ORLANDO, Fla. — Central Florida puppeteers performed at Ana G. Mendez University Thursday night for children and adults a puppet show that helps Puerto Rican children displaced by Hurricane Maria.

• MicheLee Puppets helping Latino children cope with trauma
• "Una Boriquena en Florida" focuses on displaced Puerto Rican children
• The nonprofit utilizes "puppet therapy" to help the kids

MicheLee Puppets, a nonprofit that empowers children with puppetry, created "Una Borinquena en Florida" almost two years ago. It’s a puppet show entirely in Spanish.

The goal is to get the children to open up about the trauma they faced after they were displaced with the use of puppets. It’s called puppet therapy.

“They talk to puppets and through puppets,” said MicheLee Puppets Executive Director Tracey Conner. “They say things to the puppet, which they might not be able to say to an adult.”

“Being a social worker, I understand the importance puppetry can be as a tool and utilized within clinical aspects and settings so at the same time giving our students the exposure of using puppetry and seeing it firsthand is beautiful," said Ana G. Mendez University Professor Joshua Torres.

“We hear from teachers and parents just what a huge impact the program is making for their children,” Conner said.

The show follows 9-year-old Amaya, her brother, and their best friend who is from Mexico. Amaya, like many of the children in the audience, was displaced by Hurricane Maria and moved to Central Florida.

Many of the scenes in the show are based on real-life events. The creators took inspiration from four Puerto Rican children who survived Hurricane Maria and shared their story with them.

“They talked about the entire family being huddled together in the living room on mattresses as the storm raged outside, and the back of the house was torn off,” Conner said. “They talked about how frightening it was for them.”

The show not only shows the impact Hurricane Maria had on the children, but also how difficult it is for the children to settle into a new home — Central Florida.

The show was written to also help children from all parts of Latin America who fled their homeland for a better life.

“We’ve had children in our audiences from Chile, from Honduras, from Venezuela, and they have all benefited from being part of the project,” Conner said.

The children can take home a sock puppet after the show to keep the conversation going.

Any schools or churches that would like to bring the show to their kids can visit the nonprofit's website for more information.