The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Islands’ explores colonial legacy
Center for the Arts to stage play April 21-22
MIDDLETOWN >> Wesleyan University’s Theater Department will present the world premiere of “Islands: The Lost History of the Treaty That Changed the World” at 8 p.m. Friday, April 21, and at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in the CFA Theater, 271 Washington Terrace, on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown.
Commissioned by the Center for the Arts, the play by Professor of Theater Ron Jenkins explores the legacy of colonialism and the relationship between Indonesia and the United States.
Connecticut’s nickname is the “Nutmeg State,” but few people know the hidden history of nutmegs, and the surprisingly significant role they played in America’s past. “Islands” uses music, puppetry, dance, oral history, and documentary texts to show how nutmegs changed history. The play was researched in collaboration with the ARMA Museum of Art and Banda Islands Heritage Foundation and written by Ron Jenkins using the documentary theater techniques he learned while working as the translator for late Italian Nobel Laureate Dario Fo. Jenkins has researched and written books about Indonesian culture for more than years.
Jenkins assembled a team of Indonesian artists, musicians, and dancers to collaborate on the production. The work features guest artists including Javanese dancer and singer Dinny Aletheiani, Balinese master performer Nyoman Catra Ph.D. ‘05, Acehnese choreographer Novirela Minangsari, and Suhail Yusuf; original gamelan music by Wesleyan Music Department Artist in Residence I.M. Harjito; original choral music by Wesleyan John Spencer Camp Professor of Music Neely Bruce; design concept by acclaimed installation artist Made Wianta, and epilogue by Muni Rahman and Connor Aberle. After the premiere at Wesleyan,
the play will be shown in New York City on Sunday, April 23 at 4 p.m. at the Indonesian Consulate at 5 East 68th Street. The consulate is featuring the free performance as part of its efforts to raise awareness of the historic connections between Indonesia and the United States during the 350th anniversary year of the 1667 Treaty of Breda, which the play commemorates. In the treaty, the Dutch ceded control of Manhattan to the English in exchange for the tiny spice island of Rhun, then the world’s only source of nutmeg, which was once worth its weight in gold. The island of Rhun is now part of Indonesia’s Banda Archipelago, and nutmeg trees still flourish there alongside a dirt path known as “Manhattan Road.” Indonesian interest in the treaty’s anniversary has led to a spate of newspaper and television coverage of the play, which will also be staged at the Mandara Mahalango Festival in Bali, Indonesia on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
Neely Bruce set the text of the treaty to choral music, and will conduct his setting of the U.S. Bill of Rights as an epilogue to the play. “The Bill of Rights is a perfect counterpoint to the Treaty of Breda,” said Ron Jenkins. “The Treaty was a product of colonialism that could be considered the ‘Bill of Lack-of-Rights.’ The play tells the story of Indonesia’s fight for freedom from the Dutch from the perspective of nutmeg farmers on the now-forgotten island of Rhun. One of the farmers I interviewed in Rhun is a central character in the play. He showed me his nutmeg trees located on Manhattan Road and asked me if there was a ‘Rhun Road’ on Manhattan. There isn’t, but there should be. We hope that after seeing our play New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will name a street in Manhattan in honor of Rhun. The Consul General of Indonesia has invited the Mayor to the play, and when I return to Rhun I would like to tell the farmer that Manhattan’s ‘Rhun Road’ is on the map.”
“Few people know that even before they achieved independence as sovereign states there was a link between Indonesia and the United States that can be traced back to nutmegs and the seventeenth century Treaty of Breda,” said Winanto, Indonesia’s Consul for Economic Affairs, who is bringing a delegation from Indonesia’s New York consulate and Washington embassy to attend the play’s opening night at Wesleyan.
Admission for “Islands” at Wesleyan is $8 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni, and nonWesleyan students; and $4 for Wesleyan students and youth under 18. Tickets are available online at http:// w w w.wesleyan.edu/boxoffice; by phone at 860-6853355; or in person at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center, 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown. Tickets may also be purchased at the door beginning one hour prior to the performance, subject to availability. The Center for the Arts accepts cash, checks written to “Wesleyan University,” and all major credit cards. No refunds, cancellations, or exchanges. Programs, artists and dates are subject to change.
“Islands” was made possible with the support of the Asian Cultural Council, ARMA Museum of Art, Wesleyan’s Center for Pedagogical Innovation through the Davis Educational Foundation, the Writing Certificate, Global Studies, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, (R)eintueten GMbH, and the Indonesian Consulate of New York. Commissioned by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.