SHANK'S MARE by Yara Arts Group (US) Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo The Koryu Nishikawa Troupe (JP) Puppet Camp Participating Artists

SHANK'S MARE
Target Audience: for all ages
Duration: 70 minutes

Shank’s Mare traces the journeys of two souls adrift across time and space—a medieval astronomer, with his young assistant, pursuing a comet through the heavens, and a swordsman, undone by grief, who loses his way to the mountains. Their paths cross in blinding snow and shifting centuries, where life and death blur to the resonant voices of hammer dulcimer, shamisen, and flute.

SHANK’S MARE – YOGYAKARTA VERSION STORIES

What happens when a work travels—not simply from one place to another, but from one artist’s hands into the hands of others?

For the 10th edition of PESTA BONEKA, we present Shank’s Mare – Yogyakarta Version, a special collaborative adaptation of Shank’s Mare, a visually driven puppetry work created by American puppet artist Tom Lee (Yara Arts Group) together with Japanese master puppeteer Koryu Nishikawa V (Hachioji Kuruma Ningyo).

The project grows from Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s long-standing relationship with Tom Lee and from something that has always been at the heart of PESTA BONEKA: bringing artists together not only to present their work, but to spend time together, exchange knowledge, and create something through the encounter.

A WORK THAT OPENS ITSELF TO NEW HANDS

Rather than bringing Shank’s Mare to Yogyakarta as a fully imported production, we asked a different question: what if the work could grow through its encounter with other artists?

Before the festival begins, selected artists from our international open call will gather in Yogyakarta for an intensive Puppet Camp. Coming from different countries, cultures, and artistic practices, they will work alongside Tom Lee, Koryu Nishikawa V, and their collaborators—learning, rehearsing, adapting, and eventually becoming part of the performance itself.Through this process, Shank’s Mare – Yogyakarta Version becomes more than an adaptation. It becomes a shared artistic space where different traditions, aesthetics, generations, and ways of working can meet.

With minimal spoken language and a strong language of images, movement, objects, and music, Shank’s Mare offers a natural ground for this encounter—allowing artists and audiences to connect beyond linguistic and cultural boundaries.

THREE ARTISTIC WORLDS MEET IN YOGYAKARTA

This project also continues a relationship that has been growing around PESTA BONEKA for many years. Throughout the festival’s history, Pesta Boneka has welcomed 21 artists from the United States and 16 artists from Japan, alongside an ever-growing community of artists from Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

In Shank’s Mare – Yogyakarta Version, these connections come together in one focused creation process: the contemporary interdisciplinary practice of Tom Lee and Yara Arts Group, the centuries-old Japanese puppetry tradition carried by Koryu Nishikawa V, and a new generation of artists arriving in Yogyakarta through the Puppet Camp.

Different histories. Different practices. Different hands.

For PESTA BONEKA, this is where exchange becomes meaningful—not simply by bringing cultures next to one another, but by giving them time and space to work, learn, and create together.

YARA ARTS GROUP — TOM LEE (USA)

Yara Arts Group is an international theatre company known for visually rich, multilingual works that create bridges between contemporary practices and traditional cultures. Developed collaboratively through rehearsal, its productions bring together puppetry, object manipulation, music, movement, and visual design to create theatre that can communicate beyond spoken language.

Tom Lee, a core member of Yara Arts Group, is a director and puppet artist whose practice explores the meeting point between puppetry, objects, visual storytelling, and cinematic techniques.

HACHIOJI KURUMA NINGYO — THE KORYU NISHIKAWA TROUPE (JAPAN)

Based in Hachioji, Tokyo, the Koryu Nishikawa Troupe is led today by Head Master Koryu Nishikawa V. He began learning the tradition from childhood under his grandfather, the third-generation master, and his father, the fourth-generation master, before further studying the three-person Bunraku style at the National Bunraku Theatre.

Together with the troupe, Koryu Nishikawa V continues to carry the tradition of Kuruma Ningyo through performances in Hachioji, across Japan, and internationally.

PRODUCTION CREDIT
Co-created by: Tom Lee & Koryu Nishikawa V
Performed by: Koryu Nishikawa V · Tom Lee · Takemi Kitamura · Josh Rice
Music by: Bill Ruyle & Chieko Hara
Video Projection by: Chris Cercone
Management by: Anna Okuda

PUPPET CAMP — SELECTED PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
12 artists from 8 countries

• Aisling Leyne - Ireland
• Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete - Philippines
• Bright Ong - Malaysia/Singapore
• Chu Joe Ching - Malaysia
• Eleanor Ee Si Ying - Singapore
• Gagan Prasad - India
• Guey Lun Mei - Taiwan
• Hyang Chu - Vietnam
• Joseph John - India
• Made Harys Candra - Indonesia
• Pambo Priyojati Ranu Handoko - Indonesia
• Yusup Maulana Ramdan - Indonesia