The Children's Theater Festival, fertile base for blooming talents

By Tam Notosusanto

JAKARTA (JP): It does not happen often. For one week straight, the auditorium of Jakarta municipal's cultural affairs office on Jl. Rasuna Said has been flooded by hundreds of actors.

And they are all 12 years old or younger.

The little thespians flocked there during the week of Sept. 20 to Sept. 26 to demonstrate their theatrical talents in front of an audience.

At the end of the week, some of them may just go home with a trophy or two.

They were there to compete in the Children's Theater Festival, organized by the office in collaboration with the citizen-based Indonesian Children's Theater Institution. From Monday to Sunday, 34 children's theater groups took turns demonstrating their dramatic abilities, performing one-hour plays they wrote themselves. And they all will be crossing their fingers on Monday as awards will be given to those considered the best in acting, directing, playwriting and so on.

"It's fun to be in this festival because there are so many rules to be followed," said Muhammad Fiqih, 11, the lead actor in Pusaka Kyai Carang Malang (Master Carang Malang's Legacy).

He explained his very own theatrical logic. "For instance, in a theater festival, we should not have our backs to the audience. While in a regular theater performance, we can do it any way we like."

Syafruddin, 23, the play's writer-director and the founder of Komunitas Rumput, which Fiqih belongs to, has nothing but praise for the festival.

"I told my kids that this is a competition, it's not the usual neighborhood show we put on for Independence Day. So they worked harder on their performances," he said.

"But in the end, it's not a matter of winning or losing. What's important for me is that the kids have fun, and they get to express themselves on the stage."

In Pusaka Kyai Carang Malang, Sabardingu, Fiqih's character, is a poor village youngster who dreams of becoming a respectable, well-to-do person. His chance comes when he wins the challenge from the king to find the legendary legacy, hidden somewhere in the forest. Through an adventure that includes an encounter with a dragon, he eventually discovers the legacy, which turns out to be a set of books of wisdom.

"Sabardingu is a kind, smart and honest person," Fiqih said. "That's why he finally achieves what he wishes for."

The plays performed in the festival are ripe with these kinds of educational messages. The stories vary, from folktales to stories in contemporary settings, but the messages are always there, coming out in all shapes and forms, from the subtle to the downright didactic.

"Adults usually give advice to kids based on their own concept of goodness," said Edi Haryono, one of the festival's jurors, who is also founder of the renowned children's theater troupe Bela Studio. "They don't see things from the children's side. Adults should share their good childhood experience with the kids, and see how they respond. The resulting dialog is the best way advice is communicated."

Haryono said that such misconceptions of adults was reflected in the works of Indonesian children's theater. In general, he still witnessed what he called a tug-of-war between how adults understand goodness and theater and how the children grasp them.

But he is overjoyed to watch some of the groups featured in the festival.

"The kids from Kamboja 237 Art Workshop, in particular," said Haryono. "They performed with all they got. The director only functioned as moderator, he took what he knew from the children's world, and put some touches to adapt it to the stage. But the material is genuinely the children's own."

It's mainly the Children's Theater Institution's aim to facilitate the activities of the theater groups. Founded earlier this year, its scheduled programs will mainly be seminars and workshops on children's theater, all meant to broaden the horizons of artists and observers working in this particular field.

"Theater is a positive medium for the education and growth of children," said Djaelani Manock, 33, founder and chairman of the Institution. "It trains kids to use their imagination, to communicate, to nurture their sensitivity and intelligence. We need that especially now, when contemporary metropolitan life tends to destroy their mentality."

Manock, a former teacher and leader of his own children's theater group, went to Jakarta's cultural division with his fellow institution founders. The division, having supporters of various Jakarta cultural organizations and events, such as the annual Teenage Theater Festival, agreed to be the Institution's patron. Darudjimat, a cultural division official, explained that his office held several children's theater festivals in the past.

"With this institution, we are able to delegate most of the fieldwork to citizens, with us supplying the funding," Darudjimat said. "And we will have a chance to have the festival more regularly."

For the festival, the division spent about Rp 45 million, including Rp 5.3 million allocated for the awards, and Rp 250,000 provided to each participating group to help with production costs. The groups were not required to pay a registration fee.

"This festival gives them the motivation to always improve themselves," said Darudjimat. "And it certainly keeps kids out of street brawls and off narcotics."