A Life in the Theater

Here is the final installment of theater productions I have watched that have stayed with me through the years, inspired by Guelan Luarca’s own list of productions that stuck with him. Excluded are those where I was a member of the cast or the production staff, or later became involved in subsequent stagings (which, definitely, will be material for another list). 11.    Fili  by Floy Quintos (Dulaang U.P., Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, directed by Tony Mabesa, 1992) Floy Quintos reimagines Jose Rizal’s second novel as it is being told by Pepe to his friend Tunying, and the actor who plays this then goes on to play Simoun.  That’s just the beginning.  Add students on roller skates, the Governor General and his mistress as sado-masochist lovers, and other eye-popping theatrical devices  (e.g. tarot-card inspired periaktoi panels) that only serve to remind audiences that the novel might as well be about us in the present day.  Oh, and I have not tou...

Inspired by Guelan Luarca’s own list of theater productions that stuck with him, I have come up with own list of productions I have watched that have stayed with me over the years. Excluded are productions where I was a member of the cast or the production staff, or later became involved in a subsequent staging (that may be material for another list). A word of introduction to this second list. The first part comprising five productions were mainly about those I saw in my early years as a student and theater wannabe at the University of the Philippines. From 1979 to 1981, I worked in mainstream cinema and saw only a few productions, though I took part in some. Going back to school in 1981, this time as a Theater major, I got involved in many productions that outnumbered those that I saw merely as a member of the audience. I went back to films in 1984, and my theater viewing opportunities again diminished.  It was only when I began working with the Cultural Center of the P...

After Guelan Luarca posted his list of theater productions that stuck with him, I was inspired to create my own list. As I went through my mind’s memory bank,  I realized I couldn’t limit my list to ten; as of now, it is made up of fifteen productions. In all of these, I watched as a member of the  audience. Excluded are productions where I was a member of the cast or the production staff, or later became involved in subsequent staging (that may be material for another list). As a foreword, I wish to narrate that my first theater production was a staging of the history of the Philippines for my second-year Social Studies class (under Ms. Rosaida Macuha) . I selected and adapted scenes from the Gregorio Zaide textbook and had my classmates perform these in the classroom as part of our requirements.  AS far as I can remember, our teacher and classmates liked our show.  Much later, the all-girls Canossa Academy put up a trilogy of plays that required...

This is the annual list of the best of Philippine Theater by Gibbs Cadiz of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, now on its ninth year.  I am proud to be included once again in the list of best featured performances by actors in a play. Here is the full article that appeared on Saturday, December 21, 2013, in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (clipped from Gibbs Cadiz's blog page at http://www.gibbscadiz.blogspot.com). BRAVO! BEST OF THEATER 2013: The resurrection of the original Filipino musical When was the last time the homegrown song-and-dance variety outnumbered the Broadway imports? WHEN “KATY” OPENED on Jan. 27 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, not only was it the first local production to raise its curtain this year, it was also a harbinger of sorts.  Spotlight Artist Centre’s revival of the grandmama of contemporary original Filipino musicals, produced by the trailblazing Musical Theater Philippines of Celeste Legaspi and Girlie Rodis 25 years ago, brough...

This is the third and final part of an article based on a Keynote Address I delivered during the First General Assembly of the Association of Cultural Offices of Philippine Educational Institutions (ACOPEI). Comments are welcome. What challenges do we face in audience development?  First, there is the question of the here and now.  Undoubtedly, we must fill our spaces –whether they be theaters or galleries -- now, and we must ensure that we will have audiences in the future.   According to former CCP President Nestor O. Jardin, short term strategies that could be employed to ensure our audiences for today will have to be directed primarily at addressing such limiting factors as lack of awareness, pricing, competition, scheduling, accessibility, environment for the delivery of programs and programming.  Necessarily, we will have to focus on the youth whose minds arestill impressionable and whose preferences are just being formed. ...