Balinese Wayang Listrik at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Genre: Wayang Listrik

Wayang Listrik is a modern Balinese theatre genre based on traditional shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) with accompanying dance and music, all transferred to a large 30 x 15 foot screen. “Listrik” is the Indonesian word for “electric” or “electricity” referring to the use of electric light projections on large screens, which is a recent development that began in the late 1980s in Balinese shadow puppetry. Well-known dalangs and artists like I Ketut Kodi and I Made Sidia along with filmmaker and puppeteer Larry Reed experimented with this new media for wayang. Reed and Sidia further developed this form into what is referred to today as wayang listrik, combining large screens, paintings, film, complex lighting, shadow puppetry, and shadow actors. The Asian Theatre Program’s Balinese Wayang Listrik productions incorporate elements borrowed and modified from existing Balinese performing art forms: theatre, music, dance, and shadow puppetry.

Under the direction of Dr. Kirstin Pauka, Department of Theatre & Dance, there have been several Wayang Listrik productions at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: The (Balinese) Tempest (2008), Subali-Sugriwa: Battle of the Monkey Kings (2016), The Last King of Bali (2020), and the upcoming Panji and the Lost Princess (2026). Additionally, a large component of each Wayang Listrik project has been educational outreach to local K-12 students, including the creation of a teacher’s resource guide and visits to neighbor island schools.