Wednesday, 25 February
2015
‘Filipinas 1941’ goes to Zamboanga
By JC Nigado
THE “warning” is ancient, coming as it does from the early
American occupation of the Philippines, but still it strikes fear in the hearts and minds of some people. And to think it was immortalized in a racist, colonial song: “Don’t you go, don’t you go to far Zamboanga...”
Recently, a
Metro Manila-based photographer was invited by the Philippine Stagers Foundation
(PSF) to cover its performances in the said premier city in the south; but when
he asked permission to go on leave for a week in Zamboanga, his American employer
in Quezon City promptly denied his request mainly for “security” reason.
“Isn’t it
too dangerous there?” the clueless foreigner wondered aloud, as though
referring to something “fly-by-night” and “destiny manifest.” Small wonder
because both the American employer and the Filipino photographer have never
been to the place; hence, they’re only informed and influenced by the chilling
power of hearsay. What a pity!
However,
the knowing cast and crew of PSF are flying to the same fabled city, on March
1, for several performances of the award winning and hit musical, Filipinas 1941, at the Zamboanga City
Coliseum. The scheduled staging in Mindanao is not their first, and it runs
until March 5. Then they’ll proceed to its next stop: Bacolod and Iloilo, like
a second home on the western road.
PSF
president and artistic director Vincent Tañada continues undaunted with his
mission in spreading the word: that Philippine theater is alive and kicking. Well, at least PSF is, really, and it’s doing
very good on its own. Credit it to what film and theater veteran Frank Rivera
calls “the Renaissance Man” of the local performing arts. Anybody who disagrees
must find someone else who can hold a candle to the talent and work of this
marketing genius (in collaboration with marketing director Chris Lim) with
“legal” sense. And yes, Virginia, he may be “full of himself” but the more
important thing is he cares and shares rather generously – himself and what he
has.
As for the
play itself, I’ve watched Filipinas 1941,
on several occasions, always on invitation, in several places, and with diverse
viewers, to see how each performance impacts a particular audience. From SM
North EDSA, Quezon City, to St. Scholastic and Adamson University in Manila to
Tanghalang Pasigueño in Pasig City to the huge Centennial Arena in Laoag City,
Ilocos Norte, each mounting of Filipinas
1941 takes a different form, and sometimes function, to serve certain
demographics. The director and performers
improvise, or revise, as the case may be, and as called for by the situation. A
show for college students is different from the one that’s for a high school
audience; also, the same show is further revised for elementary pupils in
attendance.
Indeed, a
PSF play is never the same in any staging. Obviously, Tañada knows his
demographics and he recognizes the need to play or to not play to the gallery,
as it were. More than the form, what
concerns or worries him is the function of the play, as performed. The page is
alive and dynamic on the stage, as it transforms and connects with the
audience, especially in relating the present to the past. Most often, it’s a
rousing performance every time, with the usual ring of success, a rare mix of
artful craft and commerce.
For the
series of shows in far Zamboanga, PSF executive director and resident set
designer Jeffrey Ambrosio has decided to redesign the stage setting by
utilizing indigenous materials such as bamboos and palm thatches (pawid). Such
creative resourcefulness to replace the more convenient, if expensive,
fiberglass moldings and painted walls used in Metro Manila and the Bicol and
Ilocos shows, since the cost of transporting these materials have become quite
prohibitive. Nevertheless, the layered terrain onstage remains, to reflect the
levels on which the play operates.
Some say Filipinas 1941 is not the best musical
in the PSF repertoire – that boasts of other award-winning plays such as Cory ng EDSA and Ako si Ninoy, but it is a worthy addition, and testament, to the
best repertory theater in the country today. For instance, can you name another
theater company in town whose currency includes revisiting any old play on the
stage, barely on a day or a week’s notice?
It’s no
mean feat, I know, and not even the 48-year-old PETA or the CCP can pull it
through. Talk about being “legitimate”...
JC Nigado
Tagurabong City, Philippines
25 Feb. 2015
