Conecta Miami Arts will present the second edition of the Miami International Children’s Theatre Festival (MICTF) from December 7–17, 2026, with performances at Westchester Cultural Arts Center and Miami Theater Center, two presenting partners with a longstanding commitment to theatre and cultural programming for young audiences.
The 2026 Festival will feature four companies from Spain, Canada, and Miami, offering eight days of performances that expose young audiences to a broad range of theatrical traditions, disciplines, and approaches to storytelling. Programming has been intentionally selected to reduce linguistic and cultural barriers, with productions presented in Spanish, English, bilingual Spanish/English, and non-verbal formats. The Festival also introduces students to artistic forms beyond traditional theatre, including animation and film, projection mapping, circus, physical comedy, acrobatics, and music.
A central goal of MICTF is to develop a culture of theatre-going from an early age, particularly among children who have limited access to live performing arts. School performances are offered completely free of charge, and Conecta Miami Arts covers transportation costs for participating schools, removing two of the principal economic barriers to cultural participation. The Festival prioritizes outreach to schools and communities with limited resources and seeks to make an international-quality performing arts experience accessible to children regardless of economic circumstances or language.
PROGRAMMING
December 8 & 9 | Westchester Cultural Arts Center
Voilà Producciones (Spain) – A la luna
Spanish | Theatre, Animation/Film & Projection Mapping
Opening the Festival is the Spanish company Voilà Producciones with A la luna, a family production that blends live theatre with animated cinema and projection technology. Set during the space race of the 1960s, the story follows Tara, a young girl who spends her summers on a farm gazing at the stars and dreaming of becoming an astronaut. Guided by the imaginative stories of her grandfather, Tara ultimately embarks on an extraordinary mission involving the fate of the moon and an unusual flock of geese.
Created in 2015, A la luna has toured extensively throughout Spain and has also been produced internationally in countries including France, Argentina, Morocco, and China. Its participation gives Miami-Dade students an opportunity to experience contemporary Spanish theatre for young audiences while advancing MICTF’s mission of international artistic and cultural exchange.
December 10 & 11 | Westchester Cultural Arts Center
FUNDarte (Miami) – Insectos y Bicharracos
Spanish | Musical Theatre
Insectos y Bicharracos is a vibrant and imaginative musical theatre production inspired by the album of the same name by acclaimed singer-songwriter Rita Rosa Ruesga. Bringing together live music, storytelling, and colorful theatrical elements, this delightful production invites audiences of all ages into a whimsical world inhabited by fascinating insects and larger-than-life creatures.
Accompanied by a talented ensemble of local musicians, Ruesga takes audiences on a playful musical journey filled with infectious Caribbean rhythms, lively characters, and unexpected adventures. Through music, humor, and imagination, Insectos y Bicharracos celebrates the wonders of nature while encouraging curiosity, creativity, and a sense of discovery.
Featuring imaginative costume and set design by Celia Ledón and artistic direction by Eddy Díaz Souza, the production transforms the stage into a colorful universe where music and theatre come together to create an engaging experience for the entire family.
December 14 & 15 | Miami Theater Center
Open Doors Productions (Miami) – Mr. Hate
English | Theatre
Mr. Hate introduces audiences to a solitary and perpetually unhappy character whose orderly world is disrupted when he discovers that someone new is moving into the apartment next door. Even worse, the newcomer is Mr. Love—his complete opposite. Determined to stop his new neighbor from settling in, Mr. Hate devises a plan that produces unexpected consequences and ultimately transforms his own life.
Through humor and an accessible theatrical language, the production invites young audiences to reflect on coexistence, difference, empathy, and the consequences of how we treat others.
December 16 & 17 | Miami Theater Center
PS² Productions Circassiennes (Canada) – Mini Cops on Duty
Non-verbal | Circus, Youth Theatre, Physical Comedy & Music
Closing the Festival, Canadian company PS² Productions Circassiennes brings a highly physical and non-verbal production combining contemporary circus, comedy, acrobatics, and music. As the audience arrives, the Mini Cops are already patrolling the theatre in preparation for a concert by Rizotto, a singer/prisoner under their watch. When Rizotto unexpectedly refuses to perform, musical improvisations, acrobatic mishaps, and increasingly chaotic attempts to control the situation propel the performance forward.
Because the work is non-verbal, Mini Cops on Duty eliminates language as a barrier to participation and allows children from different linguistic backgrounds to share the same theatrical experience.
A FESTIVAL OF ACCESS AND DISCOVERY
Together, these four productions create a Festival experience that introduces young audiences not only to stories from different places, but also to the breadth of what live performance can be. From Spain’s integration of theatre and animated cinema, to Miami’s bilingual and English-language theatre, to Canada’s non-verbal contemporary circus, MICTF encourages children to discover different artistic vocabularies and cultural perspectives.
The second edition builds upon the impact of MICTF’s inaugural 2024 Festival, which served 1,642 students from 19 Miami-Dade County schools, with more than half of participating students indicating that it was their first experience attending live theatre. By maintaining free school performances, covering student transportation, partnering with established cultural venues, and presenting artistically and linguistically diverse programming, Conecta Miami Arts seeks to ensure that access to exceptional live performance is not determined by a child’s school, neighborhood, language, or economic circumstances.
