Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum
Tradition•Creativity•Locality•Internationality Dr.
Paul C.F. Lin, founder of the Taiyuan Arts and Culture Foundation
and a relentless promoter of Taiwanese culture, established the
TTT Puppet Centre together with its director Dr. Robin Ruizendaal
in 2000. From its very first days, the Centre has been at the very
forefront of traditional puppet theatre in Taiwan organizing both
exhibitions at the Centre while, simultaneously, pushing the art
to new vistas and new modes of performances.
In 2003, the TTT Puppet Centre entered a new phase of development
performing overseas in several countries. In the past few years
the company has performed in France, Hong Kong, Macao, Turkey, Russia,
Italy, Vietnam, Korea, Holland, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama,
Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, United Kingdom, Cambodia,
Spain etc. Its performances extended from the world famous London
Royal Festival Hall to a South American tropical forest, Cambodian
temples, as well as a 16th century European churches and the Casa
Mila in Barcelona. Along with increased performances, the TTT Puppet
Centre increased the number of museum artifacts to over 6000 pieces
acquired from all over the world. They include traditional puppets,
scripts and stages from South-East Asia, India and China, masks
and from Africa and Latin America and many other items.
In November 2005, the TTT Puppet Centre moved to a permanent residence
generously donated by Mrs. Lin, the widow of late Mr. Lin Liu-Hsin.
In concert with such generosity the Centre changed its name to Lin
Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum. This new location also enables the
Museum to gather all the departments that make it up, into a central
location. As a result, its collection, exhibition, theater, and
educational promotional programs can all take place as a collective.
The museum is equipped with its own 100-seat mulit-purpose Nadou
Theatre.
In order to promote both traditional and modern puppet theatres,
apart from the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum, two theatre troupes
were founded in 2004. On one hand, there is, the traditionally-oriented
Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company that synthesizes northern Taiwanese
traditional lyrics and refined modern stage techniques in order
to preserve the more traditional part of puppetry. On the other
hand, the new and creative Nadou Theatre Company emphasizes story-telling
in a more modern context combining the visual imagination with modern
stage acts including stylish drama and music performances.
The Museum is located on Xi-Ning North Road, Dadaocheng, one of
the oldest districts of Taipei and just a few steps from the Danshui
Pier off historical Dihua Street.
The Museum consists of two historical buildings, the Museum itself
and the Nadou Theatre. The Museum includes a workshop and four floors
of exhibitions. The Nadou Theatre designed so that it is suitable
for all small-scale performances, including puppets, music, dance
and theatre. In addition to eye-opening puppet shows, the Museum
also offers workshops such as puppet carving, puppet-master demonstrations,
children’s puppet theatre and training in traditional puppet techniques.
The Museum also provides in-depth tour and state-of-the-art performance
for local schools in order to elevate the appreciation for the art
and pass on the feeling for such performances to new audiences.
The Museum has officially been designated as a “Cultural Hall” by
the Ministry of Culture.
The aims of the Museum is dedication to preserve and promote traditional
Asian puppet culture, to become a puppet educational center, as
well as provide a stage for puppetry from all of the Asia-Pacific
area and promote interactions between local and international puppet
troupes.
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