A Life in the Theater

Out of 35 aspirants who auditioned for slots in Tanghalang Pilipino's Actors' Company last March 10 and 11, 21 were selected to go on to the next phase: an intermediate acting workshop from April 10 to 28. Based on their showing in the workshop and on their body of work, some of them will be offered contracts in the Actors' Company for one year. The 21 qualifiers are: 1. Bacani, Devi 2. Benedicto, Rommel ("Riki") 3. Castillo, Kathlyn 4. Cosio, Chromewell 5. Dela Cruz, Eric 6. Espinosa, Mary Ann 7. Ferro, Ria Valencia 8. Gener, Sheenly Vee 9. Jorda, Emerald Anne 10. Legaspi, Jose Ronald ("Sugus") 11. Legaspi, Russell 12. Mangalonzo, John Kristoffer 13. Nacu, Jacqueline 14. Nieto, Olivia Kristine 15. Orencio, Hazel 16. Palisoc, Joan 17. Ramonal, Daniel Ceeline 18. Ramos, Dandy 19. Regala, Betty Uy 20. Sale, Romelyns 21. Solis, Ron Jansen

By Juaniyo Y. Arcellana The Philippine Star 03/11/2007 Theater and independent film director Dennis Marasigan is on a roll: After earning good reviews for his film Sa North Diversion Road under CinemaOne, he is now getting ready to shoot Tukso, one of ten finalists in the 2007 Cinemalaya film festival which screens in July. In between these two films, coincidentally starring his better half Irma Adlawan, he has found time to virtually reinvent himself and make a career change, from bureaucratic meister in the CCP to director of the Tanghalang Pilipino next door. This cyber interview with Marasigan comes years after the phone interview with his Tanghalan predecessor Herbie Go appeared in this same magazine. Go has since settled abroad. You mentioned during the Cinemalaya orientation that now that you are in Tanghalang Pilipino, you can now do the plays you've always dreamed of doing. What exactly are these plays and why do they rank high in your dream theater? There are a lot of pl...

TUKSO is my digital film project for this years 2007 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, scheduled from July 19 to 29 at the CCP. Last week, our production team went on location hunt in Lipa City where most of the scenes for the film will be shot. Lipa is an obvious choice as it is where I was born and had my primary and secondary education, and where my mother still lives and teaches (she will be 75 this year.) TUKSO's script requires a subdivision project as one of the locations, and we found one in Barangay San Celestino. We also found a small river that divides Lipa and Quezon Province, and Barangay Chairman de Silva of nearby San Francisco helped us out in getting there. Wanting to keep the locations close to each other, we found the picture houses that we need in the same area, and intend to use a road in neighboring Barangay Malitlit as well. Thanks to Aylene and Anna from the City Government's Community Affairs Office, we managed to speed things up and ...

This coming weekend (March 10 and 11), Tanghalang Pilipino will be conducting auditions for its Actors Company. The ACTORS COMPANY was created by Tanghalang Pilipino's founding Artistic Director NONON PADILLA as the main acting company for the season productions at the CCP. Among the first members were Fernando Josef, Connie Chua, Alan Bautista, Shamaine Centenera and Nonie Buencamino, and Len Ag. Santos. Later, they were joined/replaced by Irma Adlawan, John Arcilla, RJ Leyran, Olga Natividad, Gary Lim, Allan Paule, Herbie Go, Marisa Tinsay, and Angela Garcia (Altomonte), some of whom stayed with the company for as long as eight years. Herbie went on to become Associate Artistic Director and until recently, Artistic Director of Tanghalang Pilipino. More recent members include Tess Jamias, Paolo O'Hara, Jay Espano, Catherine Racsag, George de Jesus III, Roeder Camanag, Joey Paras, Nazer Salcedo, and Marj Lorico. The usual route for Actors Company members is for them to com...

Hello out there! After much trepidation and false starts, I have finally created my own blog! With apologies to Lord Olivier, I'm naming this after one of his biographies because it seems appropriate enough to describe the kind of life I have had and hope to live. I am celebrating 30 years of work in the theater this year, and though I have also dabbled in the other arts, television and film mainly, it is my theater credits that fill most of the pages in my CV. So what to expect from the site? Oh, plenty of memories. I've had the privilege of working with many of the theater titans in the country and have a lot of stories to tell. Plenty of behind the scenes anecdotes, especially about the work that goes on in the company I am in right now -- Tanghalang Pilipino (Philippine Theater). And I would be glad to hear from others out there who may share the same interests. Ok, even if we don't. I'd still be happy to engage or start conversations about theater, film, relationsh...