Play Si Pedro Onedera

Buenas Everyone:It is my pleasure to encourage and invite all of youto come and watch VULA, a play that captured myattention and heart last year at the 2004 9th Festivalof the Pacific Arts held in the Republic of Palau. Iwas a member of Guam's storytelling delegation and theVULA group was a part of New Zealand's storytellingdelegation.

Among my colleagues at the time, this was the play Iwas encouraging them to go and watch at the Koror HighSchool. From that performance, I decided to invitethe cast and crew to come and perform this play onGuam. That dream has now become a reality and theywill be here on Guam to perform VULA at the Universityof Guam Fieldhouse on Monday, March 7; Wednesday,March 9, and again on Friday, March 11. Curtain timesfor all performances will be at 7pm. Tickets will beon sale at the following ticket outlets: Framed, Etclocated next to Le Tasi Bistro in Anigua; Studio 2-11in the Micronesia Mall; Faith Book Store at theCompadres Mall, and Sam Choy's at the Outrigger Plaza.

Cost for the tickets is $20 for Monday, March 7; $10for both Wednesday and Friday's performances, March 9and 11 respectively. The Monday, March 7 performanceis the opening plenary of the 26th Annual College ofLiberal Arts and Social Sciences Research Conference. The conference workshops will be held the followingday, Tuesday, March 8 (all day) as part of theUniversity of Guam's annual Charter Day observance. Workshops are free and open to the general public.

I assure you that you will not be disappointed inVULA. This play is performed entirely on a shallowpool of water that will be set up on the floordirectly in front of the audience. The audience willbe seated on the bleachers on one side of thefieldhouse instead of the customary floor seatingfacing the elevated stage. VULA means the "full moon"in Fijian and it portrays the Pacific Island women'sstrong connection to the sea. In fact, it isperformed by four women who will bathe, wade, swim,splash and tell spell binding stories through mime,song, dance, dialogue, lighting illusion andcaptivating original music composed by well-known andaward-winning New Zealand composer Gareth Farr. Theplay itself was written by Nina Nawalowalo based onher personal experience of a 1994 trip to Fiji whereshe observed Fijian women wading out to the reef tofish and singing and frolicking on their way. Ninawas standing on the shores of the village beach andthis scene motivated her to write the play. Nina willalso accompany the cast and crew to Guam.In all the years of my watching theatricalperformances, not to mention performing in some otherproductions, this is the first I've ever watched aplay performed in such a fashion. As a localplaywright, this play is a feast for the soul and itwill warm, if not, touch your heart. It is a playabout women, by women, for women but, to me, itappeals to everyone men, women, and childrenespecially those who are indigenous. The matrilinealsystem is at play in this production and for many ofus who were born and lived on Guam all our lives,nostalgia grabs at you of days gone by in the villagesof Guam.If you wish to make reservations, call me and I willreserve tickets for you. My phone number is 477-4234(home) or at my office at the University of Guam at735-2802 or you can respond to this e-mail. Also,please feel free to forward this e-mail to whomeveryou want.

si Peter R. Onedera