Puppetry in Puerto Rico
P 14
Young but Quickly Growing By Dr. Manuel Moran
opular theater and, more specifically, puppetry first appeared on the island of Puerto Rico in the 19th century, drawing primarily from antecedents in Galicia and the Canary Islands. By the 1920s and 1930s, local arts began growing, and during the 1940s, Puerto Rico experienced a cultural awakening. At this time, Leopoldo Santiago Lavandero (1912–2003) founded the Departamento de Drama at the Universidad de Puerto Rico (Department of Dramatic Arts, University of Puerto Rico) together with a university theater, Teatro Rodante Universitario, which promoted children’s theater and puppetry. In her book Desarrollo del Teatro Nacional en Puerto Rico (The Development of National Theatre in Puerto Rico), Lydia Ester Sosa identifies this university department and two other institutions as the most critical drivers of Puerto Rican theater during the 20th century. The other two include the Department of Education’s Programa de Teatro Escolar, also created by Santiago Lavandero in 1960, and the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP), which was formed in 1955. Nevertheless, Puerto Rico lacked a tradition of puppet theater until 1965, when Santiago Lavandero
Company El Mundo de los Muñecos. All photos courtesy of Teatro SEA, Manuel Moran
dedicated himself to its introduction. Through the Programa de Teatro Escolar and with government financing, he established an experimental project called El Miniteatro Infantil Rural (Rural Mini-theater for Children) or MIR. With the assistance of George Latshaw (1923–2006), Ángeles Gasset, and Bruce Chessé, a number of young graduates were trained for small, mobile productions. By 1973, there had been more than 3,500 MIR performances, and each performance included the distribution of materials promoting puppet making and performance. Through the 1970s, puppet clubs appeared in many schools and grew rapidly but then fell back after the Programa de Teatro Escolar dropped its support for MIR. Nowadays, children in the public education system continue to be exposed to puppet theater through performances by professional puppet theater companies, many of which were formed by former members of MIR.
The Pioneers Indeed, after MIR’s disappearance, professional groups emerged. According to Rafael Ortiz (1936–2006), the first generation of Puerto Rican puppet companies was made up of Títeres Cibuco
From the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, published by UNIMA, adapted with permission from the author
https://wepa.unima.org/en/puerto-rico/
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