The Theatre Times: The performance took place on a makeshift open-air stage using only simple props, under the roof of a traditional Javanese theatre. The pendopo, as it is known, forms part of a sub-district office in Sleman, on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. The performers were a diverse group, including teachers, traders, activists, housewives and unemployed dependents. They all had different backgrounds, characters, needs, and aspirations. Prior to the production, the one thing they all shared was participating in research conducted by Ekawati Liu, a Ph.D. candidate from Deakin University in Australia. The study focused on the livelihood choices of Indonesian villagers with disabilities.
1 comment:
I read a whole bunch about Indonesian theatre practices last semester and how open the community is to listening to and being involved new works, and this article corroborates that. What speaks to me in this article more than anything is how it highlights how ablest our society is. It makes me upset that so many parts of society are inaccessible and how so many people do not think twice about it because it does not affect them. I love that theatre has become a safe space for people who feel othered and oppressed to speak out about their fears. I wish that theatre for the disabled and/or about the disabled would not feel the need to be labeled “radical” because disability is something that society needs not to marginalize anymore than it already does. I wish that there was more focus of ending ableism in the US and giving more of a voice for accessible art and art created by disabled folks.
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