 |
| Some members of the Sirang Theater Ensemble with the writer. Also in photo is Mr. Nick Baquit, assisting director of the ensemble. |
Revitalizing Siday:
Joey Lianza and the Sirang Theater Ensemble
By: J. Colima Bajado
Siday, candu, haya, balac, bical, ambahan, and awit are forms of poetry our prehispanic folks take pride. But today, only Siday is known among Waray speakers. Sad thing is, very few reads siday (poem).
It is for this reason why Prof. Joey N. Lianza pledged to share his aptitude in theater by conjoining the elements of theater and poetry. Known for reviving Waray culture, by restaging plays of foremost Waray playwright Illuminado Lucente as well as popularizing zarzuela and pastores, Lianza directed a poetry performance in the recently concluded Pasidungog Eduardo Makabenta Sr. Para Han Siday, the equivalent of Palanca Awards in Waray literary scene.
“And the word was made flesh”
Voltaire Q. Oyzon, himself a poet, commended the poetry performance of the Sirang Theater Ensemble (STE). “Siguro tikang yana, kinahanglan gud ig perform iton siday, kay mas nabubuhi. Bagat an pulong ba, nabubutangan hin unod” (From now on, I think siday should be performed because the performance gives life to it. Just like (bible quote) the word was made flesh), Oyzon added.
“Namarahiyaw an ak barahibo” (I experienced goose bumps), said another poet Noel Lopido when he saw one of his poems performed. Ms. Bebeth Alunan, granddaughter of the late Eduardo Makabenta Sr. agreed with Lopido and furtherly claimed that “indeed poetry performance is way way better than just plainly reading it.”
The winning poems of the annual Pasidungog Makabenta will then be performed by the members of STE on the 13th of October every year, in honor of the Waray poet Eduardo Makabenta Sr.’s birthday.
Cultural worker than Director
Prof. Lianza, director of the Cultural Affairs and Special Projects Office of the Leyte Normal University shared that although he gets no material pay off from such endeavors, he is happy with his “little” contributions to the Waray culture in order to “rediscover our identity- our differences, our similarities, our pluralities- by performing, creating and recreating. I see myself less than a director, but more of cultural worker”, he explains.
Prof. Lianza also hopes that his efforts will gain support especially from art-makers and other cultural workers in the region by bringing Siday to everyone’s consciousness at least.
Re-dawning of Sirang
Sirang, literally means dawn, has been established with a social conscience and with performing arts as its medium. But coming up with remarkable performances have never been simple.
Current members of STE have to trounce the stern rehearsals of their uncompromising director. Dessa Reyes shared that she was startled at first, every time the “feisty” Joey Lianza would screech to her puerile acting performance. But as she become proficient at her acting skills, “I think shouting is equal to motivating”, Dessa added with a smirk.
Surely, after successfully popularizing zarzuela and pastores, Prof. Lianza and the STE is dawning again another kick in our culture and the Waray ethos as a whole.
Looking back in order to move forward
“Claiming our context and meaning as peoples is like a journey. We should go back in order to move forward. We cannot move forward if we don’t take a look on our past, because it is from the past that we learn who we are- who we were used to be, who we are now, and who we are becoming”, this is his reply when asked where is Siday now and where are is it going?
Prof. Lianza hopes that through the Sinirangan Theater Ensemble’s performances of poems in Waray, he help not only popularize the poem of the writer but more of popularizing the language and the stories that every poem tells- the stories of the Warays. ###
 |
| Prof. Lianza |
This article is published in Gahum Weekly, Vol. 2 No. 25. Nov. 14-23, 2011 issue.
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento