About Cobina Gillitt
Selective Bio
Representative Translations
Dramaturgy Highlights
Cobina has been a college professor since 1997, most recently on the faculty of Theatre and Performance in the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College, State University of New York. Previously, she was a member of the theatre studies faculty in the Drama Department, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. She received her doctorate in Per
Cobina has been a college professor since 1997, most recently on the faculty of Theatre and Performance in the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Purchase College, State University of New York. Previously, she was a member of the theatre studies faculty in the Drama Department, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. She received her doctorate in Performance Studies at NYU under the mentorship of Richard Schechner. Her scholarly focus is Indonesian experimental theatre and performance art, traditional Balinese theatre, music, and dance, 20th century Euro-American experimental theatre, intercultural theatre (possibilities and limitations), play adaptation and translation, and theories of theatre and performance. Artistically, her strongest influences are Antonin Artaud and Bertolt Brecht, focusing on theatre for social change and pushing the boundaries of theatrical performance and performance art as spaces to interrogate and test discomfort with difficult topics to broach in everyday interactions, as well as exploring ways to challenge conventional audience/performer relationships.
Professionally, she works as a production manager, freelance new play and production dramaturg, and translator of Indonesian plays into English. Her most recent project was as Production Manager and Associate Programmer for Beyond Home Borders, a fundraising festival (March-May, 2021) for The Lontar Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Jakarta that promotes Indonesian arts and culture primarily through English translations of works by Indonesian authors.
The world premiere staged reading of her translation of OH by Putu Wijaya was lived-streamed during a plenary session during the AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies (more...)
She has been a member of Putu Wijaya's Teater Mandiri based in Jakarta, Indonesia since 1988. For over 30 years, she has been performing and holding workshops with this leading theatre group in Indonesia and internationally, as well as serving as its company manager. Most recently, she played the role of Mrs. Co in JPRUTT by Putu Wijaya in May 2018 in Jakarta.
She is an active member of the PEN Translation Committee and of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), Association of Asian Performance (AAP), served on the Board of Directors of PSi (Performance Studies International), Pentacle (an artist management support service and dance education organization) and was a member of the Theatre Arts Selection Committee for Fulbright for three years (2014-2016).
Major scholarly publications include:
- Gillitt, Cobina, “Founders of the Field: Rachel Cooper” Asian Theatre Journal Volume 34, Number 1, Spring 2017: 169-187.
- Gillitt, Cobina “A Legacy of Theatricality: Antonin Artaud’s Encounter with Balinese Gamelan” in Performing Indonesia. eds. Andrew McGraw and Sumarsam New Series, Vol. 5 Freer Occasional Papers Series, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC., 2016. (Click on title above to read online.)
- Gillitt, Cobina, “Afterword by the Dramaturg” Dirty Paki Lingerie by Aizzah Fatima. New York: NoPassport Press, 2015: 58-61.
- Gillitt, Cobina “How the Fish Swims in Dirty Water: Antigone in Indonesia” in Antigone on the Contemporary World Stage eds. Helene Foley and Erin Mee. Oxford University Press, 2011: 156-167.
- Gillitt, Cobina, “Founders of the Field: Richard Schechner” Asian Theatre Journal vol. 30, no. 2 (Fall) 2013: 276-294.
- Gillitt, Cobina, “Indonesian Theatre and its Double: Putu Wijaya Paints a Theatre of Mental Terror” Performance of the Senses eds. Sally Banes and André Lepecki. New York and London: Routledge. 2006: 191-199.
plus several other articles in the Asian Theatre Journal, The Drama Review, and Theatre Survey, as well as numerous contributions in encyclopedias including The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Actors and Acting, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance, Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, among others, primarily about Indonesian theatre practitioners, performance genres, plays, and theatre companies.
Dramaturgy Highlights
Representative Translations
Dramaturgy Highlights
- Bedfellows by Hanna Fransisca, reading directed by Rosamund Hutt First Date: New Indonesian Plays Ovalhouse, part of the International Indonesian Dramatic Reading Festival and in conjunction with the 2019 London Book Fair, where Indonesia was the guest country, London (2019)
- Time Bomb by N. Riantiarno, directed Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, The In
- Bedfellows by Hanna Fransisca, reading directed by Rosamund Hutt First Date: New Indonesian Plays Ovalhouse, part of the International Indonesian Dramatic Reading Festival and in conjunction with the 2019 London Book Fair, where Indonesia was the guest country, London (2019)
- Time Bomb by N. Riantiarno, directed Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, The Inaugural Columbia University School of the Arts International Play Reading Festival (2018)
- The Golem: A Horror Opera co-conceived with Elizabeth Swados, with music, lyrics and direction by Elizabeth Swados, Stageworks, NYU (2015)
- My Heart is in The East by Jessica Litwak, directed by Sabrina Peck, La Mama ETC (2015)
- Dirty Paki Lingerie by Aizzah Fatima, directed by Erica Gould, The Flea (2013)
- Clive by Jonathan Marc Sherman, directed by Ethan Hawke, The New Group (2013)
- Company book by George Furth, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Kenneth Noel Mitchell, New Studio on Broadway, NYU (2013)
- Spring Awakening book and lyrics by Steven Sater, music by Duncan Shiek, directed by Kenneth Noel Mitchell, Stageworks, NYU (2013)
- Myself is in Pieces by Kate Maracle, reading directed by Erica Gould, Peter J. Sharpe Theatre, New York (2013)
Representative Translations
Representative Translations
Representative Translations
Several of Cobina's translations of Indonesian plays into English can be found two anthologies that she edited and for which she wrote the introductions:
- Gillitt, Cobina et al., eds. The Islands of Imagination I: Modern Indonesian Plays University of Hawaii Press, 2015. (Published in conjunction with the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair where Indo
Several of Cobina's translations of Indonesian plays into English can be found two anthologies that she edited and for which she wrote the introductions:
- Gillitt, Cobina et al., eds. The Islands of Imagination I: Modern Indonesian Plays University of Hawaii Press, 2015. (Published in conjunction with the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair where Indonesia was the guest country.)
