Po Sein

Po Sein (Burmese: ဘိုးစိန်, pronounced: [pʰó sèiɴ]; 18 April 1882 – 11 January 1954) was an influential 20th century traditional actor, singer, and dancer, who has been credited with innovating and modernizing Burmese performance arts, in dance, song, costumes, and stagecraft. He also established the Mandalay-based performance troupe, "Sein Maha Thabin" (စိန်မဟာသဘင်), which remained family-run until 1993, when it was closed by his grandson Ye Sein.

Innovations

Po Sein was particularly successful at introducing a variety of stage innovations, by explaining the changes to audience and interacting with them throughout the performance.

Also, he adapted the Buddhist Jataka tales, which had previously been exclusively performed by marionette puppets, for live actors, by creating dances and songs as part of the performance repertoire. Until the late 1800s, it was considered taboo for live actors to depict such sacred stories of the previous lives of the Buddha. His innovations led to a decline in the popularity of the marionette theater troupes, by breaking their monopoly on Jataka plays.