Mexican puppet company founded in 1974 by Lucio Espindola in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1975, the company presented its first show, which was awarded the Vito Cantone prize from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes in Argentina. The following year, the company moved to Mexico, to Guadalajara (State of Jalisco) and then to Cuernavaca (State of Morelos). The puppeteer Lourdes Pérez Gay rejoined it in 1978.

With more than eleven thousand performances, this troupe is one of the most important Mexican puppet companies producing theatre for children (and also for adults), using (as well as teaching) all manipulation techniques. Since 1984, the company has led many seminars and workshops with teachers from other countries. In 2003, it founded the Laboratorio del Títere (Puppet Laboratory) that produces shows for other companies, previously selected by a jury, which are presented at the Festival Internacional Titerías created by the company in Guanajuato.

Among the best-known works in the repertoire are: El circo (The Circus, 1976); Hilos y Pentagramas (Strings and Staves Pentagrams, 1979); Con sol, lluvia y viento (With Sun, Rain and Wind, 1980); La Barranca (The Gully, 1985); La visita inesperada (The Unexpected Visit, 1987); Cuentos de arena y de sal (Tales of Sand and Salt, 1989); El señor de tierra blanca (The Lord of White Earth, 1997), an adaptation of Il visconte dimezzato (The Cloven Viscount) by Italo Calvino; El siglo mis abuelos (My Grandparents Century, 1999-2000); El cielo de los perros (Dog’s Heaven, 2001); Dibújame una vaca (Draw Me a Cow, 2002), a show written by Amaranta Leyva.

Since 2004, the troupe has been part of companies assisted by the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA, National Fund for Culture and the Arts) – attached to the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA, National Council for Culture and the Arts) – as part of the programme “México en Escena” (Mexico On Stage).

Marionetas de la Esquina has participated in many festivals, especially in Latin America and Spain, but also more recently at the Festival International de Jonquière in Quebec, Canada.

(See Mexico.)