Sumarsam, Lane Attend World Puppetry Festival in China

As part of his summer study trip, University Professor of Music Sumarsam attended and presented a paper at the “Congress and World Puppetry Festival” in Chengdu, China. Music Librarian Alec McLane also attended the Festival. Sponsored by Union Internationale de la Marionnete (UNIMA), the festival staged puppet shows from all over the world, and hold seminar and organizational meeting.

Sumarsam presented a paper on “Electric Light Bulb in Contemporary Javanese Shadow Puppet Play,” in a panel on puppetry and technology. The panel included paper presentation by Jim Henson’ daughter, Cheryl Henson—the President of The Jim Henson Foundation. She talked about his father’s work, including the creation of Sesame Street and Muppet Show, and introduced his father’s films: “The Dark Crystal” and “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey.” Sumarsam also visited his home country, Indonesia, and then presented a paper at the 2nd conference of the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on Performing Arts of Southeast Asia (ICTM/PSEA) in Manila. His paper is titled “Islamic Perspectives on Javanese Music and Theater: Wayang Dakwah.”