H-1 PERFORMANCE OF “MY NAME IS INGGRID”: A Cry of the Soul from an Unfinished Cultural Building and a Call to Save the Nation’s Cultural Spirit

By Leni Marlina

Padang, West Sumatra — Suara Anak Negeri News, October 24, 2025| Tomorrow night, October 25, 2025, a long-abandoned cultural building on Jalan Diponegoro No. 31, Padang—familiarly known as the “Mangkrak Building” at the Office of the Department of Culture of West Sumatra—will breathe again.
Not by the hands of contractors or the sound of hammers, not by any ceremonial ribbon-cutting, but by the breath of artists, art lovers, and cultural thinkers who refuse to surrender to silence and dust—the very dust that threatens to suffocate the spirit of culture itself.

In this space forsaken by time, Teater Kuliek Padang, in collaboration with Studio 31, will stage an experimental performance titled “My Name Is Inggrid.”
Written by Ilhamdi Sulaiman and directed by Boyke Sulaiman—two creative souls in one artistic body—the play promises more than a performance. It is a calling of conscience, a voice of cultural awakening for a civilization slowly losing its home.

In his introductory note, the playwright Ilhamdi (known nationally as Boyke Sulaiman) writes:

“My Name Is Inggrid was born from my restlessness toward the death of art spaces and the fading of cultural values amid the acceleration of modern development.

I believe an art building is not merely a structure—it is the body of civilization itself.
When it collapses, art loses its home.
The character Inggrid appears not as a ghost that frightens, but as a guardian spirit that reminds. She embodies the voice of the past refusing to be forgotten—a symbol of art wandering in search of a place to live.

Those words stand as both protest and prayer.
In a world busy building shopping centers, skyscrapers, and elegant cafés, My Name Is Inggrid reminds us: culture cannot grow without a space for the soul.
A dead art hall is not merely an abandoned building—it is a sign that society is losing its mirror.

Amid thousands of digital entertainments that compete for attention in the palm of our hands, theatre remains steadfast in the silence of its stage.
It offers no “pause” button, no algorithm, no escape to distraction.

Instead, it calls us to be present.
To look, to listen, to feel.
Watching theatre means returning to our complete humanity—to empathy, imagination, and the courage to be still in a noisy world.

Here lies the power of My Name Is Inggrid: it is not merely the tale of a Dutch lady’s ghost rising from the ruins of a colonial ballroom—it is the inner journey of a nation searching for its soul.

The chosen stage—an unfinished, decaying building with peeling walls and broken windows—is itself an artistic manifesto:
that beauty can emerge from ruin,
and that art, no matter how fragile, always finds its way back to life.

Behind this production stand the devoted names that keep the flame of theatre alive in West Sumatra and beyond:
Dr. Andria Catri Tamsin (Producer), Mak Ye (Lighting Designer), Ikhsan Rasha (Music Director), Ery Mursyaf (Choreographer), and the FPSB Property Team—Zamzami Ismail, Yenni Ibrahim, and Dadang Leona—who transform discarded materials into symbols of renewal.

Producer Dr. Andria Catri Tamsin, a poet and literary figure, is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Padang.

The four lead actors—Rifa, Ayat, Roma, and Dalo—do not merely act; they embody the space itself.
They become the weary yet unyielding body of a building that remembers—of a culture that refuses to die.

This performance, produced by Teater Kuliek Padang in collaboration with Studio 31 through the West Sumatra Department of Culture at Taman Budaya Padang, opens its doors to the public.
It invites not only spectators, but participants—those who wish to stand within the rebirth of cultural space.

For students, this performance offers a lesson that no digital screen can provide.
For teachers, artists, and cultural thinkers, it becomes a mirror—reflecting how well we have preserved the heritage that defines who we are.
And for government officials and policymakers, it serves as a moral summons: to complete every unfinished cultural building across the archipelago.

An abandoned art space is not a physical issue—it is a symbolic wound of civilization.
When spaces of expression die, imagination slowly fades.
And a nation without imagination is a body without a soul.

My Name Is Inggrid reveals that art does not require a perfect room to live.
It only needs courage—and the love of a people who still believe in culture.

But courage alone is not enough.
It requires collective will—from the public, the state, educators, and the media—to ensure that cultural buildings never again stand silent as monuments of neglect, but rise as living houses of creativity and enlightenment.

Tomorrow night, Saturday, October 25, 2025, at Taman Budaya Sumatera Barat, when the stage lights flicker between the dust and shadows, we will hear a soft whisper:

> “My name is Inggrid.”

And perhaps then we will realize—the ghost we feared was never meant to haunt us.
It is the soul of our culture, calling us to listen once more.

Because theatre is never just about performance.
It is the nation’s way of remembering itself—with devotion, struggle, and love.

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🎭 OPEN INVITATION TO THE PUBLIC

📍 Performance: Theatre “My Name Is Inggrid”
📅 Date & Time: Saturday, October 25, 2025 — 8:00 p.m. (WIB)
🏛 Venue: The First Building’s floor of Department of Culture of West Sumatra, Jl. Diponegoro No. 31, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia
☎ Information & Reservation: Mas Bambang Art (+62 812-6844-1946)

Join us for an unforgettable night of art and reflection.
Experience “My Name Is Inggrid”—the Spirit of Art that Refuses to Die in the “Mangkrak” Building of the West Sumatra Department of Culture.

A special opportunity to witness a collaboration between Teater Kuliek Padang and Studio 31,
with Producer: Dr. Andria Catri Tamsin, M.Pd., and Playwright–Director: Boyke Sulaiman.

(Leni Marlina, Editor-in-Chief – Suara Anak Negeri News)