We were very fortunate to have Kathy Rowland speak to the group and give us an historical perspective of the performing arts past, present and future in Malaysia.

Kathy is the co-founder of Kakiseni, the online publishing company that promotes performing arts in Malaysia. Kathy is Malaysian and studied literature at UM. She has worked at the Italian Embassy and at the Australian High Commission in KL where she headed up the PA department.

Kathy was responsible for initiating the Australian Film Festival in Malaysia and has produced Kuali Works "From Table Mountain to Teluk Intan" at the New York Fringe Festival.

She is also one of the founding members of ArtisProAktif, a non-partisan collective of Malaysian art practitioners who question the status quo. She has been granted a Research Fellowship by the Singaporean government to do an MA in Arts Management. Her thesis subject is "The politics of Drama: Post 1969 Government Policy and Theatre in English in Malaysia". This will include aspects including the Boh Cameronian Awards, community based projects and how to raise the profile of the performing arts with the Malaysian public generally.

We thank Kathy for outlining the development of theatre and theatre practice in Malaysia, including an historical perspective. The effect of colonialism, multi-ethnic culture, independence, the riots of 1969, the revivalist development of Islam in the 1980's , governmental policies and developmental theatre groups and practices were discussed.

I have personally enjoyed the performances of "Emily of Emerald Green", "Flies and Foreigners" and "Menopause" since arriving in Malaysia and I look forward to many more interesting performing arts that this diverse country has to offer.

Thank you Kathy from all attendees who enjoyed your thought provoking lecture. May you go on to greater success. Good luck with the thesis.
- Lynne Samuel

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1 December

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Bernice Chauly is well known in the Malaysian arts scene as a producer, writer, and a documentary filmmaker. Several years ago, Bernice conceptualized, wrote and narrated a documentary series called Semangat Insan: Masters of Tradition. It deals with personality profiles of living cultural legends, appealing not only to Malaysians but to an international audience. It offers insight into the lives of six masters of traditional arts each negotiating against forces that are eroding the foundations of their art.

By delving into the belief systems behind these performance traditions, we can begin to appreciate the nearly forgotten approaches to personality, kinship and art. As a multi-cultural nation in the heart of South-East Asia, Malaysia is a mosaic of different influences including Malay, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Middle Eastern and Indigenous which embellish all these art forms: bangsawan, makyong, Chinese opera, menora, main puteri and wayang kulit. Join us as we continue to delve into the traditional performing arts in Malaysia, both past and present.