oAntara Kita Online Issue 5.0

Kathy Foley

Kathy Foley spent six months in 2003 as a Fulbright Scholar working on "Cosmolgy and Character Type in Topeng and Wayang." Foley did research in Sunda, Central Java, Malang, Madura, Kalimantan and Bali looking at the relationship of character types and cultural principles. The reseach ranged from the older Solo mask traditions, to the masked topeng traditions which are intimately related to wayang's puppet/dance genres, to cthonic representations like barong and lion dance traditions. Clown performances which use mask/puppets and modern transvestite artist Didik Nini Towok were also included.

Her work will result in an exhibition on South East Asian masks which will be presented at the University of California Santa Cruz and the East-West Center in Hawaii in the coming academic year. Foley interviewed, viewed, and studied these performance traditions with major artists throughout the achipelago. Her research culminated in a lecture performance in Bandung at the Sunaryo Gallery. The performance, a collaboration with the Bandung International School was reviewed in major papers (Kompas {Jakarta}, Pikiran Rakyat {Bandung}, etc.) During the time Foley was in Java she also attended an opera for which she created the libretto, which composer Vincent McDermott was producing in Yoyakarta.

Foley is a professor of theatre arts at the University of California Santa Cruz and has performed as a dalang (puppetmaster) of wayang golek rod puppets and wayang orang dance drama for 20 years. After completing the Fulbright she taught in Thailand at the Cultural Mangagement Program of Chulalongkorn University before returning to the US. She is currently at work on a book on mask and puppet performance in Southeast Asia. Any institution interested in the possibility of booking the upcoming mask exhibition should feel free to contact her at kfoley@cats.ucsc.edu.