La Titeretada is an annual puppet, mask, and object theater festival that celebrates the magic of puppetry in Puerto Rico. The festival was first organized in 2008 out of the initiative of Deborah Hunt | Maskhunt Motions and Jorge Díaz to create a unique festival with a particular interest in programming and content for adult audiences. It later grew into a committee in which Papel Machete is a co-founder. Teatro Estudio Yerbabruja in Río Piedras, PR, was the festival’s base for several years until its closure. Independent artists such as Deborah Hunt, Tere Marichal, and Mary Anne Hopgood, among many others, and collectives like Papel Machete, Y no había luz, Teatro Vueltabajo, Columpio Colectivo, Agua Sol y Sereno, Poncili Creación, and Bread & Puppet have performed new works attracting diverse audiences into alternative venues.
Our artists have created original artwork for the ‘carteles’. One of the events, Noches de Cabaret-Puppet Slam, sponsored in part by the Puppet Slam Network, an initiative of Heather Henson, has fostered connections in the independently produced experimental puppet works for adults within non-traditional forums as an alternative to hegemonic mass media.
