Lenten reflection and introspection during Lent

It is often said, ‘A journey of 1000 miles begins with thefirst step’. For Fr Nevel L S Gracias, hailing from Velim in Salcette, thisadventurous journey in Konkani theatre began at the tender age of 12,when he scripted his first Konkani play, ‘Ek rukachim tin follam’ and staged itin his locality. It was a small and insignificant beginning, compared to a muchbigger mission that awaited him ahead-to enrich the Konkani tiatr stage withhis God-given talents.

With the release of his 38th tiatr, ‘Taka Khursar Mar’ atTaliegao on 13th February, 2013, Ash Wednesday and the 17th exclusive lentenpresentation under the banner of Vell’lekar Nirmiti, Fr Nevel Gracias hasperhaps written a new chapter in the history of tiatr.

Fr Nevel has a few unique features with respect to hisLenten reflections through drama. He is the only playwright who declares thetitle of his lenten play one year in advance; he has been doing this for thelast 17 years, ever since he began writing plays meant exclusively to be stagedduring lent. Another unique feature seen in his plays is that all the songs arebased on a central theme and unfailingly contain the title of the tiatr in itslyrics.

Fr Nevel is also one of the few playwrights who pens notjust the play and its comedy sequences, but the lyrics of all the songs as welland strictly maintains the original format of including a solo, a duet, a duo,a trio, a choral song and a quartet in the presentation of the play.

In a walk down memory lane, Fr Nevel reminisced, “As ayoungster, my grandmother would encourage me to sing in plays and provide mewith the lyrics of the song. But, the senior boys in my village would rejectthe song and not give me an opportunity to sing. They would only giveassurances of including me in the play for the following year. This is whatprompted me to begin writing my own plays and staging them. I would script twoplays in a year, and stage one in October and the other in May.’

Fr Nevel’s passion to write plays continued even when hejoined the seminary in 1984 in answer to God’s calling after he completed hisgraduation in Commerce through the Damodar College in Margao. He would writeand stage plays during the holiday season, though not on a regular basis. Afterbeing ordained a priest in the year 1991, Fr Nevel Gracias continued his trystwith the Konkani tiatr stage and produced several tiatrs on social and familythemes such as, ‘Nach go Sundhoria’, ‘Futtloli boxi’, ‘Amche GhorabeKosbeleat’, ‘Amcho Bharat Mahan’, ‘Uleak zap di’, etc.

In 1997, Fr Nevel began writing plays exclusively for thelenten season. Speaking further on the subject, Fr Nevel said, “Through themedium of the Konkani stage I wish to spread the Lord’s message to people farand wide so that they can reflect on the teachings of the Holy Scriptures andsufferings of Christ. With the help of biblical scenes and the implied messagethat flows with the dramatisation, I try to educate people to lead a good morallife. Each of my lenten plays is a ‘retreat’ in dramatised form. I believe thatthe message you send across to the masses through this medium is more powerfuland appreciated than simply preaching it.”

When asked to pick the best two plays he has staged so far,Fr Nevel- with no hesitation whatsoever- quips back, ‘Amche Ghorabe Kosbeleat’focusing on family values in our present day society and ‘Tuji Khoxi Zanv’focusing on the life of a priest. His next lenten play to be staged in the year2014 is titled, ‘Hi Porza Vonttamni Vakhanndtta’.