Established in 1957, the Việt Nam Stage Artists’ Association is the national professional association for performers, directors and other professionals working in the field of drama and traditional theatre. It functions to gather the broad masses of stage artists throughout the country, encouraging and assisting them in artistic creation, protecting their rights and putting forward proposals to the state on the development of the stage arts in Việt Nam. The Association has its own publishing house, which publishes play scripts, research books, theoretical critiques and other books on the experience of creation, staging and performance, as well as the monthly Sân khấu (Stage) Magazine. The Association currently has around 2,000 members, including many well-known People’s Artists (Nghệ sĩ Nhân dân, NSND) and Excellent Artists (Nghệ sĩ Ưu tú, NSƯT).