By Daniel F de Souza

THE FIRST ten-day popular tiatr festival of commercial tiatrs organised by the Tiatr Academy Goa culminated on March 6, 2010 at the Pai Tiatrist auditorium, Margao, with the awards presentation ceremony. Ten commercial tiatrs fulfilled the criteria for participation and competed in the first ever tiatr festival organised by TAG since its inception. As expected, Prince Jacob’s much acclaimed tiatr ‘Zaiate Zage’, which has created a virtual storm on the stage during the last two seasons, clinched the first place for overall performance, closely followed by ‘Beiman Kir’ of Mario Menezes in the second place and ‘100 Vorsam’ of Menino de Bandar in the third place.

Besides winning the first place for overall performance, ‘Zaite Zage’ also won the first place in three other categories — best background music, best lyrics for ‘Bhurgeank Motorsaikol’ (Cajie de Curtorim), and best script. It also featured in the nomination list of other categories too. The best actor (male) was bagged by Mario Menezes (Beiman Kir), followed by Antush D’Silva (100 Vorsam) in the second place.

BEST PERFORMANCES

ROSHAN Fernandes, who played the electrifying role of a typical Hindu woman to perfection in ‘Moga Oslem Hatiar Na’, was the obvious choice of the jury for the Best Actor (female) award followed by Antonette de Calangute (100 Vorsam) in the second place. Veteran comedian Domnic Coelho (Matiechem Bhangar Korunk) picked the award for the best comedian while child artist Benzer Fernandes (Kiteak Bhurguim Amchi Girestkai) won the first place for acting (male) in the child artiste category. He also won the Best Child Singer (Male) award. While talented and upcoming child artiste Jemma Fernandes (Tthikann) from Divar clinched the first place for acting (female) in the child artiste category.

The first and second place for best direction went to Mario Menezes (Beiman Kir) and Rose Ferns (Moga Oslem Hatiar Na). Similarly, Rose Ferns — known for his appealing stage sets — also won the award for the Best Stage Setting in Moga Oslem Hatiar Na. The award for Best Light Effects was also bagged by Rose Ferns in Moga Oslem Hatiar Na.The award for Best Music (Live Band) was snatched away from veterans in the fray by the newcomers ‘Tthikann’ for their scintillating live tiatr music. ‘Kiteak Bhurgim Amchi Girestakai’ won the first place in the Best Make-up category as well as in the Best Costumes category.

From among the singers in the male category, Francis de Tuem (Matiechem Bhangar Korunk) and Agnelo de Dabolim (Amchei Anvdde) won the first and second place respectively for solo singing. While among the ladies it was young and talented singer Semenca Rebello (Tthikann) who walked away with the first place, veteran Rosy Alvares (Beiman Kir) had to be content with second place in the solo singing category. Child artiste Shenaya Pereira (Tthikann) won the award for best child singer (female).

In the duet singing category, it was the father-daughter pair of Socorro de St Cruz and Sonia Fernandes who took the first place in Amchei Anvdde. Angela, Olga and Antonnette (100 Vorsam) won the Best Trio singing award, and Felcy, Domnick, Albert, Andrew and Luis (Matiechem Bhangar Korunk) took the first place in the quartet/quintet singing category.

AMATEUR WINNERS

WHAT was very encouraging and appreciative in this festival was the overall performance put up by the amateur team of Tthikann (directed by Comedian 64), virtual newcomers in the competition who did not have any big names in their line-up. The group snatched four prestigious awards (music, solo singing, child singer and acting) and featured in the nominations of other categories too, sending a loud and clear signal to the seniors that talent can confidently stand up to the challenge posed by experience. As a matter of fact, the jury — in concurrence with TAG — could have made an exception to the rule and gone a step further and presented a ‘Special Appreciation Award’ to ‘Tthikann’ in appreciation of their praiseworthy performance in the festival which would perhaps go a long way in encouraging young and upcoming talent on the tiatr stage. From what I understand, the troupe members of Tthikann are all Bardez-based artistes, including the musicians, shattering yet another myth that South Goa holds the sway on the Konkani stage as far as performing artistes are concerned.

One category that was perhaps overlooked in this competition as far as the awards were concerned was the ‘Tiatro Kantos’. This category should find a prominent place among the list of awards in future tiatr festivals since ‘kantos’ is an integral part of the traditional tiatr which, unfortunately, receives little attention from the present generation of tiatrists, of course with the exception of a few playwrights.

One tiatr lover speaking to me on condition of anonymity on the sidelines of the awards ceremony said, "The audience attendance on the days of the competition was good, however TAG should seriously analyse the reasons for the poor turnout at the awards function. Perhaps the entertainment aspect featured at the awards ceremony could be one of the reasons. However, one encouraging sign noticed in the competition is that the directors have taken pains to put up appealing stage sets, especially created for their respective presentations. I hope these directors will continue this positive practice in their commercial presentations in towns as well as in villages and do not disappoint tiatr lovers by presenting their shows totally dependent on unimpressive and faded podd’ddes (backdrops). Otherwise any number of competitions will not help improve the quality and standard of tiatr."

The jury for the competition consisted of senior stage artistes like Wilson Mazarelo, Premanand Sangodkar and Joseph Mendes.