Created by the daughter of a former Indonesian air force officer and the grandson of a wayang puppet master, Papermoon Puppet Theatre’s Mwathirika (Swahili for “victim”) restores the historically repressed Indonesian killings of 1965–66, when half a million citizens were slaughtered by the military and local vigilantes during an anti-communist crackdown, back to Indonesia’s collective consciousness. Based in Yogyakarta, Papermoon uses Japanese-style bunraku and smaller kuruma ningyo puppets (manipulated by puppeteers sitting on small wooden seats with wheels) to tell a nonverbal story about “the year of living dangerously” from the point of view of neighborhood children. Part Bread and Puppet Theater, part Brothers Quay, Mwathirika transforms an era that has virtually disappeared from Indonesian history books into a dark fairy tale accessible to a new generation. — By Richard Gehr

Price: $17-$20