After the female director's confident nod, Minh Quoc got his first role on this stage.
The next generation
People's Artist My Uyen said that in nearly ten years of rejuvenating the team for Stage 5B, she often heard the question "Can I do it?" from new faces. And the answer was always "Why not?", because she knew they were bewildered and needed encouragement and opportunities to prove their abilities. The sometimes naive ideas, the unsuitable scripts or the "weak" acting and transformation of the young people at the beginning were never rejected or criticized. Instead, there were many days of discussion and suggestions from the seniors to help everything go more smoothly. Up to now, the stage has had a successor team as the leader wished, with more than 80% of them being young people. Sitting in the stage seats enjoying the entire children's play performed by 100% young staff, People's Artist My Uyen smiled, confident in the path ahead.
Having been at Stage 5B for nearly two years, up to now, 9X actor - magician Huynh Nhu has shown good ability in both the roles of actor and director. Initially, Huynh Nhu only came to watch the play because an acquaintance performed in the stage and stayed to interact. Hearing the staff boast that Huynh Nhu was very good at magic, "producer" My Uyen immediately invited the young actor to join the next performance as a magician during the break. The young actor agreed to try. On stage, Huynh Nhu not only showed his dexterity and fun in magic and juggling acts but also proved the charm of an art student. Without waiting any longer, that evening, the Director of Stage 5B immediately picked up the phone and invited him to join his team in a new play.
Huynh Nhu said that because he did not want to let down the person who gave him the opportunity, he spent a lot of time getting acquainted, learning, practicing, and transforming into the character. He tested every step on stage, practiced how to walk beautifully, how to speak well, and how to make a good impression on the audience. Everything had to be perfect. After each performance, he always asked his seniors in the theater for comments and corrections. Having successfully completed the role of Gecko in the play "Animal Rescue Station", Huynh Nhu received a more difficult challenge from his mentor. He was assigned to direct the play “Magic Pen” - a children's variety show for Tet 2025. “Before that, I had performed in a few places and made some skits, but I had never organized a long play for a professional stage, so I was a bit worried at first. However, instead of creating pressure, the stage director took the time to listen to my ideas, gave me little comments, and helped me complete the script, adding some important materials. I brought a young person's perspective, innovation, and creativity, while my seniors supported me professionally and shared their experiences, so everything quickly fell into place. When I was trusted with the opportunity, a young person like me did not dare to be subjective, but chose to work while studying, improving myself every day,” Huynh Nhu shared.
Not afraid to give in
Being the head of a stage, and a veteran in the profession, "manager" My Uyen has never been afraid to proactively seek out and invite young people to collaborate. Even if they are students or new faces that no one knows. The most important criteria in choosing the next generation of Stage 5B Director is creativity and love for the profession. She likes the dynamism and constant self-renewal of young people, so she chooses to accompany them even though the path is very difficult. The hardest part is arranging rehearsal and performance schedules because most of them are busy. However, she chooses to prioritize young people, ready to arrange additional staff if the actors need help, as long as they have a place to perform on stage and participate in outside activities to stabilize their income and build their image. And when choosing to empower new people, she accepts trial and error, doing it again, which significantly affects revenue.
Besides actors, directors, screenwriters, backstage positions, and stage support crew, “producer” My Uyen also chooses to give opportunities to young people. The regular stage assistants are students studying at art schools. She takes the young people home, holds their hands, and tells them when to pay attention to what points so that together they can complete a quality performance.
Many people wonder why they don't choose talented people to make the job less tiring, People's Artist My Uyen just smiles and replies: "In the past, I was like you, looking for every opportunity to learn a profession, so why don't we now create conditions, support, and build the first steps for young people? As long as you have the qualities and enthusiasm for the profession, love the stage lights, the previous generation will guide and give you confidence. I accept people coming and going, as long as you still choose to stick with the profession, it is a great gift."
Not only drama stages, circuses, and theaters, but also traditional art forms such as Hat Boi also choose to take care of and invest a lot in young human resources. Over 30 years old, Do Hoang Tuan has been attached to the Ho Chi Minh City Hat Boi Art Theater for 16 years. Since childhood, Tuan has loved Hat Boi. Many times going to see the temple festival, seeing people performing so special, Tuan watched attentively, gradually becoming a hobby. Tuan did not know that his childhood passion would gradually be nurtured into a dream so that more than ten years later, he confidently stood on stage, transforming into impressive roles. At the age of 18, after graduating from high school, Tuan traveled all over the city looking for a place to learn Hat Boi properly but was "blind" and could not find any training course. “I contacted the theater and learned about the free training course, so I signed up right away. After 6 months of hard work, thanks to the dedication of the teachers, I grasped the basic knowledge of this art form. I have been fortunate to be able to work in this profession from that day until now, right at the place where I studied. From an apprentice, taking on the smallest possible role, now I have many leading roles, demonstrating well the professional knowledge that my teachers have passed on,” Tuan happily said.
Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Opera Theatre has more than 80% young staff. This positive result comes from a long preparation journey many years ago, when the theatre focused on free vocational training courses or recruited young actors from other places for intensive training. Completing professional training programs, even during their career, young staff are always in the theater's "priority to go to school" category. Along with that is a support policy to keep young people attached to this traditional art form for a long time. “Working with young actors, we clearly feel their dynamism, creativity, and willingness to learn. Every time they are assigned a role, big or small, they are all enthusiastic and try their best to complete the role. The current performance schedule is quite tight, having a young team who loves the profession is a huge advantage. In the past, during difficult times, the theater also lost many young staff, but in the later period, everything has stabilized. Policies are increasingly improving, the theater also has many additional performances and activities, helping young people feel secure in their contributions,” said Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Head of the Performance Organization Department, Ho Chi Minh City Opera Art Theater.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/trao-co-hoi-de-nghe-si-tre-phat-sang-post885621.html
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