PERFORMANCE TRADITIONS in INDIA: WHERE PAST and PRESENT MEET by Farley P. Richmond and Richard E. Dunham

On May 18, 2001 UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) proclaimed kutiyattam, the Sanskrit theatre of India, one of nineteen "Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." This was the first time in history that this art has received a prestigious international recognition (see www.unesco.org/bpi/intangible_heritage/india.htm). To celebrate this momentous occasion professional artists from the Margi Company, a group based in Trivandrum, Kerala, performed at the Theatre of the Nations in Paris in June, 2001. Despite all the hoopla accompanying the designation, kutiyattam was not (and is still not) on the radar screens of many in the field of western theatre. Kutiyattam might well be the oldest surviving genre of performance in the world, having been reformed in the 10th century CE, yet it, and many other genres that populate the Indian theatre landscape, is still virtually unknown to the western world.