Wayang Katalistrik (Electric Wampus Cat Shadow Puppet Show) is a collaboration between Nyssa Collins and musicians from the Balinese Gamelan Ensemble at the University of Tennessee and Insitu Recordings. It tells the story of the Wampus Cat, an Appalachian cryptid, through the deep history of eastern Tennessee beginning in the pre-human Pleistocene up to modernity when electricity arrives to the region by way of the TVA. The show explores the double edged sword of technology and progress, which brings stability to our lives but devalues premodern myth and intuition, and alienates us from the natural world as a vibrant life force, rather than just a commodity. Using both western and Indonesian instruments and puppetry styles, it also considers our modern world that is defined by global trade and cultural exchange. It also explores the tension between western/American individualism with a more collective approach favored by the east. This project was performed in the spring of 2025 at the Knoxville Museum of Art and will return in summer of 2026.
Photos and footage of performance by Kai Mote