DOC RESURECCION - GAGAMUTIN ANG BAYAN

Virgin Labfest 5

Doc Resureccion by Layeta Bucoy, direction by Tuxqs Rutaquio.

Photography by Jojit Lorenzo.

The VIRGIN LABFEST 5

Start:	Jun 23, '09
End:	Jul 5, '09
Location:	Tanghalang Huseng Batute (Studio Theater), Cultural Center of the Philippines

The Cultural Center of the Philippines, Tanghalang Pilipino. Inc. and Writer's Bloc, Inc invite you to
the Fifth Year of the VIRGIN LABFEST!

15 unstaged, unpublished, untested one-act plays
4 full-length plays for public reading
and a book launching:
Mga Piling Dula ng Virgin Labfest: Ang Unang Antolohiya 2005-2008.

The plays feature actors from PETA, Tanghalang Pilipino, Dulaang Gantimpala, etc.

All main entries will be performed at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute (Studio Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines)

*****Schedule of SETS of plays with respective writers/directors*****

SET A
"School of Life (Mga Dulang Walang Pinag-aralan) "
TUESDAY, JUNE 23: 3pm and 8pm
SATURDAY, JULY 4: 8pm
SUNDAY, JULY 5: 3pm

featuring:
MPC (Mababang Paarlan ng Caniogan) by Job Pagsibigan, performed by the Sipat Lawin Ensemble

Ang Huling Lektyur ni Misis Reyes by Tim Dacanay, directed by Hazel Gutierrez

Pandaraya by Oggie Arcenas, directed by Roli Inocencio/ JK Anicoche

SET B
"It's Complicated (The Buhul-Buhol Trilogy)"
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24: 3PM and 8pm
FRIDAY, JULY 3: 8pm
SATURDAY, JULY 4: 3pm

featuring:
Salise by J. Dennis Teodosio, directed by Roobak Valle

Ang Mamanugangin ni Rez by Clariza Estuar, directed by Paolo O'Hara

So Sangibo a Ranon Na Piyatay O Satiman A Tadman by Rogelio Braga, directed by Riki Benedicto

SET C
"BloodSports (Trilohiyang Dinuguan)"
THURSDAY, JUNE 25: 3pm and 8pm
FRIDAY, JULY 3: 3pm
SUNDAY: JULY 5: 8pm

featuring:
Kitchen Medea by Kiyokazu Yamamoto, directed by Yoshida Toshihisa

Doc Resurrecion: Gagamutin ang Bayan by Layeta Bucoy, directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio

Asawa/Kabit written and directed by George de Jesus III

SET D
"The Family That ______s Together (Tatlong Dulang Walang Diyos)"
FRIDAY, JUNE 26: 3pm and 8pm
TUESDAY, JUNE 30: 3pm
THURSDAY, JULY 2: 8pm

featuring:
Boy-Girl ang Gelpren ni Mommy by Sheilfa Alojamiento, directed by Carlo Garcia

Maliw by Reuel Molina Aguila, directed by Edna Vida

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White by George Vail Kabristante, directed by Paul Santiago

SET E
"Life is a Trap (Three Plays in Search of Escape)"
SATURDAY, JUNE 27: 3pm and 8pm
TUESDAY, JUNE 30: 8pm
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1: 3pm

featuring:
Isang Araw sa Peryahan by Nicolas B. Pichay, directed by Chris Millado

Paigan by Liza Magtoto, directed by Sigrid Bernardo

Hate Restaurants by David Finnigan, directed by J. Victor Villareal

SET F
VLF 4 Revisited (Selected Plays from Last year's Virgin Labfest)
SUNDAY, JUNE 28: 3pm and 8pm
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1: 8pm
THURSDAY, JULY 2: 3pm

featuring:
Ang Kalungkutan ng Reyna written and directed by Floy Quintos

Ang Bayot, ang Meranao, at ang Habal-Habal sa Isang Nakababagot na Paghihintay sa Kanto ng Lanao del Norte by Rogelio Braga, directed by Nick Olanka

Uuwi na Ang Nanay Kong si Darna by Job Pagsibigan from Edgar Samar's story for children, directed by Cats Racsag

***** BOOK LAUNCHING *****

JUNE 23, TUESDAY at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (Little Theater), Cultural Center of the Philippines

