Theater & Reality

THEATER AND REALITY, DEFIANCE AND CONFIDENCE

By Marili Fernandez-Ilagan

Tkaw a miakasold si Potri sa tulang oanda matatago si ina iyan a bae a Rimparac akatataboan na ptinda sa ingabai. Si Potri na mataid a 16 i-idad a bago-a-raga. Si

Rimparac na 72 i-idad, mao pembongawen. (Potri bursts into the kitchen where her grandmother Rimparac is preparing dinner. Potri is an athletic and attractive 16 year-

old incoming college freshman. Rimparac is a senile 72 year- old woman.)

POTRI

Kaoto ba! Ptiaro akn den ba! Imanto na langon siran mabababaya Pakipangaroma

ako iran siiko sadn sa pakalotang sa btang rakn. Bai, ogapi akong ka! Di ako makipangaroma. (That’s it! Just as I thought! Now, all of them are happy. They want

me to marry anybody who can afford my dowry. Grandmother, you must help me! I

don’t want to get married.)

Thus goes the opening scene of the play “Kiatukuwan (Revealed),” performed by the all-Maranao theater group Odiata, which means “dialogue” or “deep discussion.” Odiata was organized by Sittie Jehanne Mutin-Mapupuno, who also wrote and directed the play. Together with the Tag-ani Performing Arts Society, Inc. and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Odiata co-produced the premiere show of “Kiatukawan” at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City last December.

“Kiatukawan” is a story of three Maranao women of different generations struggling to make sense of their lives, and trying to hit a balance between culture and religion in their present situation. One of them is the defiant Potri, who sees herself as the contemporary woman all set to conquer the world. Elite Maranao women were once kept in special chambers or “lamin” preceding marriage, and royally presented at their weddings. Potri’s family belongs to the elite and her being kept in the “lamin” may have contributed to her rebellious nature. She rebels at the thought of being clothed and donned with jewelry to magnify her beauty and nobility and, therefore, her marketability as a bride. Boxed in by such rules, Potri is now pushed by her unwanted marriage to put up her own rules against the dowry.

Potri’s impending marriage prompts her grandmother Rimparac to confess about her own forced marriage, to which, in order to save her family, she agreed. The marriage eventually failed. The confession encourages Potri to counteract her mother Bolawan’s pretenses that peace and wealth reigned in the family.

BOLAWAN

Astagfirullah! Na antonaa pen anan a sosoluten ka? (And what, in God’s name, is

that you’re wearing?)

POTRI

Bangkala? Giya I petalowan a uso Ina. (Clothes? This is the trend, Mother.)

BOLAWAN

Mommy. Soden so trapo. Watako, di ka pesayansa orobarang. Antonaa den a

pikiren a manga tao? A daden a pirak tano? A di tano pakalotang sa manga

bago a ditaren? (Mommy. It looks like a rag. Honey, you can’t look like a rag.

What will people think? That we don’t have money? That we can’t afford to

buy you new clothes?)

The confrontation involving Potri, Bolawan and Rimparac during Potri’s marriage proposal triggers not only revelations but also a funny mix of conflicts and crises.

RIMPARAC

So dingka di taroon. Ago angkaya a preparasyon. Baa den a pakaradiyaan?

(The yelling! And all these preparations. Are you having a party?)

BOLAWAN

(Pakabaya-baya). Inipangingisa i Mayor siPotri. Di manokaw-tokaw o aden a

migagaray den ki Potri. [(Excited). The Mayor has asked about Potri. He wants

to know if Potri is still available and not engaged to anybody.]

RIMPARAC

Na pkandorii ka? (So you are throwing a party?)

BOLAWAN

Kabaya iyan na makapangaromo kon den sa magaan angkoto a wata iyana si

Kamal. Di niyan di pangatod-atod. (He wants his son, Kamal, to marry soon.

He is looking for a suitable bride.)

RIMPARAC

Na inoka pekandori? (So why would you throw a party?)

BOLAWAN

Aykah dingkaden! Maratai- paras omakatalingoma saya angkoto a pagawid na

amai kakowan na taroon niyan a dato tano siran slaslaa, odi na marsik a walay

tano, o antonaon san pen. (Just because! I don’t want the negotiator to come here

and report back that we are not hospitable, or that our house is not clean, or

whatever.)

As a story of a Maranao family in dispute, “Kiatukawan” is so true-to-life, mixing humor and misfortune as these actually happen. In the end, the three women learn that life is what we make of it, and that the family is more important than one’s ambition.

“Kiatukawan” challenges two assumptions about Maranao women: one, that women can only marry those who can afford their dowries; and two, that women are protected even as they are marketed as brides.

In “Kiatukawan,” the playwright-director dramatizes her understanding of the nature of the oppression which permeates the innermost being of a woman, as well as the time-honored conventions, such as the dowry. The play risks abetting a great controversy, especially among the conservatives. But controversies have always been a vital element in the process of change, including in the arena of women’s rights.

“Kiatukawan” illustrates the link between the development of the individual and her political self-determination. There seems to be no aspect in the realm of the “personal” that which cannot be analyzed, understood and, if need be, changed, even if the process proves to be slow and painful. The play also somehow reaffirms that “the personal is also political.” In this connection, it is interesting to note how the playwright-director summed up her experiences in the mounting of “Kiatukawan” while addressing the issues in the home and family (where the struggle takes place in private, behind closed doors). As the play of defiance unfolded in its premiere showing – it could very well be the first to be both written and directed by a Maranao woman in the Maranao language, one woman -- at the very least, gained confidence in being what she is.

But since Sittie Jehanne Mutin-Mapupuno happens to be a playwright-director, the contagion may be difficult to contain. ###