TEHRAN -- As the 11th Tehran International Puppet Theater Festival opened yesterday at the City Theater Complex, foreign troupes are preparing to play an active role during the week-long event.

Massimo Schuster, executive director of the European branch of UNIMA (Union Internationale de la Marionnette), will be in Iran during the festival. He is slated to deliver a lecture on the new status of puppet show in the world at the Beethoven Hall of the Iranian Artists Forum today.

Spanish puppeteer José Luis Navard, who plans to perform “Melancholy to Passing Time” in the festival, is scheduled to hold a workshop entitled “Puppet, More Than an Object” in the City Theater on September 5.

A Polish-Kenyan joint troupe is to hold another workshop entitled “Objects Role and Movement of a Puppet” at Honar Hall on September 6. The troupe will also stage a puppet show entitled “Tale of Africa” in the festival.

Organizers of the festival have also invited Dutch director Charlotte Jullen to conduct a three-day workshop, which will begin on September 7 at the Chaharsu Hall of the City Theater Complex. Her “Pantera II” will be performed in the festival.

Another workshop is also scheduled to be held by the U.S. puppeteer Patrick Sims at the Honar Hall on September 8. He will direct a puppet show with puppeteers from France, England, and Portugal.

“What Memory Do We Have from Puppet?” is the title of another workshop, which will be held by Brazilian puppeteer Roy Frati during the festival.

Organizers have published a series of postcards carrying images of the Iranian traditional puppet, Mobarak, which will be distributed during the festival.

An exhibition displaying photos of Iranian puppet shows and masks is underway on the sidelines of the event at the City Theater Complex.