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Itatí Cantoral, one of Mexico’s most recognized television and stage actresses, will bring her first solo theatrical monologue to Tijuana. The production, Juicio a una Zorra (Trial of a Vixen), retells the myth of Helen of Troy through the lens of gender-based violence. It is staged in partnership with Lomap, a Baja California organization that provides direct support to women who have survived violence in the Tijuana and Rosarito corridor.
A Spanish Playwright’s Text Reframed for a Border City
The monologue is drawn from a 2011 text by Spanish playwright Miguel del Arco. In the original, Helen of Troy speaks in her own defense at a kind of trial, pushing back against centuries of mythology that cast her as the cause of a war rather than a victim of it. Del Arco’s script has been staged across Spain and Latin America since its debut, earning recognition for its sharp feminist reinterpretation of classical myth.
Cantoral’s version marks her first solo stage performance, a departure from the ensemble telenovela roles that made her famous. Mexican audiences know her best as the villain Soraya Montenegro in María la del Barrio (1995), a role so iconic that clips of her performance still circulate as internet memes decades later. But Cantoral has pursued stage work throughout her career, including musical theater productions in Mexico City. A one-woman show built around a monologue about gendered violence represents a significant shift in register.
Tijuana is not a random stop on a touring schedule. Baja California recorded 128 feminicides between January 2023 and December 2024, placing it consistently among Mexico’s highest-rate states for gender-based killings. The state’s Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE), the state attorney general’s office, opened a specialized feminicide prosecution unit in 2015, but conviction rates remain low. Advocacy groups in the region have long argued that cultural programming tied to awareness campaigns reaches audiences that government messaging does not.
Lomap Works With Violence Survivors in Tijuana and Rosarito
The collaboration with Lomap gives the production a direct community dimension. Lomap is a civil society organization based in Baja California that provides accompaniment services to women survivors of violence. That work includes legal guidance, psychological support, and emergency intervention. The organization operates in the Tijuana and Rosarito corridor, where access to shelters and legal aid remains limited relative to demand.
Baja California had 12 government-funded women’s shelters as of 2024, serving a female population of roughly 1.9 million across the state. Organizations like Lomap fill gaps in that infrastructure by connecting survivors with resources and advocating on their behalf within the legal system. Their partnership with a high-profile theatrical production creates both fundraising visibility and public attention for services that typically operate with little media coverage.
Tijuana’s theater scene has grown steadily over the past decade. The Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT), the city’s flagship cultural complex on Paseo de los Héroes, hosts national and international productions year-round. Smaller independent venues along Avenida Revolución and in the Zona Río have expanded the city’s capacity for live performance. A solo show by an actress of Cantoral’s national profile adds to a pattern of major Mexican performers choosing Tijuana as a serious tour destination rather than skipping it for venues in Mexicali or Guadalajara.
Ticket and Venue Details Still Emerging
The source material does not specify an exact date, venue, or ticket price for the Tijuana performance. Productions of this scale in the city typically take place at CECUT’s main theater, which seats approximately 1,000 people, or at the Teatro del Estado on Boulevard Abelardo L. Rodríguez, which holds around 600. Ticket prices for comparable touring shows at CECUT have ranged from 400 to 1,200 pesos (roughly $22 to $66 USD) in recent seasons.
Readers interested in attending should watch for announcements through CECUT’s official channels or Lomap’s social media pages, where ticket links and partnership details are likely to appear first. Given Cantoral’s drawing power and the production’s social mission, advance sales will likely move quickly once posted.
Lomap has indicated that a portion of proceeds will support its programs for violence survivors in the region. This story was first reported by Zeta Tijuana.