Poet and theater doyen from Lampung

yos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

One afternoon, a thin man with a tapering face, aged about 35, sat cross-legged on a bamboo divan in a coffee stall located under leafy, rose-apple and munggur trees.

He was reading the Sunday edition of a Jakarta newspaper. Once in a while, he scribbled something on a sheet of paper and took a sip of coffee.

A short while later, several young people in their twenties -- two men and four women -- turned up. They seemed close to one another. A while later the youngsters read a poem. "OK, now you, Liza, what is your understanding of the poem?" said the thin man.

Liza gave her interpretation.

The discussion became heated when Liza's friends also gave their comments. These youngsters interpreted the poem in their own way and at the end of the discussion agreed to disagree about what it meant. The thin man simply facilitated the discussion. Only once in a while did he comment on the meaning of the poem.

Something like this happens almost every Sunday afternoon at Bang Muslim coffee stall, Lampung Cultural Park, Jl. Cut Nyak Dien, Bandarlampung, Lampung province. After the discussion, the youngsters usually proceed with their drama rehearsal.

The facilitator is Iswadi Pratama, a noted director of plays in Lampung and also a romantic poet. He also writes plays, which usually take a poetic form.

Just like poet Umbu Landu Paranggi, who assisted the emergence of many poets in Yogyakarta in the 1970s and 1980s, and in Bali in the 1990s and the early years of the new century, Iswadi Pratama is a literary doyen in Lampung.

He deserves this title because he is active in the literary and drama worlds, not only for himself but also for others. A father of a daughter, he brings literary and dramatic enthusiasm to senior high school and university students.

Iswadi encourages young people to become engaged in literary writing through discussions of literature, participated in by small groups. In this type of forum the participants can interpret freely the works being discussed.

Through his Teater Satu and Komunitas Rumah Panggung (Stilt House Community), Iswadi encourages the young to develop their literary talent. For this purpose, he visits senior high schools to seek out talented youngsters.

Senior high school students who participate in drama groups in their schools are also likely to be active later in campus drama activities. If they enter Lampung University, they will again meet Iswadi, who is one of the founders and patrons of the university's drama group, Kurusetra Teater, managed by the Unit of Student Arts Activities (UKMBS).

Stimulating talent to thrive

Young literary talent that Iswadi has helped to shape in recent years includes Ari Pahala Hutabarat, Jimmy Maruli Alfian, Inggit Putria Marga, Lupita Lukman, Renata Renalsya and Hendri Roosevelt.

On his role in helping encourage the emergence of young writers, Iswadi had this to say: "You can never create a poet. I merely stimulate their talent so that they can grow naturally into writers," he said.

Besides being a writer, Iswadi used to work as a journalist. He worked at Lampung Post from 1997 to 2003, resigning because he wanted to dedicate himself to drama.

"Since my resignation from Lampung Post, I have relied on my literary and drama activities for my livelihood. Thank God, everything has been plain sailing, especially as, since 2003, Teater Satu has adopted a modern management system."

When he was culture editor at Lampung Post from 2000 to 2003, Iswadi devoted space to secondary school students' journalistic activities. Students in Bandarlampung sent in their own reports on arts activities in their own schools.

At that time, Iswadi also taught interested secondary school students how to write poems, short stories, essays and arts reviews. "They enthusiastically submitted their work, even though Lampung Post did not pay for it in advance. I encouraged them to write well and ask them to send their work to the editor of Lampung Post.

If they got published, the writers would get paid. Some of the students have now become real writers," Iswadi said.

Since establishing his Teater Satu in 1996, Iswadi has written eight plays. Three dwell on a social protest against Lampung's traditional culture, while the other five contain a social protest against the loss of public space.

Iswadi's Teater Satu has also performed many foreign plays such as Waiting for Godot (by Samuel Becket), Lysistrata (Aristophanes) and A Midsummer's Night's Dream (William Shakespeare).

Meanwhile, the group often uses Arifin C. Noer's Kapai-Kapai, Umang-Umang and Prita Istri Kita (Prita, Our Wife) and Putu Wijaya's Monolog Nol (Monolog of Zero) as workshop materials.

Iswadi has directed 50 plays in his Teater Satu, and in Lampung; they have also been performed in a number of cities across the country.

Iswadi prefers to write and direct a play rather than writing poems. Through his plays, he said, he had a lot of room to produce social criticism.

"Poetry can appeal to only a limited number of readers. You can reach a broader public with your theatrical performances because plays are more easily understood than poems and can create intimacy with the audience," said Iswadi, a graduate in political science from the school of social and political sciences at Lampung University.

His monolog, titled Perempuan Pilihan (Chosen Woman) is critical of traditional values and the oppression of women.

In the monolog festival held by the Jakarta Arts Council in 2004, it won prizes for best play, best actress (Liza Mutiara) and best art direction.

Iswadi is now waiting for some good news from The Rolex Mentor, Switzerland. He is one of three multitalented candidates due to be selected for a scholarship for an international art apprenticeship.

If Iswadi passes the selection, he will depart in mid-2006 for New York or Switzerland to study with Julie Taymor (the director of The Lion King). No Indonesian artist has passed the final- three selection stage, held on two previous occasions.