Chilean actress and puppeteer. Ana María Allendes is an actress and has a rich experience in all the fields of performing arts. Attracted at an early age by the art of puppetry, she worked for a number of years in the company, Bululú (1971), directed by Clara Fernández. She then travelled to Argentina, Mexico and Spain, always keeping in touch with puppeteers, which allowed her to closely follow the changes and new trends with regard to staging, scenography, the repertoire and specialized literature.

In 1980, she created the Compañía de Teatro de Muñecos Guiñol, and the following became members: Victoria Gamucio, María Paz Santibáñez, José Miguel Santibáñez and Carlos Ferrada.

Since its creation, the company has put on more than twenty shows with puppets and shadow theatre, notably, for children: El Principíto (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; El fantasmita Pluft (Pluft, The Little Ghost, 1982) by María Clara Machado; La muñeca abandonada (The Abandoned Puppet, 1983) by Alfonso Sastre; La gallina Papanata (Papanata, the Hen, 1985) by Berta Finkel; La flauta encantada (The Enchanted Flute, 1986) by Alicia Morel; the shadow theatre production, La jirafa distraída (The Distracted Giraffe, 1987); El ladrón de margaritas (The Daisy Thief, 1988); La tortuga marina (The Marine Turtle); Tranco Largo (1989) by María E. Coymans; and the shadow theatre production, Circo mágico (Magic Circus, 1992). Shows for adult audiences include: Trilogía del agua (The Water Trilogy, 1984) by Verónica Cereceda; Mariana Pineda by Federico García Lorca (adapted by Ana María Allendes, 1988); Las dos serpientes de la Tierra del Sur (The Two Serpents from the Land of the South, 1990) by Alicia Morel; Circo en sueño (Circus Dreams, 1995) by Julia Ahumada.

Ana María Allendes, active UNIMA member, participates in the professional organization of Chilean puppeteers. Her specialization lies in using puppet theatre in education, and in this connection she has held a number of conferences in Latin America, Europe and Israel.

The Compañía de Teatro de Muñecos Guiñol owns a workshop studio where its puppets are manufactured, the sets are conceived and developed, where the music is composed, and the complete installation of the work is brought together as a cohesive whole.

(See Chile.)