Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe

Puppet Show at Dragoncillo

The Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe, a troupe founded in 2018, is one that specializes in the Golden Age Theater 16th to the 17th century that was . The troupe consists of Jason Yancey, Esther Fernández, Jonathan Wade and Jared White. Jason Yancey is an associate professor of Spanish who specializes in Theater and Early Modern Spain at Grand Valley State University. In 2010, Jason began teaching a puppetry course in Spanish, where students write and produce original puppet shows which they perform at local Spanish immersion elementary schools. Esther Fernández is an associate professor who works with early modern Spanish literature and culture at Rice University. Esther has been the author of Eros en escena: erotismo en el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Jared White is assistant professor of Spanish at Hillsdale College. He has performed in productions of El caballero de Olmedo and Las cortes de la muerte. Jonathan Wade is an associate professor of Spanish at Meredith College. Jonathan has participated in Spanish Golden Age theater performance classes.

The puppet troupe engages with the community by outreaching so children can learn about performance traditions like the Spanish Golden Age. The troupe also uses outreach by validating language and culture. Their outreach presentation consists of an introduction to Spanish and Puppetry, a shadow puppet performance, and questions and answers. They have had presentations at Will Carleton Academy in Hillsdale Michigan, Conley Elementary in Tallahassee Florida and Paso del Norte School in El Paso Texas as well as others. Since they perform at different schools in different states the schools are either selected or the troupe is invited to perform at a school.

Jason Yancey who began the troupe makes the shadow puppets from 3D printers for their performance and they also use tubing for arms so puppets could perform themselves when they are moved rapidly. For certain plays where they must take the heads off certain shadow puppets and replace them with others, they use magnets to

have the heads pop off. They have made 3D shadow puppets of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz among others that are created for short stories like their Taberna Dinamita play. As the shadow puppets are being used the person using the shadow puppet must be gentle with it, should not smack them together, never turn the puppet sideways because it disappears, and no overlapping the shadow puppets since the audience will not be able to see them individually.

On Wednesday March 9th the troupe did a small presentation and performance for the Early Modern Spanish Literature course and the theater students on campus at the Main Theater Stage. Their presentation included an introduction of Jason Yancey and Esther Fernández. Jason then explained how he began teaching a Spanish Laboratory Theater Production course at Grand Valley State University as a puppetry course. In this course his students build puppets, stages, scenery and write scripts. During the last month of the course the students take what they have learned in the course and what they have created and do community outreach by performing at schools. Due to the class Jason decided to expand into a company which is the Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe.

Jason continued that before expanding into a company in 2018 in 2014 he made an adaptation of Quijote that ran about 30 minutes. With the adaptation of Quijote he performed in different states and schools. Jason spent about a year building the puppets and adapting the script. Since he used puppets that he made from fabric and other materials they were hard to travel since puppets were big and heavy. He did encounter other problems besides the puppets which was memorizing the script, building all the sets and puppets, rehearsals and performers not being available due to school or other commitments. In 2018 Jason got Esther Fernández, Jonathan Wade and Jared White together to perform Fabulous Johnny. Their 1 to 2 hour rehearsal led to a 20 to 30 minute presentation. After that presentation Dragoncillo was created and their first show as the Dragoncillo Puppet troupe was Francisco de Quevedo.

He then gave an explanation of how the performances are done, like how they don’t memorize the script since they have it scrolling up on their side of the screen. Jason also explained how they have incorporated more about shadow puppets in their presentations like how they work, how they’re used, and how they’re made. After the presentation Jason asked for 4 volunteers and he did a mini performance with them and Esther. He went over the rules on how to use a puppet like moving them when talking and holding them still when listening, to never turn the puppets sideways since they would “disappear.” For their performance they did a short play titled Taberna Dinamita.

Lastly, the presentation and performance concluded with a questions and answers portion. Where Jason was asked where his inspirations came from and said that they came from things he is interested in and plays that are from the Golden Age. He also stated that he is working on plays of Garcia Lorca that is about a Bullfighter who died.

Jason also stated that they would be performing at the Boyle Heights variety boys and girls club with longer plays, have activities on shadow puppets and the plays would be of the Spanish Golden Age translated.

Harvest International 2022