At a museum established by shadow puppet performer and sculptor Wang Biao in Langzhong, Sichuan province, visitors are invited to try their hand at the ancient art form onstage behind the screen.

At the heart of AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf) is a collection of 180 Karagöz shadow puppets, created and used by Tatoyan’s great-great grandfather Abkar Knadjian in the late 19th and early ...