The 38th Tiatr Competition which began on September 24 atthe Kala Academy in Campal recently came to a close. Among the 30 variousgroups that are participating is a new group “ the villagers from Socorro.“Thirty-eight years ago, the villagers of Socorro had participated in a tiatrcompetition and won. They never participated till now, with this tiatr calledMogachea Aktteant Jivit,” said Mario Fernandes, a cultural activist fromSocorro, who played an important role in encouraging the expression of talentof the villagers.
“This year we have a new parish priest, Father SantanaCarvalho. He has a background in art and music and he likes getting thevillagers together,” says Mario. On August 15 this year, the villagerscelebrated the ‘Patoleanchem Fest’. “This Fest saw around 400 people comingtogether. These included various artists. After the Fest, Father asked us if wecould bring a group together for the tiatr competition,” continues Mario. Theythen approached Sirish Naik, a well-known tiatrist and script writer. Heconducted auditions for which 50-60 people turned up. “Sirish chose the castand singers from those who came,” says Mario. Joao Paulo Fernandes, a Goan whospent 30 years in Gujarat before returning to Goa in 2002 and has beencomposing songs for as far as he can remember, composed eight of the 11 songsof the tiatr. The rest were composed by Francis Fernandes.
“Les Menezes wrote the script. Les is an English writer andthis tiatr marks his debut in Konkani writing. We spent one and a half monthrehearsing for the tiatr,” says Mario. The troupe was found rehearsing everyevening in front of the Socorro church. On Sundays, they rehearsed the wholeday.
The script is about family issues. “The Kala Academy isgiving back 70 percent of the gate receipts and the Tiatr Academy is providingRs 15,000. The entire cost of putting us the tiatr is Rs 65,000” says Mario.The actors are working on a voluntary basis. “Sixty new people are working onthe stage in some form or other and there are 20 backup artists such as costumedesigners, makeup artists and so on. The message we want to give is, everyvillage in Goa can participate the way we did,” concludes Mario.