15 plays from four years of Virgin Labfest (2005 through 2008)
Major Anthology that includes 6 Palanca Winners, Gawad Buhay Awards for the Theater.
featuring plays by F. Sionil Jose, Nicolas B. Pichay, Glenn Sevilla Mas, Allan B. Lopez, Rody Vera, Liza Magtoto, Floy Quintos, etc

****** STAGED READINGS OF FULL LENGTH PLAYS******

Kataksilan, adaptation of Harold Pinter's Betrayal by Tim Dacanay

Nung Minsang May Nanungkulan sa San Lazaro, adaptation of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi, by Joshua Lim So

Breakups and Breakdowns by Joel Trinidad

plus!!!

an improvisational piece by SPIT

for more details please contact CCP-Performing Arts Department:

832 1125 loc 1600 or 1607
look for Nikki or Clottie

SEE YOU THERE!!!

Lav Diaz's DEATH IN THE LAND OF ENCANTOS

Start:	Jul 19, '08 10:00a
Location:	Tanghalang Huseng Batute, Cultural Center of the Philippines

Poetic Post-mortem

By Nil Baskar

In the global film festival circuit, the screenings of the works of the Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz have become somewhat of a cinematic festivity in themselves, a festivity of endurance, which brings into being a certain sense of solidarity between the
viewers participating in such a banquet of cinema.

Demanding as they are, the works of Lav Diaz usually present a challenge to the logic of film festivals for the most part a logic of consumption, where one often feels that the new cinema is being hastily processed and packed for further use. On such terms it becomes excessively difficult to see films such as Death in the Land of Encantos (Kagadanan sa banwaan
ning mga Engkanto, 2007) for what they really are: a solitary beacon for an ethical cinema — and increasingly easy to dismiss them with all kinds of pretexts. The Ljubljana Film Festival thus certainly deserves a cinephile salute for not shying away from showing a nine-hour long film. However, the Slovenian Cinematheque, where the screening took place, deserves extreme admonishment: not only was the quality of the
screening substandard (one would think that a
state-subsidized pillar of film culture could afford to maintain a decent digital projection system), but the heating in the hall was turned off too, surely to save at least some of the taxpayers' money.

Despite that, Death in the Land of Encantos proved to be a wholly enchanting experience, both a lesson in cinema's capacity to profoundly shape time and space, as well as a rediscovery of its fundamental gestures, of conceiving an associating images with true
artistic and political necessities. It confirmed that the work of Lav Diaz is not unique because of its epic length, but because of its original ideas and its confidence in telling a story with purely cinematic means — something that is becoming quite rare and even strange to observe in these times, when it seems that so much of contemporary cinema has elected a noncommittal and ironic detachment from everything and
anything. Diaz's cinema, in contrast, is radically non-ironic (at least in the post-modern sense of irony, that is), committed and attached — perhaps even too attached: all of its many people, things, moments, ideas are equally important, all of them constitute an image of a world. This attachment is not driven by any kind of grandeur, but is merely an attempt to narrate in a dialectical way.

