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. The troupe grew out of a staging of The Fabulous Johnny Frog at the 2018 Association for Hispanic and Classical Theater’s (AHCT) yearly symposium. This work, adapted by Yancey, focuses on the controversial Juan Rana protagonist and was designed as an outreach initiative to bring early modern Spanish theater to schools using shadow puppetry. In 2019, Yancey created a new performance based on two entremeses written by Francisco de Quevedo, Siglo de Oro Drama Festival and their community partners This essay illustrates how the Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe was conceived and developed over the span of two years with the goal of introducing early modern Hispanic literature and culture to diverse audiences across the United States while at the same time reaffirming that played a significant role in the cultural, social, and religious life of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain.