PANAJI
Famous tiatrist Prince Jacob has described tiatr as a unique art form, which has survived over a century and thrived with the people’s support, helping artistes sustain themselves and their families.
Speaking as chief guest at the valedictory function of a 10-day workshop in acting conducted by Michael Gracias at St Mathew’s Church Hall, Azossim, Jacob said the tiatr industry had sustained a whole set of actors, musicians and others providing technical support.
A total of 34 participants, including several school children, other students and a few seniors, most of them novices, had taken part in the workshop.
Jacob Fernandes – Prince Jacob as he is popularly known – has staged over 4,500 shows since 1985 after he started writing and directing his own productions. “Tiatr has survived 129 years and each troupe helps sustain 20-25 artistes,” he explained.
But he appealed to participants to keep polishing their skills through practice.
“Love and respect the art and adopt a disciplined approach,” Jacob said.
The workshop comprised 3-4 hour interactive sessions daily and practicals. Participants were split into groups and asked to think of story ideas and act them out. This was followed by evaluation of the performance by Gracias and the actors.
“Acting is reacting to a situation and based on this, participants were instructed to react to certain topics. The objective was to bring out the theatre in them by guiding them to adopt professional ways of acting,” said Gracias, tiatr workshop conductor and writer.
Speaking about their experience, some participants said it made them confident while they learnt nuances of acting.
“I had not acted before but I was inspired by mom’s performance in the village tiatr. Overall, it was a learning experience,” Kimberly Pereira, a participant said.
Ashita Afonso, who had some experience of acting in tiatr and singing, says it added value to what she had learnt earlier.
At the valedictory function, the same exercise was repeated and six groups were given an identical number of topics, such as, importance of friendship, online classes, online friendship, etc.
Gracias appreciated the efforts of Parish Priest Fr Ave Maria Afonso in motivating the youth and expressed confidence that he would revive the tiatr traditions in Azossim village, which had faded for some time.
Goa University librarian Dr Shamin Pereira compered the programme while Crabby Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks. Certificates and a token were distributed to all participants.
