UGM Gadjah Mada Theatre (TGM) has made another achievement at the national level. This time, TGM earned the accolade as the overall champion by bringing a number of trophies in the National Student Theatre Festival (Festamasio) V which is held at the University of Sriwijaya, Palembang, from April 18 to 24. The second and third positions respectively were gained by the Lakon Theatre, Education University of Indonesia, and Sisi Theatre, Muhammadiyah University North Sumatra.
At this Festamasio V, TGM features a story called ‘aDOLANAN ANAK (traditional children games), a story drawn from childhood experience and memories of the TGM players. ‘aDOLANAN ANAK’ tells about traditional kids games which are increasingly eroded along with global change and displaced by the entry of the various interests of capitalism.
TGM successfully set aside 9 student theatre teams from several universities in the final round, among other Nol Theatre, University of Syah Kuala Banda Aceh, Sisi Theatre UMSU-Medan, Lakon Theatre-UPI Bandung, Tiyang Alit Theatre –Institute of November 10, Surabaya, and Talas Theatre-University of Muhammadiyah Makassar. 125 groups of student theatre participated from several universities in Indonesia. "After going through a long series of curatorial, 125 participants are filtered into the top 50, then top 10. Finally, the jury chose us as the best. The jury saw our team as superior because we managed to surpass technical issues when presenting the performances entitled ‘aDOLANAN ANAK," said Adi Rahmadi, Chairman of the TGM, Wednesday (27/4), in the interview at UGM Stana Parahita room.
In this prestigious competition, TGM managed to win 11 trophies from various categories. The awards achieved are the first best group, the overall winner, best actor (Tatag Waruju Wikan Priangga/Geography), best supporting actor (Muhammad Hifdzi Khoir/Cultural Sciences), best actress (Vera Prifatamasari /Philosophy), best supporting actress (Happyta Queenamilza /Social and Political Sciences), and best director (Adi Rahmadi /Social and Political Sciences). Next are the best lighting (Firdaus Tegar Firmanto /Cultural Sciences), the best stage manager (Nurachman Taufiq, Ismail, and Khamdan Primandaru), best script writer (Gading Narendra Paksi /Social and Political Sciences), and best makeup and costume (Vera Prifatamasari /Philosophy).
At this festival, TGM team brought nine actors/actresses, 3 members of artistic team, a stage manager, and a sound manager. The victory obtained by the TGM is not obtained easily. Before leaving to Palembang, they work hard by doing a routine exercise for approximately 2.5 months. "To face this competition, we perform exercises every day for 2.5 months," said Adi.
Vera Prifatamasari added TGM victory in Festamasio V repeat the previous achievement which also won the same title in Festamasio I (2001) and Festamasio II (2003). "This victory is the third time achieved by TGM in Festamasio. Previously, at Festamasio I (2001) and Festamasio II (2003) we also became the grand winner. While on Festamasio III, we were the host and at Festamasio IV we did not join the competition," she explained.
UGM Student Affairs Director, Drs. Haryanto, M.Sc., expressed his appreciation for the achievements obtained by the TGM. According to the man who is popularly called Sentot, the success is a result of the students’ soft skill training process in playing a role. "This result is quite prideful," he said.
TGM is one unit of student activity engaged in the arts and was formed in 1973. This UKM is a means for UGM students to be creative, aspiring, and excellent in plays which leads in the development of student characters. In addition to regular exercise, TGM often receives invitations to perform in a number of events, such as the Yogyakarta Arts Festival (FKY) and performances invitations on various campuses.