Visiting 12 Cities,  Lecturer of Indonesian Literature Study Program FIB UNDIP Documented Theater in Pantura

Khothibul Umam, S.S., M.Hum., lecturer at the Indonesian Literature Study Program at Diponegoro University has conducted research on Pantura theater in 12 cities. These cities include Brebes, the districts and cities of Tegal, Pemalang, Pekalongan, Batang, Kendal, Semarang, Jepara, Kudus, Pati and Rembang. This research lasted for one year and produced output in the form of audio-visual documentation which was published on YouTube “Monday Legi Forum”. The culmination of this activity was a Pantura stage seminar which was held at the Multipurpose Building (GSG), Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Diponegoro University on Wednesday, September 13 2023.
Apart from Khothibul Umam, S.S., M.Hum., other speakers who were present and voiced their thoughts were Afrizal Malna and Martin Suryajaya. The event opened with a monologue performance by Eko Tunas and closed with a fragment performance from the Minatani Pati theater.
“In the context of cultural discussions, the Pantura is not just a geographical area, Coastal Java is a space, there are interesting dynamics, a culture that continues to develop, dynamics that continue, I see with pride, the Pantura is very luxurious,” said Dr. Sukarjo Waluyo, M. Hum. in his opening remarks at the Pantura Stage Seminar.
Khothibul Umam, S.S., M. Hum. as a researcher stated that there were 28 theaters from 12 cities that could be inventoried. He wants to build a Pantura stage site “Monday Legi Forum” to record the dynamics of Pantura art in Central Java. This effort is made so that arts documentation can be accessed easily and inclusively because so far performing arts platforms, especially theater in Central Java, are still very rare.
“The interesting thing from the findings in the field is that not all of them have a formal theater educational background, there are only four people. “The backbone of the generation of theater in North Korea is campus theater,” emphasized Khothibul Umam, S.S., M.Hum.
Furthermore, Afrizal Malna showed that the theater ecosystem in Indonesia consists of three activations, namely city theater, campus theater and community theater. However, so far campus theater has not contributed much in terms of aesthetics, because it tends to still refer to general theater.
“Until now, campus theater has been oriented towards theater in general, campus theater has not been part of the academic specifications on each campus,” said Afrizal Malna. He also emphasized that the challenges of theater in the digital era depend on our authority over technology.
Martin Suryajaya on the same occasion spoke about Pantura culture in general. Pantura culture is a mixture of various cultures, a place of crossing, which shows a hybrid pattern so that there is no obligation to adhere to one particular standard. According to him, this is not something negative, in fact this way culture can be practiced without burden. However, not all cultures in the Pantura are completely free from standards.
The event closed with a performance of the Rukti Lakuna repertoire by the Minatani Theater which has been consistently performed for the past year on full moon nights. This series of events shows that lecturers in the Indonesian Literature Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Diponegoro University have played a big role in efforts to preserve arts, especially in the digital era.
(Martha)