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Nanik Indarti engages dwarfs in theater to challenge stereotyping
Nanik is grateful to be an actor because in the art scene she is fully accepted for who she is.
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Broken-hearted: In a play titled "Kahanan" in November in Yogyakarta, Nanik Indarti (left) plays short-statured woman Sumirat who falls to pieces after her average-size boyfriend Panji Sosrosuroso tells her that his mother disapproves of their plan to tie the knot. (JP/A. Kurniawan Ulung)
F
or thespian Nanik Indarti, short-statured people are not a laughing matter and she believes in utilizing theater to end exploitation and discrimination of all kinds against them.
“I am a unique woman,” said Nanik, who lives with achondroplasia, a bone growth disorder that causes disproportionate dwarfism.
For the 34-year-old, dwarfism is not a disability. The limitations she faces in life are caused by the attitude of able-bodied people who view her condition in a demeaning way.
Nanik, who is 125 centimeters in height, is the founder of the Unique Project Theater, a community of dwarfs in Yogyakarta who use theater to speak out about the stigmatization, stereotyping and discrimination they face in society, with the aim of encouraging inclusion.
On Nov. 6 last year at the Yogyakarta Cultural Park (TBY), the community staged a play titled Kahanan, a Javanese word that means destiny. Participated in by five dwarfs, it centered on a short-statured woman called Sumirat (Nanik) who is broken-hearted after her average-size boyfriend, Panji Sosrosuroso, tells her that he cannot marry her due to the absence of his mother’s blessing. She is afraid that her grandchildren will have dwarfism.
