A Life in the Theater

Elmar (far left) along with other artists in Congress for a hearing on the National Artists Awards. With his tall and lanky frame, he could not be missed as he entered a meeting room or walked along the corridors of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. He worked in the Visual Arts Division; I was with the Theater Operations Department. Occasionally, we would find ourselves together in the Coordinators Meetings attended by representative s from the CCP Artistic Units. Next thing I heard, he taken a position in Thailand to work for an international agency promoting arts in the Southeast Region. In that position, he managed to organize an international conference on the role and problem of arts audiences in the region, hosted by the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Returning to Manila, he took the job of Executive Director of the Organisasyon ng mga Pilipinong Mang-aawit. When the Philippine Legitimate Artists Group was organized, he also became its Execut...

Productions by Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), Ballet Philippines and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) dominated the third quarterly citations of Gawad BUHAY!, the performing arts awards program organized by the Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group (PHILSTAGE). Tanghalang Pilipino's Golden Child romped off with a total of twelve citations while Ballet Philippines' La Revolucion Filipina and PETA's Batang Rizal tied with seven citations each. An Obie Award-winner in the United States, Golden Child tells the story of a traditional Chinese family on the cusp of jarring change. It merited jury citations for outstanding play, stage direction (Loy Arcenas), ensemble performance for its cast, female lead performance in a play (Liesl Batucan, Tina Chilip, Irma Adlawan Maasigan), male lead performance (Arthur Acuna), translation (Dennis Marasigan), lighting design (Barbara Tan-Tiongco), sound design (J. Victor Villareal), set design (Loy Arcenas) and costume desi...

The Philippine Daily Inquirer's GIBBS CADIZ wrote about PHILSTAGE's Gawad Buhay: "Finally, the PHILSTAGE Awards for the performing arts" " AS DENNIS Marasigan recalls it, the first time the idea of performing arts awards to be given by Philstage was brought up, the officers of the organization of professional theater groups were lukewarm. " The entire article can be viewed in his blog here:

Productions by Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), Repertory Philippines (Rep) and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and Ballet Philippines dominated the first and second quarterly citations of GAWAD BUHAY!, the performing arts awards program organized by the Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group (PHILSTAGE). Tanghalang Pilipino’s Kudeta romped off with a total of nine citations while Rep's Hamlet and PETA's Skin Deep tied with six citations each. A Filipino translation of Mustapha Matura's black comedy about a coup that toppled a country's president, Kudeta romped off with citations for outstanding play, stage direction (Floy Quintos); ensemble performance (cast of Kudeta); male lead in a play (Mario O Hara); featured performance in a play (Bong Cabrera and Riki Benedicto); adaptation/translation (George De Jesus III); sound design (Janice Dee); lighting design (Dennis Marasigan); and set design (Tuxqs Rutaquio). ...

The Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group (PHILSTAGE), the country's only organization of professional performing arts companies, invites critics, educators, researchers and regular audiences of theater, music and dance productions to seek Jury Panel membership slots for the 2008 PHILSTAGE Awards for the Performing Arts. Conceived as peer awards similar to many of the performing arts industry awards abroad, the PHILSTAGE Awards are conferred for outstanding achievements in the performing arts by PHILSTAGE member-companies such as Actors Actors, Inc. (AAI), Ballet Manila (BM), Ballet Philippines (BP), Gantimpala Theater Foundation(GANTIMPALA), Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM), Philippine Education Theater Association (PETA), Repertory Philippines (REP), Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), and Triumphant People's Evangelistic Theater Society, Inc. (TRUMPETS). Awards shall be given for outstanding achievements in production or performance, stage direction, original script/con...