UCLA Indonesian Culture Night 2025

Indonesian Culture Night (ICN) is an entirely student-run theatrical production that tells a personal story resonating with our Indonesian and Indonesian-American friends and family. It allows us to engage with our cultural heritage and identity, and build our community at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). ICN highlights the experiences of Indonesian Americans, often through the lens of a particular social issue affecting the community today, and features an original script enhanced with Indonesian dance and music.

In past years, we’ve explored tales grappling with self-identity, inter-generational trauma, a re-imagined folk tale, and the Indonesian-American experiences with reconnecting to our homelands.

This year, our student directors tell a touching story from the perspective of Mei, a UCLA art student who travels to Surabaya to work as a teacher assistant and later meets Atlas, a literature major from Surabaya. The two are troubled with their aspirations for the future. Mei struggles with conforming to a community riddled with colorism whilst battling the minority myth, culminating in a narrative delivering on tension and trepidation while leaving space to celebrate Indonesian culture.

Introducing: Indonesian Culture Night 2025

We have over 30 passionate cast members working on this year’s production, but we can’t do it without your support. We face significant costs to produce this annual show; our greatest cost is our venue, UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall, but we are also collaborating with external community groups this year. Additionally, we have budgetary costs set aside to procure the amazingly artistic merchandise we know you love, the props that will bring our show to light, and food to feed our cast and our audiences.

Your monetary contributions will ensure our production can go smoothly, and for all our participants to enjoy the process. Every donation matters and the ICN cast and crew cannot be more grateful for your patronage. We appreciate your continuous support of this year’s production, and we hope you can share this event with friends and family to enjoy a night celebrating Indonesian culture. Terimah kasih banyak, dan terima kasih atas dukungan anda!

To learn more about our journey or past Indonesian Culture Nights, follow us on Instagram @uclaicn or view our past shows:

UCLA Indonesian Culture Night 2024 - Imas, The Golden Child

Watch Livestream Here

UCLA Indonesian Culture Night 2023 - Take a Breath

UCLA Indonesian Culture Night 2022 - Noise of Silence