In an ambitious project decades in the making, EgoPo Classic Theater will bring an Indonesian-inspired version of “Ramayana” to Philadelphia – a city that is home to thousands of Indonesian immigrants, many living in South Philadelphia.
But this “Ramayana,” offered June 12 through June 16, will be no ordinary drama on a theater stage, but a massive, outdoor cross-cultural celebration at the Navy Yard in partnership with two Indonesian groups — Papermoon Puppet Theater of Java and the Kalanari Theatre Movement of Bali – and topped off with Rama Fest, a street festival of Indonesian food, artisans, and local performers.
“`Ramayana’ is the greatest classic ever written if you look at its history and the number of countries and cultures in which it is the centerpiece for cultural understanding,” said Lane Savadove, EgoPo’s founding artistic director.
The Hindu epic, dating back to 700 BCE and adapted into Buddhist and Jain versions, is celebrated in ways both sacred and earthly. Throughout Asia, towns are named after Rama, the main character, who exemplifies positive virtues of love and loyalty. In some places, Ram-Ram means hello. In Philadelphia, there is even an Indonesian grocery store named Ramayana.
In Indonesia and across Asia, the epic 24,000-verse poem is taught in schools. Scholars across the centuries and continents fine-tune interpretations of the tale of a young prince who gives up his throne, sees his wife kidnapped by another leader, goes to war, and must turn to a Monkey King for help in rescuing her.
“Its impact globally is definitely unparalleled with any other story and that includes the Bible,” Savadove said. “It’s been around longer.”
Savadove, now 57, was 29 when he landed a fellowship to study theater-making in Indonesia and met Indonesian puppet and dance artists.
“When I first went to Indonesia in 1996, and I was introduced to the ‘Ramayana,’ I thought, `the Western world needs to be given access to this. It’s a vehicle for understanding really complex and sophisticated cultures outside the U.S.’”
Two years later, in May 1998, Indonesia erupted in violence, with ethnic Chinese Indonesians particularly targeted. Those that were able to leave fled the country, with some of them settling here. Most of the Indonesians here are either Christian or Muslim, said Sinta Penyami Storms, an Indonesian community leader who is organizing Rama Fest.
“That’s part of our goal, to spread more awareness about our community,” said Storms, who is founder of Modero & Company and co-founder of Gapura, an Indonesian arts and community organization.
“It’s important because we are a part of the Philadelphia cultural community,” she said. “We have families here. We have second and third generations. We open businesses and we want people to know us and understand us. We want people to know that we are the biggest island country in the world, with 17,000 islands.”
In Indonesia, Storms said, street vendors selling food, crafts and other items would typically set up outside a public performance like the “Ramayana.” People would wander in and out of the performance to get food. Here, she and Savadove imagine, people will order or even pre-order food, then picnic while watching the show. After or before, local groups and artists will perform, and guests can visit vendors selling Indonesian crafts and other merchandise.
For years, Savadove’s 1996 dream of bringing “Ramayana” to Philadelphia was on hold. But in 2017, EgoPo received a grant from the New York-based Theatre Communications Group to send EgoPo’s artists to Indonesia to collaborate with Papermoon and Kalanari artists. Last summer, EgoPo artists met with artists in Java in Indonesia to finish the adaptation in time for EgoPo’s 30th anniversary season this year.
The cast includes 24 artists – half Indonesian and half part of EgoPo. But the characters, including the puppets, number in the hundreds, Savadove said.
Maria “Ria” Tri Sulistyani founded Papermoon Puppet Theatre in April 2006 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. As founding co-artistic director, she collaborates closely with visual artist Iwan Effendi, Papermoon’s puppet designer and co-artistic director.
Founded in 2012, the Kalanari Theatre Movement, also from Yogyakarta, doesn’t focus on theater as performance, but rather as a vehicle to inspire people to develop their cultures with an emphasis on values of humanity.
One of those values, Storms said, is gotong royong, or mutual assistance, shown in “Ramayana” by the characters who help each other through struggles at the heart of the story.
“It’s about community. It’s about helping people,” she said. “In Indonesia, we work collaboratively. We don’t get too personal. We talk about [issues] like family, even if we aren’t blood family,” she said. “That is the true meaning of community, and we do it to this day.”
The message from “Ramayana?”
“There is cross-pollination of different communities,” she said. “We have more in common than we thought. We are living side by side.
Savadove’s take on “Ramayana” includes finding a theme of cultural appropriation in the story, as well as an appreciation for a different, less individualistic way of looking at the world.
“We are connected to a much larger universe than simply what we experience in our 70 to 80 years of life,” he said. “If we can find a way to access that universal flow, we can find peace and flow and connection.”
FYI
“Ramayana” and Rama Fest, EgoPo Classic Theater, Papermoon Puppet Theater of Java, the Kalanari Theatre Movement of Bali, and Gapura, June 12-16, Navy Yard, 5000 S. 11th St., Phila. Food and craft vendors. Free, although premium $100 and $50 seating is available.
- Dangdut Brunch, 12 p.m., Sat. June 15 with Black-Indonesian composer and turntablist DJ Rah, offering Dangdut tunes, an Indonesian music style with Malay and Arab influences.
- Gapura’s Gamelan Gita Santi and Modero & Company, 3 p.m. Sun. June 16 with both groups offering Indonesian dance and music performances.
- Indonesian martial art, 5 p.m. Sun. June 16 with Pencak Silat expert Aditya Setyawan offering a demonstration and practice session
