Headline: NCP accuse govt of eradicating tiatr culture
THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Nationalist Congress Party (Goa) leveled charges against the State government alleging systematic uprooting of amateur rural tiatr artists with the underlying aim of marginalizing the traditional form of Goan theatre.
Addressing the media on Saturday in Panaji, NCP senior vice president and spokesperson Trajano D’Mello criticized the decision of Kala Academy to shift the selection round of Group B of the annual state-level tiatr competition to Vasco.
While the selection in Group A is set to start from Monday, the dates for Group B have yet to be declared.
“This will discourage the amateur rural artists as Vasco does not draw as good and sizeable audience as the Kala Academy in Panaji, even for a professional tiatr. This raises suspicion of attempts to kill budding tiatrists as well as undermine Konkani,” D’Mello stated.
He said that a representation was made to Wagh by numerous tiatrists on September 4 drawing his attention also to the fact that majority of the participating institutions hail from North Goa and that travelling to Vasco would pose a logistic hurdle. It was suggested that the open-air amphitheatre in Kala Academy could be used instead.
NCP cautioned Chairman of Kala Academy Vishnu Surya Wagh against unknowingly falling prey to the anti-tiatr agenda. D’Mello stated, “If the competition is shifted to Vasco, Wagh will have undone all the good work he has undertaken in Kala Academy.”
An appeal was also made to all professional tiatrists and Tiatr Academy of Goa and other organizations working for betterment of Konkani to offer a united opposition to this decision and to make a representation to the chairman of Kala Academy.
