By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 9: Pertubuhan Teater Sanggar Kreatif Kuching’s (Sanggar Kreatif) ‘Arum Bulak’ mini musical theater has won five awards at the Malaysian Theater Awards 2023 held in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday (Oct 7).
The five awards were Best Musical Theater Award, Best Director Award – won by Tini Tyrani Adurahman, Best Actor Award (Ahmad Azam Pit@Azam Pit), Best Actress Award (Sharifah Elya Nabila) and Best Supporting Actor Award (Shahrul Iskandar).
Sanggar Kreatif’s co-founder and chairman Taridi Mohamad said with the preparation of about a month or two, the staging of ‘Arum Bulak’ took place at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) Sarawak on Jan 13 and 14.
The musical theater was organised with the funding provided by Sarawak’s Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts (MTCP).
“Initially, we submitted for seven categories namely Best Director Award, Best Actor Award, Best Actress Award, Best Supporting Actor Award, Best Song Composition Award, Best Choreography Award and Most Promising Actor Award.
“However, the organiser (National Department for Culture and Arts – JKKN) has decided to nominate ‘Arum Bulak’ for two more nominations namely Best Musical Theater Award (overall category winner) and Best Malaysian Theater Award (overall winner),” he told DayakDaily in a phone interview yesterday (Oct 9).
He also mentioned that Sanggar Kreatif has submitted another theater production named ‘Orang Kasar’ for the modern theater category.
Apart from Sanggar Kreatif, two more groups from Sarawak who had submitted their participation were Seni Studio Impian Kuching (Studio Mimpi) and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
“On behalf of Sanggar Kreatif, I wish to express my utmost gratitude to MTCP for the grant, the ‘Arum Bulak’ crew, our strategic partner JKKN Sarawak and other supportive individuals for the successful staging of ‘Arum Bulak’.
“I hope we can do a better theater production next year, insya-Allah. We will always attempt to improve our performance and we hope that our achievements would build up the confidence of other theater groups in Sarawak to participate in Malaysian Theater Awards next year,” he added.
Sanggar Kreatif was formed in 2005 and registered with the Registry of Societies of Malaysia (ROS) on Dec 6, 2013. — DayakDaily
