Musical highlights culture, language, family values

A Mt. Carmel original play, Tasi, is set during the ancient Chamorro times. (Photos by Erwin Encinares)

An original Mt. Carmel School musical that focused on island culture and the importance of family values played to sold-out crowds last Thursday and Friday evening at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan.

Tasi, written by MCS president Galvin Deleon Guerrero and directed by student Kalea Lou Bullan Borja, sold over 460 seats during their performances last Thursday and Friday evening.

Tasi is a musical about how a small village during the ancient Chamorro times was able to overcome their fear of the ocean after a devastating typhoon took the life of a villager. The play highlights Chamorro-translated songs along with the occasional Chamorro humor.

“The inspiration is really the values of our island culture, the values of family, the values of loyalty, and the values of nature,” Deleon Guerrero told Saipan Tribune in an interview. “All of these things intersect in this production.”

He said the play was written just before Super Typhoon Yutu.

“In the story, typhoons play a very important role and it show[ed] in the play how people are resilient and they push through the typhoons and they deal with it,” he said. “…Both the story and the actual delivery of the show is a testament to what we can do as a people.”

Borja noted that incorporating and translating the songs and phrases in Chamorro helped deepen the play’s meaning.

For members of the cast who did not speak Chamorro, “it took about two months to get used to the songs,” Borja said.

“[The cast] was so determined to show the Chamorro spirit and pride that they really worked hard to memorize the Chamorro words, even though they did not know how to say it,” she added.

One of the spectators last Friday, Bishop Ryan Jimenez, said the musical is in the vein of MCS Theatre Club’s excellent annual show.

“[Deleon Guerrero] and his MCS family every year come up with an excellent production,” he said, adding that theme of the play was very timely since the CNMI is recovering from two devastating typhoons, Super Typhoon Yutu and Typhoon Mangkhut.

“It [was] fun while being able to instill important values into the production,” he said, adding that it is always good to see students excelling in areas other than academics.

CNMI Board of Education chair Janice Tenorio was also impressed by how the musical was presented.

“The musical was very creative and cultural as well,” she said. “I am really happy the bilingual [aspect of students] are also implemented in private schools. I’ve heard the students and had goosebumps when they started speaking in Chamorro and then translating into English so everybody would understand.”