Women Center Stage (The Jakarta Globe)

Women Center Stage at the Purple Institute
Emmy Fitri | September 18, 2011

Alone on a nearly bare stage: an actress delivers a monologue during an Instiut Ungu festival last year. (Photo courtesy of Institut Ungu)

Serious theater productions are often considered the exclusive domain of highbrow artistic circles. Which is why women’s rights group Solidaritas Perempuan was so surprised to see the crowds of people lining up to see its 2002 adaptation of “Perempuan Di Titik Nol” (“Woman at Point Zero”), a novel by Nawal El Saadawi about oppressed women in Egypt.

Fellow activists, celebrities, politicians and homemakers flocked to Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta to see the show. When they found the tickets were sold out, the crowd staged a spontaneous protest in front of the theater, demanding that another show be added the next day.

“It was beyond our expectations; quite stunning,” said Faiza Mardzoeki, the play’s co-producer. “There must have been thousands of women there. We held two nights of performances and both were full houses.”

Faiza and the rest of Solidaritas Perempuan were fascinated by the public response to the play. It led to numerous discussions within the group about how the performing arts could become an effective vehicle to promote their cause.

“We came to an understanding that we needed another form of media to present and promote women’s issues, different from what we were already familiar with,” Faiza said. “The tremendous support we got from people outside the activists’ circle demonstrated the possibility of using performing arts, like theater, to bring women’s issues to the mainstream.”

In response to the evident demand, Faiza, along with co-producer Yeni Rosa Damayanti and activists Irina Dayasih and Nur Rachmi, founded Institut Ungu (Purple Institute), a cultural center dedicated to promoting women’s rights through the arts.

Purple was chosen for its historical significance, having been regarded as a symbol of feminism since at least 1908, when the British suffragette movement adopted a color scheme of purple, white and green in protests demanding the right to vote.

Institut Ungu is working on another show with strong feminist themes, called “Rumah Boneka,” adapted from Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House.”

The show will be staged at the end of November in collaboration with the Pentas Indonesia theater company and sponsored by the Norwegian Embassy.

“The primary idea behind the establishment of Institut Ungu was that we needed a special focus on using art as a medium to reach out to people about our cause,” Faiza said.

Institut Ungu held its first event in 2003, called the April Festival. It was organized to coincide with the week leading up to the anniversary of the birth of Raden Ajeng Kartini, a national heroine revered as a pioneer of the feminist movement here.

The daughter of a Javanese district head, Kartini campaigned for women’s rights in the 19th century, exchanging ideas with Dutch friends via mail. Her letters were later compiled in the book “Door Duisternis tot Licht” (“Through Darkness Into Light”).

Kartini was born on April 21, 1879, and the anniversary of her birth is celebrated throughout the country, but Institut Ungu wanted to reflect on the occasion in a different light.

“We picked the date because we wanted to deconstruct the way people understand Kartini and observe her birthday,” Faiza said. “Kartini Day, a national holiday, has been reduced and distorted to merely a ceremonial event. We wanted to counter that.”

The festival was designed as a cultural event created by women for women, bringing together poets, authors, musicians and artists from across the country.

The 2003 program included screenings of Indonesian and international films, a fine arts exhibition showcasing the work of women artists and a series of discussions on women’s rights and the feminist movement in Indonesia.

Singer-cum-author Dewi Lestari, whose debut novel, “Supernova,” was critically acclaimed, gave a talk along with poet and scholar Toeti Heraty Noerhadi Rooseno.

Author Djenar Maesa Ayu also launched her controversial short-story anthology, “Mereka Bilang, Saya Monyet” (“They Say I’m a Monkey”), during the festival.

“Of course, we also had men involved in the event, like singer and songwriter Anang Hermansyah,” Faiza said. “This kind of event is a good opportunity for women to delve into the many perspectives of their own rights and also to reflect on what men understand about women’s rights. Men can also learn about the rights of their counterparts.”

Aside from the April Festival, Institut Ungu has also active in putting on stage productions following the success of “Perempuan Di Titik Nol.”

Since the group was formed, it has staged a number of plays, including “Mereka Memanggilku Nyai Ontosoroh” (“They Call Me Nyai Ontosoroh”), Faiza’s own adaptation of the novel “Bumi Manusia” (“This Earth of Mankind”), written by literary legend Pramoedya Ananta Toer, “Perempuan Menuntut Malam” (“Women Seize the Night”) and “Kartini Letters.”

Faiza said the group’s productions were labors of love. “We’re not like other nonprofit organizations that have a full-time staff and an office, because most of us have other jobs, too,” she said. “The office of Institut Ungu is currently at my house in Tebet, South Jakarta, which functions as the group’s headquarters whenever we have a project coming up.”

Despite the amount of work involved, Faiza said theater was addictive.

“We know it’s very costly to stage a performance, but we just keep going, especially when I’ve fallen in love with the script,” she said.

‘Rumah Boneka’ (‘A Doll’s House’)
Nov. 30 to Dec. 4
Gedung Kesenian Jakarta
Jl. Gedung Kesenian No. 1
Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta 

Institut Ungu
Jl. Tebet Utara IVE No. 14
South Jakarta

Tel: 021 8304531