Style:  Comedy

Synopsis:  Everyone hated Don Anacleto the Miser.  One day a curse backfires and his heart opens up.  He discovers that reaching out to others is “very important,” and that, “He who gives the most receives the most.”

Author:  Isidora Aguirre arrived in the world in 1919, just shortly after the formation of the first professional theater company in Chile.  Until then, foreign touring theaters – mainly Spanish and French – dominated the artistic scene, presenting lyric dramas, light operas and circus spectacles.  During Isidora’s childhood this European presence was still a significant part of the artistic environment.

She was born in the midst of marionettes and make believe.  Always a pastime, these activities later evolved into her work and her passion.  She lived among paintings and theatrical performances, so it should have been no surprise that her pen created possibly the greatest Chilean theatrical hit ever, The Arbor of the Flowers.  More than half a million people attended this musical masterpiece during its first year!

Isidora made her onstage debut at the Teatro Municipal at 5 years of age.  “I wasn’t at all nervous and I remember that I did really well,” she says.  However, she was much more interested in writing stories.  She wrote, painted and played piano, but she also had a social conscience.  When she graduated secondary school, she decided to study social service.  From this world she drew many of the characters who populated her more than 30 staged plays.

During the years of the Unidad Popular, she dedicated more energy than ever to plays with a social theme.  She became a forerunner of the populist and street theaters, and a part of the cutting edge of modern independent Chilean theater.

Directed by:  Mario Marcel