Review: Camp Broadway Indonesia's Mainstage Program Breaks Barriers with Papuan Scholarship

Camp Broadway Indonesia (CBI) returned with their Mainstage program this summer. In the 6-day program, professionals from Broadway and Jakarta taught singing, acting, and dancing to campers aged 10-17. On the sixth day, the campers put on a performance of Shrek Jr. And this year, ten Papuan campers joined the program through a partnership with PT Freeport Indonesia.

Camp Broadway Indonesia is run by PT Asa Pentas Mahakarya, a performing arts company co-founded by Adit Marciano and Triwatty Marciano. Mainstage is Camp Broadway Indonesia's main summer program. The program is led by Broadway's Kristine Bendul who directed and choreographed Shrek Jr. for Camp Broadway Indonesia, returning after Annie Jr. last year.

A total of 27 campers joined the program, categorized into two companies: Nederlanders (10-13 year olds) and Dodgers (14-17 year olds).

The program also collaborated with several local artists, including this year’s featured players Robertus Darren Radyan as Shrek and Ajeng Sharfina Adiwidya as Fiona, Bernice Nikki as vocal director, and Wishnu Dewanta as music director (who also led Wishnu Dewanta Orchestra as the musicians for the Shrek Jr. performance).

As an ensemble-based program, the performance Shrek Jr. is focused on giving a spotlight to the ensemble cast with a modified version of the story.

Shrek is an ogre living in his swamp in his lonesomeness when a group of fairy tale creatures arrived, having been exiled from the kingdom of Duloc. Looking to restore peace to his home, he goes to Duloc and meets the diminutive Lord Farquadd. Lord Farquadd asks Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona first, who’s been kidnapped by a dragon.   

Shrek manages to defeat the dragon and rescue Princess Fiona and her attendants. Shrek and Fiona, alongside their entourage, set upon their journey back to the kingdom. Along the way, Shrek and Fiona fall in love with each other. By chance, Shrek discovers the nature of the a placed upon Fiona: she turns into an ogress at night. The curse can only be broken by a “true love’s kiss”.

Looking to break the curse, Shrek and Fiona share a kiss. Unexpectedly, the curse is indeed broken, but instead of restoring Fiona into a human permanently, it makes her a full-time ogress. Although this surprised everyone, Shrek and Fiona are still deeply in love and agree to marry each other. Everyone celebrates with a big group number.

Being a decidedly ensemble piece, Shrek Jr. gave ample attention to the campers, who play both the fairy tale creatures and Fiona’s attendants. The campers put on a solid and enjoyable show, although, understandably, some had a more polished performance than others. On the other hand, some campers had no prior performing arts training but everyone on stage put on their best performance, showcasing remarkable dedication and discipline.

As for the featured players, Ajeng was a charming Fiona, filled with a charismatic and quirky optimism expected of the character. Darren’s take on Shrek was quite funny and different, although using a gruffer character voice might have worked even better, as Darren’s natural voice sounded rather friendly and gentle. And, of course, the two of them sang and danced through the numbers with finesse.

On the artistic side, the production had made a quite extensive use of multimedia, lighting, costume, and even sound design to bring the story to life. As a side note, the ensemble was not only dressed in fairy tale or royal costumes, with some cast members donning superhero or pop culture costumes instead. Although inoffensive, it was just the slightest bit distracting. 

That being said, the true value of a youth educational program such as Camp Broadway is not Broadway-ready performing skills, but rather in how they foster the campers’ personal development through performing arts. And in this regard, Camp Broadway excels.

First and foremost, I had the opportunity to observe their rehearsal process on the day before the show. The director Kristine Bendul led the rehearsal with a firm but measured approach that respected the campers as young performers and didn’t coddle them unnecessarily. The artistic director of CBI, Adit Marciano, was also hands-on in ensuring the smooth running of the rehearsal, together with a small team of stage managers and technical directors.

Interestingly, the featured players didn’t merely play their roles, but were also put in charge of mentoring and overseeing the campers (with Ajeng being in charge of the Nederlanders and Darren in charge of the Dodgers). This fostered a close relationship between the players and campers, rather than making them distant guest stars.

After the performance, there was an encore performance of Camp Broadway medley, followed by a ceremony bestowing the Legacy Robe (also known as a Gypsy Robe) to the camper who gave the most positive impact to their fellow campers throughout the week. This is a tradition adopted from the New York Camp Broadway, which itself was adapted from a long-running Broadway tradition, as Kristine (who was once a recipient of the robe herself) explained.

This year, the Camp Broadway Indonesia team unanimously chose to grant the Legacy Robe to the 10 Papuan campers. These campers were chosen after a workshop held in Papua by Camp Broadway Indonesia. The mining company PT Freeport Indonesia sponsored these campers as part of their company’s social commitment to empower the children of Papua.

Symbolically, the robe was given to Heri, one of the campers from the Nederlanders company, who had a standout moment during the performance due to his impressive acrobatic backflip. 

In a short interview with Camp Broadway Indonesia, Heri said that he was really happy to learn a lot from the mentors and fellow campers. He considered the most challenging part of the camp to be the linguistic barrier, as English was the main language used (the Indonesian team helped with translating the directions as needed) And he’s determined to keep developing his talent even after the program.

But the Papuan campers also brought gifts of their own – traditional woven bags called noken, that they made by themselves. A representative of the Papuan contingent gave the bags to Kristine Bendul, Adit Marciano, and Triwatty Marciano.

Although the show was entertaining and the Legacy Robe segment was informative, my favorite part was the moment after the main events of the afternoon. As the cast members, production team, family members, and partners mingled in the theater, the room was filled with a great buzz of joyful energy.

The people involved in the production – campers and facilitators, cast and crew, youths and adults – congratulated each other, sharing embraces and stories. The kids asked each other and the production team to sign their Camp Broadway Indonesia t-shirt. Some of them exchanged little gifts. Everyone took photos to remember the week they shared in such a formative part of their life.

It was doubly bittersweet seeing the Papuan campers bid their goodbyes, as Papua is more than 2.000 miles away from Jakarta, the city in which CBI was held. It’s roughly the distance between New York City to Mexico City. And there’s much less access to Broadway-style musical theater training there, if any.

But I believe the training and camaraderie that the campers had gained during this 6-day period is more than enough to kickstart their personal journeys, to inspire them to be better individuals in their chosen fields, performing arts or not.

I hope that when the program returns next year, we’ll see an even bigger company of campers. And perhaps other institutions would be interested in sponsoring more campers from Papua and elsewhere, to provide these children and teenagers with a training program that teaches them not only performing arts skills but also life skills.

As the quote goes: ‘Movies will make you famous; Television will make you rich; But theatre will make you good.'
 

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