A Life in the Theater

Representing the two major streams of contemporary Filipino drama, they broke ground and changed the scene for good—and for the better (Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1 April 2017. Also in http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/258785/peta-rep-turn-50-also-golden-moment-ph-theater/ ) Sometime in the first few months of 1967, Carmen “Baby” Barredo received a telephone call from her former classmate Cecile Guidote: Would Baby be willing to join in a new theater company that was being formed, envisioned to be the National Theater and which would be called the Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta)? Baby politely declined, as she had previously committed to help Zeneida “Bibot” Amador establish what was intended to be the first professional theater company presenting a regular season of plays in the country. That company would be known as Repertory Philippines (Rep). As they say, the rest is history. Both Peta and Rep presented their inaugural productions th...

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...

When I go back to Silliman next week with Tanghalang Pilipino's productions of GEE GEE AT WATERINA and WELCOME TO INTELSTAR, it will be my third time to visit the place. I have been to Silliman University and Luce Auditorium twice before : the first was in 1978 when U.P. and PNB brought Tony Mabesa's production of Nick Joaquin's "Tatarin" back to back with Isagani Cruz' "Josephine"; the second was with Repertory Philippines' "The Gingerbread Lady" by Neil Simon in 1983. I have very fond memories of both trips. In 1978, Amiel Leonardia was still the Luce Auditorium's Technical Director. His assistant was a graduate student named Junix Inocian. I recall that Luce Auditorium was comparable with the best theaters in the country, probably next only to Philamlife Auditorium in terms of acoustics. Among the company in that 1978 tour (which was also memorable because I lost my entire bag when we were dropped off by a C-130 cargo plane at...