MANUAL DE AUTOAYUDA to Play IATI Theater for Three Performances
Nicolás Venegas created, directed and performs in the piece, presented in Spanish with English supertitles.
IATI Theater will present the New York engagement of Manual de Autoayuda (Self-Help Manual), a guest production by the Chilean company Teatro Infausto, for three performances only, August 13-15, 2026.
Created, directed, and performed by Nicolás Venegas, Manual de Autoayuda begins with a simple confession: a performer steps before the audience and admits his permanent inability to be happy. Searching for answers, he turns to the promises of self-help books, coaching, and the many strategies contemporary society offers to overcome dissatisfaction. The work approaches mental health socially and artistically rather than clinically, examining self-help culture and the pressures surrounding emotional well-being and personal fulfillment.
Blending theater, performance, autofiction, audiovisual media, and dark comedy, the production moves from the deeply personal to the broadly political, questioning whether happiness can truly exist as a permanent state. Audience interaction is incorporated throughout the performance; participation is entirely voluntary.
Manual de Autoayuda was developed through a 2023 artistic residency at Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral (GAM) and premiered in 2024 at Teatro del Puente. It has since been presented at venues and festivals in Chile and Argentina. The production is performed in Spanish with English supertitles.
Nicolás Venegas serves as creator, director, and performer, alongside performer María Figueroa. The production is general produced by Daniela León, with sound and cinematography design by Andrés Abrigo and lighting design by Cristóbal Manríquez.
About Teatro Infausto
Founded in Chile in 2019, Teatro Infausto brings together dark humor, social critique, and performance-based experimentation. Through irony and interdisciplinary theatrical forms, the company examines the fragile and often contradictory ways individuals construct their identities within contemporary society.
About IATI Theater
MANUAL DE AUTOAYUDA was developed through a 2023 artistic residency at Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral and premiered in 2024 at Teatro del Puente, later touring venues and festivals in Chile and Argentina. The creative team includes performer María Figueroa, general producer Daniela León, sound and cinematography designer Andrés Abrigo, and lighting designer Cristóbal Manríquez. Founded in Chile in 2019, Teatro Infausto works across dark humor, social critique, and performance-based experimentation, while IATI Theater, founded in 1968, is a Latinx-led, bilingual nonprofit based in New York City's East Village.
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