National seminar on Konkani tiatro draws a warm response

PANAJI: Konkani Tiatro has come of age and right initiatives are being taken by institutions committed to the cause of Konkani Tiatro and the art of acting in general.

One such initiative was a major event that took place recently - a National Seminar on Overall Development of Konkani Tiatro organised by the Theatre Art and Cultural Training Institute, Goa jointly with the Goa Konkani Akademi (Borim).

The National Seminar was held on 7 November 2001 at the Margao Municipal Hall, taking off just 15 minutes behind time at 10.15 am sharp to a houseful audience of invitees. The Director of the Institute Sharon Mazarello welcomed the speakers and invitees followed by presentation of bouquets to the guest speakers and to a group of state award winners from among the
tiatrists. This was followed by the lighting of the lamp and the seminar began with the co-ordinator Wilmix, giving a brief talk on the aims and objectives of the national seminar.

He also prepared the audience as to how the seminar would be proceeding from then on.

The first speaker was Eric Ozario, a Konkani protoganist, musician and stage personality from Karnataka. Eric Ozario started his speech by giving a historical background of the Kannadd Theatre in Karnataka and the various stages it passed through, to
attain maturity. He also spoke on the present standard of Kannadd Theatre and the reasons for its success. Eric Ozario also gave a brief idea of the Konkani Theatre in Mangalore and neighbouring places in Karnataka. Ozario's talk was followed by a session of question and answers wherein the audience participation was full of life and the speaker answered all the questions posed to him. This was the pattern followed thereafter for all the speakers. A novel way indeed and it was well handled by Wilmix without letting the discussions stray away from the main subject.

The next speaker was Sridhar Kamat Bambolkar, a director of Konkani theatre in his own right. Bambolkar spoke on the advantage derived by Konkani nataks in Goa due to good direction. He emphasised the need for direction in all dramas including Konkani Tiatro. The question and answer session that followed Bambolkar's talk was equally interesting. The need for proper Direction in Konkani tiatros was felt by one and all during this discussion.

The 3rd speaker was Mario Menezes, a veteran of the non-stop tiatro, who has recently taken to scriptwriting and direction. Mario Menezes was very defensive of the strides taken by the non- stop tiatro, although the audience felt otherwise.

Much food for thought generated during the discussion of shouting of dialogues and improper costumes in non-stop tiatros.

The afternoon session started with Srirang Narvenkar a veteran of Marathi theatre and now Konkani theatre. Narvenkar is now totally committed to the Konkani tiatros. He spoke at length on the progress made by Marathi theatre and the wide gap in the quality of the 2 theatres viz Marathi and Konkani tiatro. Narvenkar however empasised that at no time efforts should be
made to change the identity of Konkani tiatro while in the process of development. This session was also followed by questions and answers and Narvenkar was equally at ease with his answers. Those that were in the forefront of the questions and answers session included C D'Silva, Anil Kumar, Felcy Fernandes, Tony from Divar, Rico Rod, Cypriano Dias, Agnelo de Borim, Daniel D'Souza, Teotonio D'Costa etc.

The next speaker was Adv Prakash Thali, a theatre expert who has himself written and directed several Konkani nataks. He has also translated plays by eminent playwrights from other regional theatres into Konkani. Thali spoke giving prominence to scripwriting and the need for better scripts among Konkani tiatro writers. He emphasised the necessity for Konkani
tiatro writers to discuss their plays with established playwrights for improving its quality and content. This was also followed by another fruitful discussion.

The final speaker of the day was Premanand Sangodkar, a senior tiatrist, who has had the opportunity of acting in tiatros of the most of the senior leading writer directors. Sangodkar is himself a playwright and Director. Sangodkar, instead of harping on the developments made by Konkani tiatro, posed questions to the audience as to what they felt about the developments claimed to be made so far. He felt there is a lot of scope for the Konkani tiatro provided right minded people are willing to make sacrifices take up to the Konkani Tiatro stage. After a brief question and answer session here, the seminar co-ordinator invited the audience to express their views on the deliberations that took place till that point. Some of the leading speakers that came forward included Tomazinho Cardozo, Daniel D'Souza, Teotonio D'Costa, Domnic D'Souza and Purnanand Chari. The
National Seminar ended by adopting a resolution passed unanimously by all those present at the Seminar.

The seminar secretary John Gomes (Kokoy) proposed the vote of thanks.

Resolutions

In order to further improve the standard of the Konkani Tiatro, the following measures are needed to be taken, on urgency basis:-

a) There must be professional direction in Konkani Tiatros of all types (7 acts, non-stop, musical shows, etc. etc). However, while using professional direction care should be taken to preserve the unique identity of Konkani tiatro.

b) Writers of Konkani Tiatro should take advice of established playwrights before finalishing the script of their Tiatro.

c) Professional advice should be taken while implementing the effects of lights, sound and stage setting in Konkani tiatros.

d) Keeping the cost factor and the rate of tickets in mind, Tiatrists and Tiatro lovers should meet and discuss periodically, how best to overcome the financial constraints.

e) There is an urgent need of tiatrists and tiatro lovers who are ready to make sacrifices for the development of the Konkani Tiatro. Such people should be brought together to form a group or an Association.


f) All artists must be brought together atleast once a year for a function, with a purpose of developing the fraternity.

g) As far as possible, efforts should be made to get all tiatro scripts to be published in book form, for posterity.

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(Gaspar Almeida)