Gente de Teatro presents El Test

Gente de Teatro brings El Test to MATCH in Midtown, running from October 22 through November 1. It's part of the company's 31st anniversary, and the play itself is a contemporary Spanish-language comedy by Jordi Vallejo Duarri. The whole run is in Spanish, with no English surtitles, so it's a night for those who follow the language.

The play starts with a question that's easy to answer until you actually have to choose: "Would you prefer $100,000 now or $1,000,000 ten years from now?" From there, it uses humor to strip away the masks we all wear, eventually getting into love, success, failure, friendship, ethics, the fear of time passing, and the small lies each character has used to build their identity. There aren't any heroes or villains here—just human beings confronting their own contradictions, with money as the catalyst for the conflict.

It was Duarri's debut as a playwright and the start of his international career. He graduated in screenwriting from ESCAC in 2002 and has since worked on TV3 series like El Cor de la Ciutat. El Test won Spain's Fray Luis de León Theater Award and Argentina's ACE Award for Best Comedy. The production is directed by Marcela Salas, PhD, and features Sergio Amsel as Héctor, Esteban Gago as Toni, Ana Ilvento Scuseria as Sandra, and Claudia Soroka as Paula.

Performances are at 7:30 PM, with Sunday matinees at 3:30 PM. The show runs 90 minutes with no intermission, and they don't seat latecomers, so you'll want to be in your seat before it starts. General admission is $42 for regular Friday and Saturday shows, $39 for seniors 65 and over on those nights, and $34 for all seats on Thursday, Oct. 22, Sunday, Oct. 25, Wednesday, Oct. 28, Thursday, Oct. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 1. You can find it at MATCH, 3400 Main St, Houston, TX 77002.