If there’s one thing São Paulo residents love, it’s theater, and the city is brimming with incredible productions this month. So, check out our guide to the best shows playing in São Paulo in September and immerse yourself in unforgettable stories. Choose your favorite and enjoy the show!
In this immersive theater experience, the audience stops being spectators and takes on the role of a jury in a U.S. courtroom. For 60 minutes, you’ll analyze real evidence and testimonies to decide the defendant’s fate. With intense performances and a realistic setting, the play challenges your logic and perception in an atmosphere of pure tension.
Dracula — ROOF Collective
Loosely inspired by Bram Stoker’s classic, Coletivo ROOF’s new production offers a contemporary take on the vampire myth, transforming the folkloric figure into a symbol of narcissism, seduction, control, and power dynamics.
The production shifts violence and horror from the supernatural realm to the context of everyday human relationships, establishing a direct dialogue with urgent issues such as objectification, abusive relationships, and femicide.
🔞 For ages 18 and up
MONSTER – I’ve been dreaming of men
Created and performed by Sofia Maruci and directed by Vicente Antunes Ramos, this one-woman show explores the boundaries between victim and executioner, desire and revulsion.
As part of Sesc Pompeia’s special “Month of Horror” program, the show combines scenes of explicit violence, macabre humor, and references to cinema and horror theory to provocatively explore how the monstrous figure inhabits the female body and challenges contemporary theatrical language.
🚫 Ages 16 and up only
Janaina Leite Residency and Núcleo do Olho
Internationally recognized as one of the most thought-provoking voices in contemporary theater, actress and director Janaina Leite is taking over the Capobianco Institute with an intense artistic residency alongside Núcleo do Olho.
The audience can enjoy four cutting-edge performances—including the award-winning *Stabat Mater* , and the brand-new production *A Caixa Preta – Versão Demo* —as well as lecture-performances, workshops, and immersive activities. The program boldly navigates the realms of art, pornography, technology, philosophy, and social dynamics, challenging the boundaries between life and the stage.
🔞 For ages 18 and up
There’s Still Room for More of the World
Celebrating Santa Companhia’s 12-year history, the show pays tribute to the life and work of Waly Salomão, one of the most striking and restless poets in Brazilian culture.
Directed by Karen Menatti, the production stages a poetic journey led by three Poet-Workers and live musicians, who weave together memories, poems, and the artist’s classic compositions, such as “Vapor Barato” and “Mel.”
The play traces his journey from his childhood in Bahia and his imprisonment at Carandiru to his cultural and political activism in the country, inviting the audience to experience poetry and imagination as tools for collective transformation.
🚫 Ages 16 and up only
Alien(nothing)
Conceived, written, and starring playwright and ufologist Lívia Machado, directed by Bruna Betito, and with stage direction by Janaina Leite, the monologue explores the possibility of humanity’s self-destruction through the Fermi Paradox and extraterrestrial imagery.
In the format of a lecture-performance-audiovisual sampler, the work combines theater, scientific research, and speculative fiction to explore the concept of the alien as an aesthetic, political, and poetic field.
🔞 For ages 18 and up
It’s Not a Movie
Conceived by Auto Peças Companhia de Teatro, directed by Augusto Baraldi, and written by Fernando Américo, this comedy sensitively and humorously explores the nuances of contemporary same-sex relationships.
The plot follows four gay friends— Bernardo, Olavo, Caio, and João— whose encounters, missed connections, dating app dilemmas, and frustrations with romantic love reveal the insecurities and expectations of real life, a far cry from movie clichés.
We aim for love and end up with loneliness
Starring Johnny Massaro in his first solo performance, directed by Helena Varvaki and adapted for the stage by Júlia Portes, the show is loosely based on Ana Suy’s best-selling psychoanalytic book.
In the plot, the actor plays an unexpected tour guide who leads the audience on a fun and poetic guided tour of the human heart itself, navigating the expectations at the beginning and the pains at the end of a relationship.
The World’s Smallest Stage
In his first solo show, actor Vladimir Brichta brings to life the moving true story by award-winning Australian author Kim Crotty, directed by Luiz Felipe Reis.
The plot follows a father who, after making a mistake and being arrested, turns to creating fantastical stories sent via letters to remain present in his children’s lives. The production offers a profound reflection on fatherhood and male vulnerability.
♿ The venue is accessible to wheelchair users and people with limited mobility, with performances featuring Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) interpretation and audio description on October 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 30, and 31.
Stories Beautiful Enough to Die For
Inspired by the work of acclaimed geriatrician and palliative care specialist Ana Claudia Quintana Arantes, the show presents a moving adaptation that transforms real-life stories from the doctor’s office into a poetic celebration of life.
The production follows a doctor during a lecture, in which poignant memories of patients at the end of their lives intertwine to offer a new perspective on mortality, time, and human connections.
♿ Venue accessible to wheelchair users and people with limited mobility
