Institution dedicated to shadow theatre. In 1987, under UNIMA, the organization gathered the names of 300 companies using shadow techniques. In 1988, the first festival of shadow theatre (an event now held every three years) took place with artists from all over the world, and, by 1989, Internationales Schattentheater Zentrum (ISZ) was fully founded under the leadership of Rainer Reusch – teacher, shadow player, and author – to research and support shadow theatre, especially in Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia where it has a more limited history than in Asia and the Middle East.

Situated in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, the centre works to research, archive, promote, and spread shadow theatre. Due to growth in documents and shadow puppets collected, the organization has plans to establish a museum, which is scheduled to open in 2013.

The shadow theatre artist, Norbert Götz, offers advanced training in shadow theatre in conjunction with the centre. The international festival is held in Schwäbisch Gmünd (2012 was a recent one). The centre documents in its books (i.e. Rebirth of the Shadow) and videos modern crossover shadow theatre projects, in which light, figures, and shadows become dramaturgical means to create a new theatrical language.

(See also Germany, Shadow Theatre.)