Avoi Ghe Mai! -- Konkani Tiatr made in Texas
By Cynthia Gomes James
jadoo...@hotmail.com
Horses, cowboys, barbecue, and sizzling summers -- that's
what Texas is known for. But Konkani tiatr? Well, that's
exactly what the G.E.M.s of Texas, a vibrant organisation of
Goans, East-Indians, and Mangaloreans living in the Dallas
metroplex have added to the Texan landscape.
Their first original Konkani production Alfred, Alston, ani
Anthony was staged in 2008 for their 10th anniversary, and
more recently *Avoi Ghe Mai*, their second tiatr, was staged
on October 27th in Garland, Texas for their 20th anniversary.
Both plays were written and directed by the author of this
article, a Bomoicar whose ancestral roots are in Chinchinim,
and both productions were performed by an all-local amateur
cast and crew.
Avoi Ghe Mai -- a musical comedy about a Goan girl
Goretti and a Mangalorean boy Manuel, who are
courting despite objections from their mothers --
had a cast of over twenty talented local Texans of
Goan, East-Indian, and Mangalorean origin. Goretti
was played by Jelsy Fernandes from Margao, and
Manuel by Nolan Serrao, a Mangalorean from Urwa.
Thomas and Lysette Goes from Colva and Mangaloreans
Marita D'Sa (from Bangalore) and Percy Pinto played
the parents. Percy Pinto's entry in a lungi was an
instant hit with the audience.
True to form, the tiatr had comedians and jokes galore. Budd
'Rogot' Decosta of Chinchinim and Rosy Carrasco Kintzinger of
Mapusa pumped up their flair for comedy as Sacru the
sacristaon, and Filsu the compounder. Osler Kamath of Bolar
and his wife Maria, a Mangalorean from Pune, kept the
audience in splits as Cristo Pereira and his Mexican-American
wife J-Lo from Texas. J-Lo's character infused enough English
into the play to help non-Konkani speakers in the audience
from other parts of America and India get a good idea of the
shenanigans on stage.
The probability of spotting an American in a tiatr
in America may be almost nil, but this one did star
a true blue American -- Paul James in a cameo role
as a Russian. The talented cast also included Glen
Cardozo from Margao and Stanlin D'Cruz, a Mapusa
Bomoicar.
The script of the one-and-a-half hour-play flowed seamlessly
between Mangalorean Konkani, Goan Konkani, and English.
Momentum was maintained with short, funny scenes punctuated
by thoroughly entertaining songs. The musical compositions by
this writer included a mix of original songs and adaptations
of old favourites. Noel Da Costa, a Goan from Bangalore,
accompanied the singers brilliantly on the keyboard, and this
writer's sixteen-year-old Rohan joined in on trumpet for a
couple of songs.
The tiatr's opening song featuring the lead players set the
context nicely for the audience. Gracian Serrao, Eustace and
Patricia Fernandes, Anil Pinto (GMC alumnus), and Cheryl Lobo
were other singers who graced the stage with catchy songs and
polished performances. The writer and director herself
serenaded the audience with original compositions and the
foot-tapping title song 'Avoi Ghe Mai' set to the tune of
'Mamma Mia'.
The high voltage finale, 'Kazaar Ami Zaunya', an
adaptation of Bruno Mars' song 'Marry You',
performed by "amcho Bruno Vaz" Daniel D'Souza with
the flair of a rockstar brought the house down.
Not surprisingly, the song made Daniel, a
Mangalorean who grew up in Bombay, an Internet
sensation.
The cast performed to a full house of around 250 excited fans
from Dallas and beyond. A busload of Goencars from Houston
had happily embarked on a four-hour road trip to enjoy the
tiatr, thanks to Bob and Dimple Lopes from Vasco. The Houston
Goans revved up the atmosphere with their enthusiastic
appreciation and the Dallas crowd followed suit. All through
the show, the hall resounded with the sounds of applause,
whistling, and cheering, and the ambiance harked back to
tiatr halls in Bombay and Goa.
The contemporary feel and the plot line culminating with
Bruno Vaz's concert kept the youngsters in the audience
hooked. The tiatr being a 'one night only' performance, the
cast and crew gave it all they had, playing their roles to
the hilt in fluent Konkani, despite having settled down
thousands of miles away from Goa and Mangalore.
By way of background, the Konkani theatre form now
called Tiatr had made its debut in 1892 with
Italian Bhurgo, the art form having evolved
incrementally while adhering to the tried and true
format for decades. [See an free-to-download ebook here
http://www.tiatracademygoa.com/rafael-final-apr3-noon.pdf ]
The play in Texas used the traditional tiatr format
-- an opening theme song, pordhes, cantos, and
cantaars -- but the writer also employed newer
techniques for the plot developments with subtle
word-play, a soundtrack for the opening and closing
of each scene, projected backdrops, and the full
cast taking bows at the end.
Other bold variations (also adopted for the first tiatr)
included a shorter duration than traditional tiatr, the
inclusion of Mangalorean characters and other Konkani
dialects, the use of Western theatrical devices, themes
around modern culture, and off-stage narration in English by
Sonia Santimano, to introduce each scene. The adaptations
were made to appeal to a more assimilated diaspora and the
younger generation raised in the West, and also to get more
Westernised Goans and Mangaloreans to appreciate a fun
theater experience in their mother tongue.
The tiatr received glowing reviews and requests from around
the globe to take 'Avoi Ghe Mai' on the road. Unfortunately,
the logistics would not be feasible, the cast and crew all
having day jobs and careers in Dallas. You can watch the full
video of the tiatr and clips of the songs on YouTube at this
link [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzOfeT4tx7c] Avo Ghe
Mai Tiatr 2018. And the next time you feel inclined to
exclaim 'OMG', instead just say: "AGM! Avoi Ghe Mai!"
--
Goanet Reader is compiled and edited by Frederick Noronha
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