Venezuelan puppet company founded in 1993 in Maracay by Yraima Vásquez Bitriago. She began working with Mery Caruido at the Teatro Barinas de Muñecos in 1979 before creating the children’s workshop of the Fundación del Niño (Child’s Foundation) in Barinas. In 1990, Yraima Vásquez Bitriago joined the TEMPO theatre (Teatro Estable de Muñecos del Estado de Portuguesa).

She then began to work alone before she founded her own company, La Lechuza Andariega (The Roving Owl), which included Alejandro Jara, Daniela Jara, Betzaida Mendoza, and Iraida Valero, who all live in Maracay. The company’s focus is on teaching, research and dissemination of puppetry as a tool of artistic, educational and therapeutic expression.

La Lechuza Andariega has performed at national and international festivals, in Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Brazil. Among their shows are Los cuentos de la lechuza (The Owl’s Tales) and Cuentos de Navidad (Christmas Tales).

(See Venezuela.)