Augustinian the
Volume LXII • Number 5 May 29, 2017
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USA PUB PHOTOs • edrea claire g. gregore
ALL ACTS OF LOVE IN ONE STAGE Theater is love, Theater is life
b y e d w a r d d omin ic e . e mil io
The mourning lady’s screech silenced the busy bees buzzing through the Ayala Atria Park District that evening. February the 18th felt just like any other day – life was flowing in its accustomed stream that cold Saturday night. Until suddenly --“Sa kada liwat-liwat ko sang akon nga istorya, daw parehos man lang nga daw ginadugangan ang pasa sa akon nga kalawasan. Amo na gani nga ginakadlaw ko nalang, para sa bisan sa amo lang na ka gamay nga panahon, mabuhinan man lang ang tanan nga sakit nga akon nabatyagan, halin sa tampa, sipa, buyayaw, kag sapote sang tatay ko,” the lady narrates. Her shouting had everyone’s gaze transfixed on her. As her frail body bows down, she slowly picks up a red gown, covers the marks of abuse that have tampered her limbs, wipes the tears of unutterable sadness that fills her eyes, and asks, “Now tell me, can I wear this Maria Clara dress again?” The Rizalian heroine had been brought to life on stage by the University of San Agustin Little Theater (USALT).
All the World’s a Stage It was no ordinary February the 18th. That night was filled with stupefying surprises as some of Iloilo’s finest theater companies staged excerpts from their plays during the opening program of Iloilo Theater Festival (ILOTF) 3.0. Peformances came in as various theater companies from state universities, national high schools, and private educational institutions took the stage anew in some fresh and appealing form. The first full performance began on Monday, February 20 as alumni of the USALT staged ‘Cupcakes’, a romantic-comedy narrating the different ways people look for love in the USA Auditorium. The 21st saw an intimate staging in the Iloilo City District Jail of ‘Hilway: Freedom in Prison’, a dramatic monologue telling the various tales of women in prison who search for freedom by sharing their stories. On the 22nd, the USA Junior Little Theater staged ‘Passion Fruit Shake’, a story about finding one’s passion and purpose. The 23rd set the stage for ‘Basura Busters’, a play about the
environment performed by the USA Teen Theater Company, and the University of the Philippines Visayas College of Management Play Festival that featured four plays on mental health. On the 24th, the USA Conservatory of Music staged the opera, ‘The Gondoliers’ on an intimate stage in the USA Choir Room. The finale on the 26th saw all 15-minute shorts curated into one segment and all political plays curated in another called ‘Alab ng Dulaan’. Remembering, Re-membering The finale segment called ‘Alab ng Dulaan’ became the festival’s commentary on the melancholy of our political reality. ILOTF tried to unmask the forgotten yesteryears of the divided Philippine landscape and contribute to its reunification. “The pieces we selected for Alab ng Dulaan represented contemporary political issues. With our current experience of fake news and alternative facts, we have been dismembered from reality and from the past,” states Eric Divinagracia, USALT artistic director and ILOTF head organizer. “We thought of theater as an act of remembering and remembering. Remembering not just as a process of recalling but also to become a member again of our continuing past and our unfolding present,” he adds. Theater, truly, can remember as demonstrated by Alab ng Dulaan’s final performance called ‘Darna for Change’. This political monodrama by Charmaine Frosa of the USALT is a reinterpretation of the traditional female superhero that recontextualizes her into the current political backdrop of the Philippines. “This was a different Darna,” explains Frosa, “this was Darna in black. It was about the political issues we are experiencing nowadays [like] extra-judicial killings, historical revisionism, and blind loyalty. She became the voice of the voiceless. She was not afraid to pinpoint the issues by expressing, ‘pinag aral kayo upang maging
matalino pero mas pinili ninyong magpakabobo’.” Although ‘Alab ng Dulaan’ might cause those unprepared to be oppressed and disheartened by its chillingly accurate portrayal of reality, flashes of tenderness and love found in each play still bind and ‘re-member’ the viewers. #TheaterIsLove The overarching theme for ILOTF 3.0 was “Theater Is Love”. All of the plays were products of dreams and passions, proof that the Ilonggo genius knows no limits and that Ilonggo love knows no bounds “[We chose the theme] because Iloilo City is the City of Love and February is love month. The “hearts” theme is also very accessible. But aside from being about romance, it is also a theme about who we love and what we should love,” Divinagracia explains. Indeed, for all of the plays were basically love stories. Love for the environment was present in Basura Busters’ undending shades of green. Hilway had the audience falling into a dreamy silence as they witness a portrait of love as freedom.
The USA Junior Little Theater’s Passion Fruit Shake echoed each character’s passion and beloved purpose. Even Cupcakes from the USALT Alumni narrated not only a romcom tale but also each character’s musings about their darling Iloilo City. Loi Gamboa, one of Cupcake’s leads, explains the play’s rationale, “Essentially, it is a romantic comedy by nature but we wanted it to have an intellectual core. We want to show everyone that Iloilo will always be home to us. That even if we do not stay here, it would always feel like home.” This was how ILOTF pulled over the soul of the Ilonggo. Each quirky reference struck a chord in someone’s heart. Every second of theater had a touch of Iloilo, a touch of home. “One character in the story is an architect,” Gamboa narrates, “and he mentions many places he has not visited yet because he has been outside the country like J.M. Basa Street and the Molo Mansion. These places are being restored now because they would always be the places that people come back to and say, ‘this is Iloilo.’”
Institutionalizing the Arts This much was contributed by the University for the Arts and Culture and as a testament of its undying support for the field, the institution also unveiled its plan to establish a University Summer Arts Program (USAP) under its Center for Research, Innovation, and Development slated to begin on April 17 this year and projected to last until the 29th. The said program will offer courses on acting for Kids (812) and Teens (13-16) as well as production design to be handled by the USALT and USALT Alumni and will be open to all who are interested. “....can I wear this Maria Clara dress again?” What followed was defeaning silence, and then thunderous applause. Maria Clara entered the stage with a purple bruised limb. Maria Clara entered the stage with heavy eyes that outweighed the horrors of her past. But when she shared her story and told her tale through theater, she knew that at the end of it all she was still loved and remembered. She knew that she was still wearing the white flower of a blameless life.