Kontinuasi Tradisi dalam Teater Modern Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Expanding appreciation for (local) traditions is nothing new in modern theater in Indonesia. The golden age of modern theater in the TIM period, is often framed by the jargon "return to tradition". Putu Wijaya, one of the exponents of the TIM generation, called this enthusiasm the emergence of a "new tradition". The specific aim of this research is to produce a study of traditional continuity strategies in current theater performance phenomena. This study will mark a more focused exploration of theater semiotics, and how the strategy of aesthetic coexistence with traditional idioms is translated through the visual codes of performances. The research applies a combination of desk-study and archives-study methods. The desk-study is focused on the theoretical aspects of the study, which will be a conceptual perspective in looking at the phenomenon of continuity of tradition in forms of modern Indonesian theater performances. Archives-study includes analysis and evaluation of theater performances that took place during Pekan Nasional Teater (PTN 2018-2019). The 2018-2019 PTN event is considered to represent the spread of Indonesian modern theater creativity, because the selection procedure for the groups performing is based on a curation process that can be accounted for objectively and conceptually. The research results show several strategies used by a number of theater groups to open up dialectical space for the continuity of tradition, namely: rearticulation of tradition, respatialization of tradition, and delimitation of tradition. Keywords: Tradition, Continuation, Theater Creativity