In the Beginning There Were Dragon(cillo)s: Using Shadow Puppetry to Engage Young Audiences

Abstract

Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe was established in 2018 by Esther Fernández, Jonathan Wade, Jared White, and Jason Yancey. A staging of The Fabulous Johnny Frog at the 2018 Association for Hispanic and  Classical  Theater’s  (AHCT)  yearly  symposium  marked  their  beginning  as  a  troupe.  This  work,  adapted by Yancey, focuses on the controversial Juan Rana character and was designed as an outreach initiative to bring early modern Spanish theater to schools using shadow puppetry. In 2019, Dragoncillo created a new performance for the Siglo de Oro Drama Festival and their community partners based on two entremeses written by Francisco de Quevedo. This essay details the formation of Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe and its early efforts to introduce early modern Hispanic literature and culture to various audiences across the United States. Furthermore, the essay reflects the process by which shows are conceived and staged and how those performances evolve over time. Finally, it imagines an expanded repertoire for the troupe that extends beyond the longstanding tradition of puppet theater in Spain to include other texts and contexts from Iberia and Latin America.