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Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Noah and the card
By Letecia Suarez-Orendain
Community Force
Noah is a Bible story about the great deluge and how people could have saved their lives by believing in Noah and getting inside the ark he had built.
To think that people had enough time to think about “The Flood.” Some Bible scholars put the time it took Noah to finish the ark between 70 and 80 years, while others peg it at 120.
But did you know that there is another way of telling the story minus the intellectual debate about the length it took Noah to do the ark?
Take it from the mouth (or pen?) of playwright Jaime del Mundo. He wrote and directed Mr. Noah’s Big Boat, a life-size puppet musical produced by Trumpets. (Trumpets, a stage production based in Manila, brought to us Joseph the Dreamer and Little Mermaid. Some of Mr. Noah’s puppets were voiced by singers Gary Valenciano, as Noah, and Bituin Escalante, as Noah’s wife.)
A theatrical production, the puppets in the play had frozen expressions and their mouths did not open. Del Mundo said that this was intentional; to give children a chance to use their imagination.
Provalue Inc. used the show to launch its AXS value card, a discount access for young professionals, young adults and children. Rosa Andrea T. Noval, chief executive officer, said, “The company is composed of parents who would like to contribute their share in providing students (like their children), a value-filled life.
“Of diverse backgrounds, these individuals have either individually or collectively, been involved in activities related to value formation, environmental awareness and protection, charity work, volunteerism and other social issues.”
Value formation, environmental awareness – these are rich sources of inspiration for a creative writer like del Mundo.
He knows the Noah story well but he brought it to the level of a child’s eyes.
During the launching of AXS last February, he said that he saw elements in the Noah story that are found in Provalue’s ideas.
How to translate this “value-filled life” into the story? To start with, the thought of people being punished by God because they had become sinful may be too hard for children to swallow.
So, del Mundo went inside the child’s mind (he says that even if he is single, he has a lot of nephews and nieces) to find out how they see the story. Voila! He made it contemporary. Noah’s three children – Shem, Ham and Japheth – were given new images.
For example, Shem is the Dexter type, an inventor. Ham, the eldest, is dad’s headache. The new version had contemporary notes, such as deforestation (which causes great floods) and uncollected garbage (which causes sickness). It becomes clear to a child why God had to clean the world.
Del Mundo said that Rony Fortich wrote the music, which Jeff Arcilla arranged (columnist Jo Magsaysay describes it in her column as “wonderfully happy, bouncy, rollicking, finger-snapping and catchy”).
This happy mood reflects the purpose of the discount card. The AXS guys have noticed that many young people just go to malls, attend parties and jam with friends.
Little time is given to environment and social consciousness activities. They hope that with the card, they can append the menu of this generation with community-oriented gigs.
Members have the chance to explore the grandeur of Noah’s world (nature, what else) through activities, like weekend outdoors camp-outs, educational treks, environmental exhibits, guided tours of protected areas and participation in environmental activities and celebrations.
While providing students with discounts (from participating stores and restaurants), privileges and freebies, the card will also be a partner of student organizations in various school activities. From scheduling trainings on leadership, marketing and entrepreneurship, to partnership in fund raising activities, year-round interschool academic, sports, cultural and literary competitions – and other activities that will help them become better students and individuals.
Sounds like heaven after the flood of too much “good time,” doesn’t it? Which is a signal that Community Force will watch this card prove itself and even grow into a better idea - maybe a cooperative for the young?
(March 15, 2005 issue)
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