Kathy Foley is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Theatre Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has also taught at University of Malaya, University of Hawaii, Yonsei University (Korea), and Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). She is author of the Southeast Asia section of Cambridge Guide to Asian Theatre (Cambridge, UK, 1993) and was editor of Asian Theatre Journal from 2005-2018. She received the 2019 Association for Theatre in Higher Education award for Sustained Excellence in Editing.. Her articles have appeared in TDR, Modern Drama, Asian Theatre Journal, Puppetry International, and other publications, nationally and internationally. Recent chapters in various books. Include “Her Story in Indonesian Dance." In Dance and Narrative, ed. Barbara Sellers-Young and Jade McCrutheon, (Palgrave-McMillan, 2018); “Silencing the Wali" in Marionnettes et pouvoire, ed. Raphaele Fleury et al. (Montpelier, France, 2019). "Environmental Theatre: Selected Asian Models" Routledge Companion to Scenography, ed. Arnold Aronson (Routledge, 2018) and “The Woman Thing: Issues and Advances for Women in Sundanese Performance," in Routledge Guide to Women in Asian Theatre, ed. Arya Madhavan (Routledge, 2017). She wrote or edited over two hundred articles for the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts (WEPA, general editor Karen Smith) published online in English, French and Spanish in 2017 by UNIMA-International.

 

ARI Supported Project:

This research will, though interviews, performance documentation, translations of plays in Lombok, Java and Malaysia, explore the choices  of contemporary Muslim performers of Wayang puppetry and Mak Yong dance drama as they zig zag between charges of haram a (forbidden by Islamic law) and the accolades of national or international Intangible Cultural Heritage (a UNESCO title accorded to their genres). I seek support of consultations, performance documentation (opening ritual dances and mantra which are being cut), text translations of a  sample recorded performances, and miscellaneous aid.

Visit site