A scene from the play ‘Silent No more’ showing a beaten-up civilian surrounded by the Indian army personnel. (Morung Photo)
Dimapur | November 6 : The Clark Centre for Peace Research and Action’s “Promoting Just Peace through Art” was held on November 6, evening at Dimapur Ao Baptist Church. The programme was organized in a bid to spread message of peace and justice by using various forms of art and also to rediscover the Naga tradition of story telling.
The Play
Among all the items presented, the most interesting was the play – “Silent No more”. The play had three acts and each act showed different stages of the political and social situation in Nagaland. With the not so spacious stage for a play like this one, the technical in charges made use of the spot lights so well that every scene was carried out flawlessly.
The acts in the play have been brilliantly sequenced that a viewer can relate immediately with the day to day happenings in Nagaland as well as the past.
Act I – ‘Let our Children go’, portrayed the era when Indian Armed Force carried out military operation in various villages of Nagaland. It showed how crimes were committed by soldiers – killing of innocent civilians, rape, molestations etc. The acting was so real that a woman sitting in the front row startled and stood up from her seat when the scene of a soldier hitting a civilian was shown. One of the touchiest scenes was a mother crying and singing over the body of her daughter, who was raped by the soldiers. The character of the grieving mother played by Rachael Sumi sang the song ‘Mother’s grief’, written and composed by Dr Eyingbeni Humtsoe.
Act II – ‘Who defines our history?’, showed gun fights between the underground factions and as the characters were standing still, Tekatemjen’s Oniam was sang by Imchalong. After which the narrator of the play narrated how the villagers erected a monolith in memory of the atrocities. The next scene showed three typical enthusiastic youngsters – Akum, Achet and Mosa, coming to the village and discussing the story written on the monolith. Akum gets inspired to write a story about the struggle the village went through but his friends tell him that people get killed for speaking the truth. In response Achet tells him how his grandfather, who was a pastor, Rev John Naga was shot for telling the truth to the people.
But determined Akum writes the story and gets it published in the local papers and as a response to his writing, the Indian Army personnel are showed destroying the monolith.
Act III- ‘End of imagination’ portrays the present outlook of Naga youngsters. It begins at Mosa’s place with her sister Achet, their mother and another friend. They were discussing on what young people are writing on social networking sites, the opinions on the monolith destruction, extortion and division in Naga society.
In a separate scene, unidentified gunmen kill a man and assault a woman.
With the discussion still going on, Mosa’s father enters the house and he is also a pastor at the local church. Mosa tells his father about the plan to fight for justice and to make the younger generation know about the history and not some distorted stories.
His father was reluctant and rebukes his son not to be so brave lest he gets into trouble. Outraged at his father’s response, Mosa yells at him that his grandfather did not die in vain but for a cause.
Hearing his son, he resolves to work for peace. The play ends with the pastor promoting peace and reconciliation among the different Naga factions, organizations etc.
The other performers
Moanunsang, the first Naga Idol winner enthralled the audience with the song ‘Believe’, which was written and composed by Theja Meru. The students of CTC played an instrumental piece with a touch of Naga folk tune. Ilitoli Ayemi of Trinity Theological College with her soothing voice mesmerized everyone present by singing the song ‘Lazarus’.
Also, the students of CTC sang the ‘Song of Peace’. Unfortunately a technical snag made the guitarist to stop strumming but the bassist, drummer and singers pulled it off really well.
The last performers were the Nagaland Singing Ambassadors, who sang three songs - a song in Latin, Elijah Rocks and Three Hungarian Folk Songs. They captivated the listeners with their melodious voice.
A surprise package was from a group of young freestylers known as Funky Fresh Boys. They danced to medley of hip-hop dance numbers.
The Play
Among all the items presented, the most interesting was the play – “Silent No more”. The play had three acts and each act showed different stages of the political and social situation in Nagaland. With the not so spacious stage for a play like this one, the technical in charges made use of the spot lights so well that every scene was carried out flawlessly.
The acts in the play have been brilliantly sequenced that a viewer can relate immediately with the day to day happenings in Nagaland as well as the past.
Act I – ‘Let our Children go’, portrayed the era when Indian Armed Force carried out military operation in various villages of Nagaland. It showed how crimes were committed by soldiers – killing of innocent civilians, rape, molestations etc. The acting was so real that a woman sitting in the front row startled and stood up from her seat when the scene of a soldier hitting a civilian was shown. One of the touchiest scenes was a mother crying and singing over the body of her daughter, who was raped by the soldiers. The character of the grieving mother played by Rachael Sumi sang the song ‘Mother’s grief’, written and composed by Dr Eyingbeni Humtsoe.
Act II – ‘Who defines our history?’, showed gun fights between the underground factions and as the characters were standing still, Tekatemjen’s Oniam was sang by Imchalong. After which the narrator of the play narrated how the villagers erected a monolith in memory of the atrocities. The next scene showed three typical enthusiastic youngsters – Akum, Achet and Mosa, coming to the village and discussing the story written on the monolith. Akum gets inspired to write a story about the struggle the village went through but his friends tell him that people get killed for speaking the truth. In response Achet tells him how his grandfather, who was a pastor, Rev John Naga was shot for telling the truth to the people.
But determined Akum writes the story and gets it published in the local papers and as a response to his writing, the Indian Army personnel are showed destroying the monolith.
Act III- ‘End of imagination’ portrays the present outlook of Naga youngsters. It begins at Mosa’s place with her sister Achet, their mother and another friend. They were discussing on what young people are writing on social networking sites, the opinions on the monolith destruction, extortion and division in Naga society.
In a separate scene, unidentified gunmen kill a man and assault a woman.
With the discussion still going on, Mosa’s father enters the house and he is also a pastor at the local church. Mosa tells his father about the plan to fight for justice and to make the younger generation know about the history and not some distorted stories.
His father was reluctant and rebukes his son not to be so brave lest he gets into trouble. Outraged at his father’s response, Mosa yells at him that his grandfather did not die in vain but for a cause.
Hearing his son, he resolves to work for peace. The play ends with the pastor promoting peace and reconciliation among the different Naga factions, organizations etc.
The other performers
Moanunsang, the first Naga Idol winner enthralled the audience with the song ‘Believe’, which was written and composed by Theja Meru. The students of CTC played an instrumental piece with a touch of Naga folk tune. Ilitoli Ayemi of Trinity Theological College with her soothing voice mesmerized everyone present by singing the song ‘Lazarus’.
Also, the students of CTC sang the ‘Song of Peace’. Unfortunately a technical snag made the guitarist to stop strumming but the bassist, drummer and singers pulled it off really well.
The last performers were the Nagaland Singing Ambassadors, who sang three songs - a song in Latin, Elijah Rocks and Three Hungarian Folk Songs. They captivated the listeners with their melodious voice.
A surprise package was from a group of young freestylers known as Funky Fresh Boys. They danced to medley of hip-hop dance numbers.
