Take a cue from him!

Pio Esteves

Reginaldo Antonio Jose Trindade, popularly known as John de Parra on the Konkani stage, was born on September 7, 1946. Hailing from the tiny village of Parra in Bardez taluka, he first stepped onto the tiatr stage at the age of 15 in the tiatr ‘Angvonn’, written and directed by late Prem Kumar.

Since childhood, John was fond of watching tiatrs and would never miss the ones staged in the village, also travelling to Mapusa, Moira, Aldona, Candolim and Calangute to watch them. “During that period, tiatrs mostly brought by tiatrists from Mumbai would be staged every Friday at Braganza ‘mattov’ and later in halls built by Nagvekar. I would sneak away with my father’s cycle to go watch the tiatrs,” he fondly recalls.

At the tender age of 13, John had a snakebite and was hospitalised at Asilo’s Hospital in Mapusa. His love for tiatr was such that he actually fled from the hospital to watch late J P Souzalin’s Lenten show ‘Sat Dukhi’ at Alankar theatre. He also watched ‘Hem Asa Tem’, another masterpiece of the same director.

In 1961, when John proceeded to Mumbai and was residing in Bandra, he watched several tiatrs by Mumbai directors at St Peter’s Hall. Later, when he shifted from Bandra to Dobitalao and was putting up with his uncle, he got the opportunity to watch tiatrs of several directors, including Nelson Afonso’s tiatr ‘Nationalist’.

John also enjoyed the tiatr “Nanawati’ by S B Radio, brother of Francis de Parra. He continued watching late Prem Kumar’s tiatrs such as ‘Ghor Matiechem’, ‘Amchi Bhas’, ‘Peleachea Vostuchi Axea Korum Naie’, ‘Kakut’ and ‘Konnank Mhonno Maim.

When John made his first entry as an actor in Prem Kumar’s tiatr ‘Angvonn’, he acted with Xavier and Micky Mascarenhas, sons of Valente Mascarenhas.

In 1965, when John returned to Goa and was serving as a painter at Cortalim, he would go to Vasco in order to watch tiatrs. At Cortalim, he watched C Alvares’ tiatr ‘Kedna Udetolo To Dis’ and Alfred Rose’s tiatr Rogtak Tanelo’.

Besides an actor, John has also worked as a prompter and make-up artiste. As a professional, he served the Indian Navy as a painter. Initially, for Carnival khells, it was Shali Bai who introduced him as a prompter. Later he was seen in tiatr ‘Sarita’ by Vitorin Pereira and tiatrs ‘Fottkiri Axea’, ‘Kirmidor’ and ‘Judas’ by Ligorio Fernandes.

As a prompter, he has also contributed towards tiatrs by Rosario Rodrigues and A M Pacheco. When serving Menino de Bandar’s troupe in tiatr ‘Sounsarant Astana Diat’, he also enacted the role of a father and toured widely to Mumbai, Poona and the Gulf with the same production.

John enacted the role of a beggar in tiatr Ankvar Bapui’ by late William de Curtorim and ‘Ti Chukon Uloili’ by Paul Romy. He was also seen in Anthony Furtado’s several tiatrs.

As a prompter, John has also contributed towards Kistu de Calangute’s three tiatrs and was last seen in 2014. He has also performed in the musical plays presented by Patrick Dourado on the All India Radio, besides acting in Konkani films ‘Zobabdari’ by Das and ‘Moriyad’ by Bonifacio Dias.

With regard to his role as a prompter, he says, “C Alvares always had high regard for me as a prompter. He gave me full freedom, either to curtail or continue with the prompting of dialogues on stage.”

“Initially, the prompters would earn a merge salary of Rs 20-30, but later it increased to Rs 300-400,” he adds.

“When non-stop tiatrs came into existence,” reveals John, “Tiatr artistes started helping each other as far as prompting was concerned. So, cutting the additional burden of hiring prompters, directors started excluding them from the line up. Today, the stage managers handle the stage sets, acts and also assist as prompters as and when required.”

Along with John, some of the noted prompters included Antonio Sifiriano, Jerry Fernandes, Anicet — all from Goa. Bab Peter, Mathew, Anthony Fernandes were some of the popular prompters from Mumbai. While explaining the demand for a prompter, John states, “Despite being a noted writer, director and actor, besides a good composer of songs, C Alvares and Betty Ferns always required prompting from behind the curtains. Today, most of the tiatr artistes are educated and the tiatr script is provided to artistes one month in advance. Hence demand for prompters has declined and vanished. Today, those prompters may not be seen behind the curtains, but they are utilised by some directors as actors with minor roles.”

Around 20 years back, F Cardozo had staged his tiatr ‘Fr Savio’ and John had served as a prompter and actor. Today, as the same tiatr is making a comeback, John will once again be seen on stage, as an actor.

For his immense contribution towards the tiatr stage, John was awarded the prestigious Kala Gaurav Puroskar by the Directorate of Art and Culture in 2013. Taking note of his selfless work on the tiatr stage, the 125th Tiatr Celebration Committee and Tiatr Academy Goa felicitated him with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Hanuman Theatre, Mapusa.