Teatro Avante is a nonprofit theater organization located in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida, founded by Mario Ernesto Sánchez in 1978. The company was created to provide a venue for Spanish-language art theater in Miami and focuses on preserving Hispanic theater and culture. Its first production was Electra Garrigó by Cuban playwright Virgilio Piñera. In 1986, Teatro Avante began organizing the annual International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami (originally called the Festival of Hispanic Theatre, expanded and renamed in 1990). The company produces contemporary and classical Ibero-American plays in Spanish with English supertitles and has represented the United States in international theater festivals across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Notable productions include the 2018 world premiere of En ningún lugar del mundo by Abel González Melo. The International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami has received five prestigious international awards for its contributions to Hispanic theater in the Americas.
