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n ongoing theater festival at Denpasar’s Werddhi Budaya art center has resuscitated the island’s modern theater scene.

Local theater is considered to have lain dormant for years due to a lack of major events and the all too-powerful presence of Balinese traditional performing arts.

“Theater has an important cathartic role for society; spectators often identify themselves with the characters or the theme of a play being presented on stage,” festival committee head, Dewa Gede Palguna, said.

“In this context, we must try to provide as many stages as possible for theatrical performances,” he said.

Organized by the Art Foundation, a cultural organization founded by Kadek Suardana, one of Bali’s leading modern dramatists known for his adaptations of Shakespeare plays into ancient Balinese Gambuh dance drama formats, the festival runs until Sept. 19 and features eight theater companies from across the island.

“Major modern theater events in Bali are a rarity and this festival aims at not only showcasing the best performances from the island’s theater companies but also at providing a regular opportunity for actors and dramatists to share their creative processes,” Suardana said.

It turns out the festival has also became a medium through which the theater companies field test their latest aesthetic explorations before a live audience.

For example, on Saturday night, the Bali Experimental Theater (BET), a Jembrana-based drama company, performed Rezim, a play composed by the company’s founder, Nanoq Da Kansas.

The play did not feature any dialogue or any discernible utterances. The actors relied heavily on movements, gestures and sounds to build dramatic plots and convey their messages.

“Often language and words disrupt communication, instead of becoming a medium of communication. For instance, the Indonesian language and words can be a barrier when we use that language to perform if the audience does not have any knowledge about that language. By discarding language, we try to construct a play that can be understood by all,” Da Kansas said.

So far, the festival has also proved that modern theater can attract a large number of young spectators.

On the festival’s first night on Friday, hundreds of youngsters packed the Ksirarnawa stage to watch Teater Kini Berseri perform Kisah Cinta dan Lain-lain (Love Story and Other Things), a play composed by the late Arifin C. Noer, one of the most influential dramatists in contemporary Indonesia.

“The 300 tickets provided on that night were sold out and we finally let the spectators who couldn’t get tickets sit on the stage. The youngsters’ enthusiasm was magnificent,” Suardana said.

Teater Kini Berseri’s Indra Parusha disclosed that the festival’s committee provided the participating theater with production costs and a portion of  revenue from ticket sales.

“The participating theater will get 40 percent of the ticket sales while 60 percent goes to the art center for building maintenance costs,” he said.