Support Our Artists

A message from our Artistic Director:

"Over the course of a long career, I have been fortunate to work with an amazing collection of artists and performers. The group size varies from 7 to 20 people, depending on the project. Our cinematic shadow theater style requires quite a lot of people: shadow casters, designers, musicians, voice-over actors, technicians, and administrators.

I would like to honor and celebrate our collaborators. Each project is a voyage of exploration and discovery, not only of the material at hand, but of each other and what we can bring to the creation of a truly unique form of theater. This year, for example, we are embarking on a new phase of shadow theater, incorporating video as a source of the backgrounds for our puppets and masked actors. Unexpectedly we discovered hidden talents among our shadow casters as digital creators and designers!

We begin each project with workshops where everyone is encouraged to try things out. At this stage failure is just as welcome as success. In order to find what will work, it’s important to discover what doesn’t. As Beckett once said, we fail again, and fail better. The look and feel of every project is unique because different team members create the look and character of each show.

Live theater is unlike film or animation because the actors are actively listening to and reacting to the audience. In fact, the end result of theater is our collaboration with the audience, without whom our work would be meaningless. Following our deep inspiration from Indonesian traditions, we imagine performances to be offerings of nourishment for the soul, of both audiences and performers. We need each other for the event to be complete.

We try to make our work available to all, through low ticket prices and free events whenever possible; which means we have to raise money through grants and donations. We also believe that our artists should be properly compensated for their work.

If you have enjoyed our productions over the years, this is your chance to help us pay it forward." –Larry Reed

https://shadowlight.org