Established in the north of the country in 1972, the Central Lao Opera (Lam Luang) Troupe is the only troupe in the country dedicated to preserving and presenting the unique traditional Lao art of lam luang, a colloquial combination of singing and storytelling which is combined with improvisation, action and dance and performed to a musical accompaniment. Through its work the Central Lao Opera Troupe is tasked with performing two cultural duties: to disseminate stories of Lao heroes in the country’s struggle for independence, and to give hope to young Lao teenagers by showing them that they can perform the same honourable duties as their parents in order to make Laos the strong country it deserves to be. The roots of lam luang are believed to have developed hundreds of years ago when a type of melodic storytelling used by monks for preaching was developed in its own right as a source of entertainment. One of its earliest incarnations was lam phun, in which a male singer or moh lam (literally 'performer of lam'), accompanied by the Lao mouth organ known as the khene, recounted jataka (stories of the lives of the Buddha) or local legends and histories. Lam luang is believed to be a theatrical derivative of lam phun developed in the early 20th century contemporaneously with cải lương in Việt Nam, yike in Cambodia and likay in Siam, probably under the influence of bangsawan from the Malay Peninsula which toured the region frequently during this period. In 1990 the troupe was rehoused in the former premises of the National School of Music and Dance at Ban Anou in central Vientiane, which was renamed the ‘Indigenous Theatricals Centre’. Unfortunately in 2000 the old wooden building burned down and all of the troupe’s old documents, photos and costumes were lost. A new centre was built at the same site and opened in 2002. Although the optimum size of the troupe is 45, at the present time it has only 20 members, organised into five sections - Creative storywriting, Male and female performing, Traditional and international music, Technical/musical instruments and Administration. Most of its performers are from the provinces. The company also functions as the country’s only training centre for lam luang since the art form itself is not taught at the National School of Music and Dance. Today lam luang is still very popular up-country and consequently the Central Lao Opera (Lam Luang) Troupe gives priority to touring the country performing and assisting in the creation and development of local lam luang troupes. An increasingly large proportion of its touring involves the presentation of propaganda and information work for the government, helping to educate local people on developmental issues. The company also appears regularly on Lao National Television (LNTV) and makes commercial videos in its small theatre. To date it has never had the opportunity to perform overseas. The Central Lao Opera (Lam Luang) Troupe is keen to collaborate with overseas experts in popular folkloric theatre (in the 1980s they worked briefly with Ngô Hải, a cải lương expert from Việt Nam) a view to developing their own performance techniques and establishing a full-blown training programme in lam luang.