by Navy Yard Philadelphia
May 28, 2024
Categories: Community, Events, Fun, History, Public Art,
More than 28 years in the making, EgoPo presents the world-premiere re-telling of the ancient Hindu epic in collaboration with two of Indonesia’s vanguards in the performing arts. This performance will take place in The Navy Yard, under a giant open-air tent June 12-16.
The staging integrates the puppetry, dance, theater, and music expertise of the three companies to tell one of the world’s oldest stories about the unbreakable power of the human spirit. Performances will be surrounded by Rama’s Fest, a week-long celebration of Indonesian food and culture.
Event Details
- When:
- Wednesday, June 12, 7:30 p.m.
- Thursday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, June 14, 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, June 15, 2:00 p.m.
- Saturday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, June 16, 7:30 p.m.
- Tickets: This is a free, un-ticketed event, but reserved tickets are available for donors. A $50 donation includes a reserved premium seat to the Ramayana. A $100 donation includes a VIP seat with an Indonesian picnic-meal provided by Pecel Ndeso. General admission lawn seats are free day-of performances and not available for reservation. Audience capacity is 199.
- Event Website: egopo.org/ramayana
- Location & Directions:
- Address: The Navy Yard – Field 624, 5000 S 11th St, Philadelphia, PA 19112
- Public Transportation: Attendees are recommended to take public transportation or rideshares to the event.
- Parking: There is accessible street parking surrounding the site.
Before every show, guests coming to experience the Ramayana are invited for a festival featuring up to 20 Southeast Asian vendors daily.
EgoPo’s Journey to the Ramayana
EgoPo has been training and collaborating with Javanese theatre and dance companies since 1996. In 1997, our first exploration of the Ramayana opened with a workshop production at the National Cultural Center in Surakarta (Solo, Java) following a year-long residency. Our organization has held long-term residencies with artistic and cultural exchanges at its root.
Through collaboration with Papermoon Puppet Theatre and Kalanari Movement Theatre, EgoPo brought American actors to Indonesia to train with multidisciplinary artists for 5-weeks in July 2023. Most recently, this in-process work had a showing at Padepokan Seni Bagong Kussudiardja (Yogya, Java). The Ramayana stands as the most ambitious work EgoPo has done to date with this project reaching fruition in Philadelphia in June 2024.
The sharing of the Ramayana tradition with American audiences, many of whom have yet to see or read it, is an act of conscious gift-giving by our artistic team and an invitation to view the world from a new perspective of radical kindness.
Learn More
To learn more about Ramayana and EgoPo, visit egopo.org/ramayana.