Jose Rizal Manua: Keeping children's theater alive

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 02/22/2007 8:54 AM  |  Life

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A skinny man in his 50s, sporting long hair and myopic glasses, is absorbed in a volume in a bookshop at the Graha Bakti Budaya, of Jakarta's Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center (TIM). Several elementary school students are reading drama scripts, now and again interrupted by the man's shouts to correct their intonation.

This scene has been a common sight every Sunday afternoon for decades at the arts center. Previously, the children had practiced beside TIM's arena theater before the building was demolished.

While new students join up each year, their instructor has remained the same. He is dramatist Jose Rizal Manua, director of children's theater troupe Teater Tanah Air.

Born Sept. 14, 1954 in Padang, West Sumatra, Jose is among the few artists in Indonesia who are devoting a lot of effort to the world of children's theater. A Jakarta Arts Institute alumnus, he is also a bookworm and the owner of the popular used-books kiosk in a ground-floor corner of Graha Bakti Budaya.

Managing a children's theater is nothing new to Jose. A member of renowned poet and dramatist Rendra's Bengkel Teater, he set up the children's troupe, Teater Adinda, in 1975.

From 1978 to 1981 this group of youngsters aged 7-14 was champion of the Jakarta Children's Theater Festival. Jose also directed kids with the Teater Legenda for a children's program on TVRI from 1982-1986.

In 1988, Jose established Teater Tanah Air. Over the decades he dedicated to promoting children's theater, Jose said he had received very little in terms of material rewards.

The real reward, it seems, is the satisfaction he feels when members of his group later became successful performers. Among these are the outstanding Sylvana Herman, Deny Malik, Ratu Tria and Arum Sulistyorini.

His long, close association with drama has made Jose Rizal highly proficient at handling children's theater.

""Basically, I'm just a facilitator to stimulate and guide children so that they can develop their imaginations. I don't build or form certain characters. I let them find their own,"" said the dramatist, who once starred in Oeroeg, adapted from a novel by the Netherlands' Hella Haase.

On Aug. 5, 2004, Jose's Teater Tanah Air successfully staged Bumi di Tangan Anak-Anak (Earth in children's hands) at the Festival of Children's Theater in Toyama, Japan. Inspired by 11 imaginative pictures of novelist Danarto, Tanah Air players presented the story of a kuda lumping (bamboo horses with men sitting astride) that defeated a dinosaurs.

""Logically speaking, kuda lumping -- an exotic creation of the East -- wouldn't be able to overwhelm a dinosaurs constructed by Western culture,"" he said.

The troupe took home the gold medal -- an achievement that prompted invitations to perform in several Asian and European countries. And Jose received recognition for his ability to accommodate children's wandering imaginations.

Teater Tanah Air claimed another major achievement in the 9th Children's Theater Festival of the World, which ran from July 14-22, in Lingen, Germany. Performing the work of Putu Wijaya, Wow, 14 children of the group amazed audiences representing 24 countries and won 19 gold medals.

Returning from Germany, Jose and his troupe staged Wow on invitation in Singapore from Dec. 2-3, 2006. They are due to perform in Sydney this month, in Malaysia in March and in New York in April.

""Our show in New York will be watched by council members of the United Nations,"" he said.

Jose acknowledged that it was not easy to maintain a children's theater group amid the technological temptation of video games and other entertainment. What made it possible for him to continue guiding the children in remaining engaged in the group, he said, was his affection for children and his love of the theater.

He believes children should be given free reign when acting out a play.

""The core of children's theater is play. So I never burden them with stories. When rehearsing, I just let them practice and enjoy the play, until they realize that they are acting,"" Jose explained.

Jose said he was very fortunate to have his wife and children, who are very supportive of his theatrical pursuits. His wife Nunum Raraswati, 48, even helps Jose prepare his shows. And their five children, Sakti Harimurti, 24, Sanca Khatulistiwa, 19, Nuansa Ayu Jayadwipa, 15, Nusa Kalimasada, 11, and Niken Flora Anjani, 7, also help drive the troupe.

His children are skilled actors themselves. Sakti, now working with a production house, debuted in a film when he was a toddler; Nuansa recently had a leading role in Nan T. Achnas' Bendera and several television films. She, along with Nusa Kalimasada and Flora, are among the lead actors of Tanah Air.

""They joined the theater and entered this art form on their own. I never led or forced them,"" said Jose.

Apart from his performing arts career, Jose is also one of the best poetry readers in Indonesia. As a youth, he won various poetry reading contests in Jakarta from 1981-1986, which led to a restriction on his further participation.

But his passion for poetry prompted him to write poems and read them across the country in the 1990s. In the same decade, he initiated the H.B. Jassin Cup Poetry Reading Contest, a national poetry competition.

""Once I had to use my child's savings to buy a trophy and prizes for winners,"" he recalled.

Aside from theoretical studies on theater, Jose said he had learned under prominent directors. He joined well-known theater groups as an actor, such as Putu Wijaya's Teater Mandiri in 1975, Rendra's Bengkel Teater since 1977, Arifin C. Noer's Teater Kecil, Teguh Karya's Teater Populer and recently, Remy Sylado's theater troupe.

He has no mind to quit directing children's theater, and said he would continue to train kids in this performing art as long as he was still needed and able to do so.

""Many directors have handled theater for youths and adults. For children, only a few are capable of managing them. To me, children's theater is a means of imparting my abilities and skills, rather than a place to make money,"" said the director, who is now instructing aspiring film actors.

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