a crossing of memory, territory, and collective experience, activating public spaces and creating direct encounters with the community. Designed to circulate through streets, plazas, and neighborhoods, this proposal seeks to return theater to its rightful place: the common space.

Plegaria
Plegaria Collective
September 30, 19:30 | Main Hall, Teatro Biobío
Plegaria, directed by Carolina Henríquez and developed in collaboration with the local company La Otra Zapatilla, tells the story of Jeny, an 11-year-old girl living in a SENAME center. She experiences a crisis and is subdued by two caretakers. Their force causes the girl to drown and die in the facility. The piece navigates the hours following the tragedy, exploring guilt and anger that permeate everyone around, making them all witnesses and accomplices to what happened.

For more information, visit teatrobiobio.cl