Mexican National Automaton Company of the Rosete Aranda brothers (1835-1942)

General coordination: Marisa Giménez Cacho

Research: Francisca Miranda

Design and Programming: Alberto Figueroa

CD (Documentary Studies and Consultation Works Collection)
INBA-CITRU-National Coordination of Theater-Program for Children and Youngsters
México, 2009

The introductory study “The World in Miniature of the Puppets of Rosete Aranda”, by Francisca Miranda, marks the investigation that follows the stage history and the bibliography of the creators (fabricators, manipulators, musicians, scriptwriters and business people) of this puppet Company that for three generations – and the course of more than a century – assumed and reinvented the puppetry tradition in Mexico. This particular story began in 1835, when they left San Lucas towards Huamantla and other settlements in Tlaxcala, and reached their golden era during the Porfiriato, a period in which they had more than 500 puppets between 30 and 40 cm tall, carved in wood, an orchestra and their own theater in the south of Mexico City. From there, they left to tour the country with an awesome repertoire of more than 200 scripts, which they also presented in theaters such as the Arbeu, the National and the Hidalgo; and finally reached the end of their journey in Huamantla, when in 1943, Francisco Rosete Resendiz sells the name of the company to Carlos V. Espinal. From the main menu, the “Biographies” option displays the family trees of the Aranda, Rosete Aranda, Rosete Reséndiz and Rosete Rivera families, and an archive of 11 file cards with biographical notes and photographs of the protagonists of the dynasty. With the “Catalogs” option, one gains access to images from selected pieces from the collections of the National Puppet Museum of Huamantla, Tlaxcala – and of the collector Miguel Narváez, from Puebla; and it includes the identification of the character and/or performance to which each puppet belongs. The “Timeline” option, with the guide of a chronological axis that goes from 1835 to 2009, registers familial events, the showing of memorable pictures and tours; and it includes buttons that take us to facsimiles of documents, photographs, journalistic notes, tickets, audience programs and posters. The “Scripts” option displays a contents page of more than 50 works filed by title and with details on authors, characters, premiere dates and performances. Finally, the “Restoration” option takes us to two interviews and images about the restoration and conservation processes of the puppets of the Rafael Coronel Museum (Museo Rafael Coronel) and the National Puppet Museum (Museo Nacional de Títere) collections.