Theater gifted with Indonesian "Wayang"

Recently the Liberty Theater in Dayton received a message from a woman in Walla Walla: "My friend told me she was getting rid of some old puppets that belonged to her parents. She said she was going to give them to Goodwill. I thought, no, they need to go to a theater!"

These are Indonesian rod puppets, in the native language Wayang Golek which were procured by the previous owner's parents sometime during the 20th century during a visit to that country. The age of the puppets is not known; however, they are in pristine condition.

These four characters, all carved by hand from light wood and hand-painted, represent a black cat, white horse, bluebird, and a cheeky monkey.

Indonesia, like many other countries, has a long and rich tradition of puppetry. Wayang Golek, rod puppets, and Wayang Kulit, leather shadow puppets, are the primary forms of traditional puppetry

Rod puppets are used all over the world; Kermit the Frog is a famous example of this type of puppetry. Like the Sesame Street star, the Liberty's Indonesian puppets have two rods controlling their hands, hoofs, and paws. The figures are held with a stick that ascends through the torso and serves as the "neck," allowing the head to turn from side to side.

In a Wayang show, puppets stand in a "banana log" at the feet of performers who sit or stand in front of the audience. Indonesian puppetry tradition often focuses on gods and goddesses, members of royalty, and dark or evil characters acting out traditional myths and folklore.

An extensive search failed to identify any specific characters that the gifted puppets may represent. The closest may be the monkey-god, Hanuman.

To give life to the newest members of the Liberty Theater family, a contest has been posted on the organization's Facebook page to help name each of the four puppets. In fact, Hanuman was one suggestion offered up as a name for our simian character. Once all four puppets are crowned with their new names, they will be ready to perform.

The time of COVID-19 is an opportunity for re-envisioning the theater's programming, and the gift of these unique pieces of performance art suggests puppet theater may well be in our future. You can see more about them on our new virtual creative sharing site, "Touchet Valley Performing Arts," found at http://artco-op2020.wixsite.com/website.

For now, the Liberty hopes to be ready to open around mid-October for a fun family movie event offered at no charge as our thanks for all the community support the theater has received over the last five months. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and website, www.libertytheater.org, for updates. Here's to the creative future!