At SMAN 1 Demak, Saturday, March 16th was filled with high school drama of the best kind. Students from various 10th-grade classes entered the dance theater on Saturday morning to tell Javanese fairytales with a dramatic twist.

Over the course of February and March, the students had covered the 10^th-grade’s “Narrative Texts” unit, then decided to bring their texts off the page. Aided by Fulbright ETA Sarah Wozniak and English teacher Ibu Yulia Mufarichah, the students wrote scripts, made costumes, found background music, and (of course) cultivated their dramatic inclinations. They also made creative props–including a real pumpkin with a slice cut out, hiding gold and jewels; frightening stage makeup to transform students into spirits; and a pair of balloons, one filled with snakes and one filled with treasure.

Over the course of the morning, the students told such stories as Bawang Merah Bawang Putih (Onion and Garlic), Timun Mas (The Golden Cucumber), Sangkuriang, Roro Jonggrang (a story of one thousand temples), and several others. Sarah and Bu Yulia were excited to hear students shrug off their mantles of hesitation, speak their lines in English without fear, and laugh along with the audience. Sarah was intrigued by the fairytales her students grew up hearing, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to her students fill the quiet Saturday morning with the sounds of a small, but robust classroom theater.

Sarah Wozniak is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Demak, Central Java