Any attempt to cover the history of theater for children in Mexico seems a detective undertaking in the best style of the character of Sherlock Holmes, not only for the period of time to be reviewed, but, above all, by the limited and scattered information available. And although researchers have published interesting approaches to this story, they begin their journey in the dawn of the nineteenth century, and from what is considered the Independent Mexico. However, in a strict sense, there is a Mexico before that Mexico.

2. Introduction
• Any attempt to cover the history of theater for children in Mexico
seems a detective undertaking in the best style of the character of
Sherlock Holmes, not only for the period of time to be reviewed, but,
above all, by the limited and scattered information available. And
although researchers have published interesting approaches to this
story, they begin their journey in the dawn of the nineteenth century,
and from what is considered the Independent Mexico. However, in a
strict sense, there is a Mexico before that Mexico.
• The city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded in the 14th century and
according to the texts of the chroniclers, the scenic performances
suitable for children seems not so different from what we find in
today’s Mexican children's theater.

3. Tequiquixti
• Friar Bernardino de Sahagun talks about a sort of puppeteer:
Tequiquixti “He who makes the gods go out or jump”.
• The performance included dancing and singing.

4. Motetequi
• Sahagun also talks about a kind of fakir or
illusionist called “The destroyer”, who
would be related to the creation of
illusions and who, like modern magicians,
could cut people and then unite them
again without causing them any harm.

5. • As we see, the descriptions of
Sahagun talk about activities of
entertainment. From these sources
we can deduce that the children of
ancient Mexico had at hand
representations of something very
similar to what we now know as
puppeteers and magicians.

6. • With the arrival of the Europeans, two different scenic conceptions
merge to generate something new. On the one hand, the
Mesoamerican festival, where orality, music and corporality are the
main elements. On the other, the European theater, where the
discourse and the written word have the leading role. With these in
mind, it is not surprising that works for puppets and zarzuelas are the
first news we have in the 19th century about theater for children.

7. Puppeteers
• In 1835 the Rosete Aranda Puppet Company was founded, which was
still active on the country's stages until 1958.

8. • In the years after the Mexican Revolution, the Cueto family: German,
his wife Lola and then his daughter Mireya, stand out as puppeteers.

9. • In more recent times, companies such as La Trouppe and Corner
Marionettes have clowns and puppets as their main characters.

10. Magician
• In the 1990s, Ednovi, "The Illusionist of Mexico", is a pioneer with
works such as Abracadabra, The Mystery of the mirrors and The Other
Wizard of Oz, of a children's theater where magic is the main
attraction.

11. Topics
• The continuity does not only exist in the
formats and techniques used from ancient
Mexico to the present day, but also, in
certain topics. Yoloxochitl Garcia identifies
a recurring interest of Mexican children's
theater in the reinterpretation of
mythology and national history.

12. • Some examples of this can be found in works such as Popol Vuh by
Luisa Josefina Hernandez

13. • And The wonderful history of Chiquito Pinguica by Sabina Berman,
who reinterpret Mayan myths.

14. • Marco Novelo´s Mictlan, Ball game and Rain glasses.

15. • Daniel Loyola keeps on showing his work Coatlicue 2.0, in which the
goddess of the earth guides us on a kaleidoscopic journey from the
creation of the world to contemporary Mexico.

16. Conclusion
• Then, in a way, it would seem that the representations for children in
the 21st century Mexico continue to be nourished by the other
Mexico, that which is lost in the mists of memory, of the stories of the
grandmothers, in the legend. And we can ask why. Maybe because
some creators continue to find in the reworking of myths and
legends, the right questions so today's children can think about the
world in which they live.

17. References
• Novelo, M. (2019). Theatre for children in a Mexico before it was
Mexico. Howlround Theatre Commons.
https://howlround.com/theatre-children-mexico-it-was-mexico-
representaciones-para-ninos-en-el-mexico-antes-de-mexico

18. Usefull links about the author
• Books: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07YXRR67P
• Research papers: https://universidadanahuac.academia.edu/MarcoNovelo
• Plays: http://www.dramaturgiamexicana.com/autores/123
• Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4CbxXl71KNuTaOS4Bs3bPn
• Blog: https://salidasdeltiempo.blogspot.com/