- Includes her translations of:
- Ought by Putu Wijaya
- Make Note by Rita Matu Mona
- Includes her translations of:
- Gillitt, Cobina, ed. The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Drama, Volume 3: New Directions, 1965–1998 University of Hawaii Press, 2017/Lontar Foundation, 2010.
- Includes her translations of:
- Ought by Putu Wijaya
- Noah’s Ark II by Aspar Paturusi
- Puti Bungsu: The Last-Born Woman by Wisran Hadi (with trans. Kirstin Pauka and Eddy Pursubaryanto)
- Via Negativa by Noorca Marendra Massardi (trans. with Evan Winet).
- Includes her translations of:
Other published translations:
- Gillitt, Cobina, “Bedfellows” (Kawan Tidur)” by Hanna Fransisca in New Indonesian Plays ed. Cheryl Robson, Aurora Metro Books, 2019:144-169.
- Gillitt, Cobina OH by Putu Wijaya in 100 DRAPEN by Putu Wijaya Jakarta: Pentas Grafika, 2018: 695-709
- An excerpt of her translation of Shaytan by Putu Wijaya is in the January 2017 issue of the online journal Asymptote. (Click on the play title to read the translated scene. The original Indonesian version is also available at the link.)
World Premiere: OH by Putu Wijaya in English Translation
Live-Streamed Friday, June 25, 10:15-11:45 am EDT (21:15-22:45 WIB)
OH by Indonesian playwright Putu Wijaya, celebrates its world premiere reading in an English translation by Cobina Gillitt. Tackling themes of justice, truth, and generational difference, OH dramatizes the hallucination of an elderly accomplished lawyer who has been muted by a stroke. In his mind, he recalls the time when his son, also a renowned lawyer, visited and shared his thoughts about being the state-appointed defense council for a notorious drug dealer. His son won the case, but upon doing so became the target of a murderous mob. OH was first performed in Jakarta in 2017 to wide acclaim with the Old Lawyer performed by the playwright Putu Wijaya, the Nurse by his wife Dewi Pramunawati, and the Young Lawyer by his real son Taksu Wijaya.
World Premiere to feature playwright Putu Wijaya, performer Taksu Wijaya, and translator Cobina Gillitt
The staged reading took place during the AIFIS-MSU Conference on Indonesian Studies: Paradigms and New Frontiers. Playwright Putu Wijaya was scheduled to join the event live from Jakarta with opening remarks. Following a staged reading performed by Taksu Wijaya and directed by Cobina Gillitt, Tikka Sears moderated a discussion and Q& A session about the play and its translation.
Information about the Panelists, Performers, and Moderators
Putu Wijaya is one of Indonesia’s most acclaimed and prolific playwrights and monologists. In l972 he formed Teater Mandiri that performs his plays under his direction. By irreverently mixing fantasy and reality, Putu invokes “mental terror” in the hearts of his audiences. He attacks the monotonous rhythms of daily life and apathy toward the status quo. Teater Mandiri has performed in Indonesia, the United States, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Egypt, Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgrade, and Slovakia. He has published more than forty plays, dozens of monologues, over thirty novels, and fifteen short story anthologies, and has written and directed close to two dozen screenplays and television series and has conducted workshops around the world.
Taksu Wijaya is the only child of Putu Wijaya and Dewi Pramunawati. Taksu has been a part of his father’s many theater productions since he was small. In the past few years, he has begun performing larger roles, including the Young Lawyer in OH that he has performed many times in several cities across Indonesia since 2017. Taksu now has a day job in IT while still growing as an actor as a member of Teater Mandiri. This is his first time performing the role of the Young Lawyer in English.
Forthcoming in 2024 from the Lontar Foundation
Era of the Bat:
Six Abstract and Political Plays
by Ikranagara
Translated by Cobina Gillitt and Kay Ikranagara
With an Introduction by Cobina Gillitt