Larry Reed, the Bay Area's extraordinary shadow puppeteer, who most recently performed Xanadu, presents a shadow play drawn from the Indian Mahabharata myth cycle. Five brothers' struggle for power against a hundred jealous cousins involves gods, demons, magical weapons and, inevitably, a beautiful princess. The main characters speak Kawi, the ancient language, which is translated for the audience by servants and clowns. The Dalang or Shadowmaster manipulates dozens of carved leather puppets, while behind him gamelan musicians follow with sound effects and melodies created on bronze metallophones. The techniques have been passed from generation to generation for centuries, while the dialogue changes with each performance. The shadowmaster is said to be a practitioner of white magic who weaves spells and mantras into the performance for the good of the people. Blending improvisation, drama, and slapstick, Wayang Bali creates a magical world of shadows, and returns us to a time before cinema which nevertheless held cinema in its imagination.-Kathy Geritz