Jared White shares his passion for shadow puppets with the students at Hillsdale Academy.
Courtesy | Jared White

Children, parents, and students filled the Heritage Room on Thursday, March 23, to watch a shadow puppet show put on by Assistant Professor of Spanish Jared White. 

Todd Mack, associate professor of Spanish, assisted White in the performance. 

The show on Thursday, geared toward a younger audience, included performances of plays “The Unlucky Fisherman” and “Cafe Dynamite.”

White used a Teatrino, or theater, painted with various symbols from Spanish culture in the performance. 

The theme of misfortune prevailed in both plays.

First, White and Mack performed “The Unlucky Fisherman,” in which two fishermen mutely vie with one another to see who can catch the most fish. However, one fisherman cannot catch any fish, and once the fisherman finally, frustratedly reels one in, a hawk swoops down and takes it away.

In “Cafe Dynamite,” an oblivious waiter repeatedly brings his customers grotesque versions of their orders, including a spider, eyeball ice cream, and finally, a stick of dynamite that exploded, destroying Cafe Dynamite.

White also invited a few younger audience members to practice using the shadow puppets in between both plays.

The shadow puppets’ exaggerated voices and comical personalities evoked laughter from children and adults alike.  

A younger audience member, Sadie, said that her favorite play was “The Unlucky Fisherman.”

“It was extremely funny. I loved how there were no words, and the actions were exaggerated,” Sadie said. 

White said that while his puppet shows are primarily geared toward children, they aren’t just for kids.

“It’s very amazing to see how much dedication he put into this,” said Kathryn Whales, an audience member and drama teacher at Hillsdale Academy. “His need to share stories in unique ways left an impression on me.”

White joined the Dragoncillo puppet troupe in 2018 with three other professors he met at a Spanish conference. Their love for puppet shows inspired White to become a puppeteer, as well.

The name Dragoncillo, meaning “little dragon,” was adopted from a play of the same name written by Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca.

The group is dedicated to bilingual, family-friendly storytelling for a range of audiences, from children to adults. 

The key architect of the puppet troupe, Yancey, who teaches Spanish at Grand Valley State University, designs the puppets and translates traditionally Spanish plays for an English audience. 

Many of the shows the troupe organizes include English renditions of popular plays from the Spanish Golden Age. 

White has performed at many schools in the area, including at the Mary Randall Preschool and Hillsdale Academy.

White has also used puppet shows as a (method) of teaching Spanish to his students in the classroom. Student performers will act out a Spanish play with puppets

At the end of the performance, White expressed his passion for theatrical performance. 

“This has been one of the highlights of my career,” White said.