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Most come from poor families, have had little education, and work at unskilled jobs when not touring. The actors are professional improvisors. They seldom have time to rehearse. The director distributes the roles and gives a brief expose of the story about an hour before the performance. For villagers who can't read and have no TV, these dramatizations of folk tales, proverbs and poems give them new ways of thinking and behaving. They are also used as a political vehicle. Almost all troupes nowadays are tinanced by army officers. THR (Peoples' Amusement Parks) in all of the biggest cities of Java regularly stage the following folk drama forms.