Diaz conceived the film as a document in the aftermath of the apocalyptic disaster that hit the Bicol region in 2006, where he had previously shot most parts of Evolution of a Filipino Family (Ebolusyon ng isang pamilyang pilipino, 2004) and Heremias (2006). After typhoon Reming devastated the area — including the town of Padang, where the film takes place — a mudslide from the volcano Mayon followed, burying whole parts of the town together with its inhabitants.
However, little of the documentary footage — mostly interviews with some of the survivors — remains in the final film. In the face of destruction and atop of the ruins, a distinctly poetic voice is introduced to reflect on the disappearance and the pain. This is the
fictitious character of the "great Filipino poet
Benjamin Agusan", who returns after years of artistic exile to find his home gone, together with his family and his lover. What remains is a desolate, featureless ground-zero landscape, infused by the ghosts of the dead and dominated by the perfectly shaped volcano — a sublime appearance, both inspiring and menacing.
When Benjamin meets his old friends — poet Teodoro and sculptor/painter Catalina — this new landscape is slowly becoming repopulated. Memories, some comforting, others traumatic, are excavated, often without a clear demarcation between the past and the present. Take, for instance, the agonizing final shot
of Benjamin being tortured by a secret police agent: is this a recollection of a past event, already alluded to, or is this the actual present of the film, the final scene of Benjamin's life, perhaps his execution? What seems clear is Diaz telling us that the executions of the Filipino political activists cannot be relegated to any kind of history, least of all because they are (still) happening right now (to a
shocking extent, as we learn). While Nature's wrath is something we can ultimately deal with, the suppression of freedom, thought and art cannot but remain unresolved. This is the essence of Diaz's "non-reconciled cinema"; a refusal to surrender memories to a history, to detach any moment or body from its place in time or space.
Benjamin's wandering, rootless protagonist, haunted by memories and traumas, is, of course, a familiar figure in Diaz's oeuvre: in Batang West Side (2001) it is shared by both the detective and the murdered youth; it is the moving part of Evolution and a subject of intense examination in Heremias. Lost in their quixotic search for truth and redemption, these figures also belong to a distinct tradition of the silent and often mad philosopher, a kind of a premodern somnambulist, which goes about the land forgetting and remembering. The poet-philosopher of
Death, however, breaks this silent spell, speaking and thinking aloud, to whomever wants to listen. There is a sort of an ongoing conversation — a discurso, as we learn it is called, quite appropriately — between
Benjamin and his two friends, an often impassioned exchange on art, politics, culture, modern life and the world at large. Immediate and imperfect — as any conversation between good friends usually is (awkward, even naïve, rarely teleological in a narrative sense)
— it also suggests something about Diaz's cinema itself, about the way it seems to come together as an inspired and generous reflection on art and life. Such sincerity of film-making and film-thinking is what makes Death — despite its existential gravity — the most outwardly dialogical of all the films Diaz has made.

Clearly, Diaz has allowed much of himself to enter the film (in some of the interviews he can be heard off-screen, explaining the film he is shooting), but this intrusion of the camera and the director isn't simply about detaching cinema from spectacle. In truth, there is no fiction and reality here, but more of a weaving of determined and potential realities, of vérité and fausseté, always with a natural,
sometimes even prodigious ease. In one of the
interviews, for instance, we encounter an actor from the second part of Heremias, whose character in the film — a prophet — warns against a disaster. His prediction, coming from a film which paradoxically isn't finished yet, is uncanny to say the least, more so since in reality he has lost everything except his
life. Is this intrusion — from a film that is both past and future — a proof that cinema is somehow prophetic, or is it merely capable of detecting the future, already contained in the present? This
ambiguity, a question whether detecting doesn't also
mean rendering a certain (catastrophic) reality
visible and thus possible, haunts the film; and while
it cannot be answered, it can be at least re-imagined
as a symbolic gesture. As examples, one can think of
two of the most moving shots in the film — Catalina reading Benjamin's poem-testament for the camera, and her once more, painting and burning a portrait (presumably his). Both of these are rituals of remembrance and redemption, but also a spectacle, a staging of creation and destruction (much like Nature itself stages it, of course). A way of saying that there is no art without the spectacle of art.

Ultimately, one could hardly exhaust Death by only revisiting its symbolic concerns and suggestions. Much should be said about Diaz's mastery in visual composition and his use of black and white images, about the shades of grey which preserve the encountered world in a distinctly physical, voluminous way; also about his use of natural low-key light, which, ordered into digital textures, produces distinctly material aesthetics. One that bears traces
of both the scarcity of its means as well as the
urgency of its ideas — a digital liberation
theology, as Diaz calls it himself. More could also be said how a work like this renders so much of contemporary cinema obsolete, immature or hardly substantial. The hours of pure cinema it has to offer are hours that matter most: they are the time of cinema in becoming, being thought, reclaiming its space, time and subjects.

Nil Baskar© FIPRESCI 2007

Wi-fi Body Festival 3

Start:	Jun 12, '08
End:	Jun 15, '08
Location:	Cultural Center of the Philippines

Dear Friends,

Inviting you to join us for Wi-fi Body Festival 3 to be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on June 12-15, 2008.

Our festival is being participated by both Metro-Manila based artists and artist based in the regions, and international guests from Japan and Spain, and a dance critic from France. It is truly a "wi-fi body" where all are working independently but connected to the greater idea of dance - a contemporary dance network initiated in the Philippines.

Our festival pass entitles to the holder to all performances, workshops and activities in the amount of P1,800.
The student / senior rate for this festival pass is a discounted P1,000.

There is also a day pass which entitles the holder to all performances and the workshop for the day in the amount of P500.
The student/ senior rate for this day pass is a discounted P300.

Come early, stay late.

Join us for Wi-fi Body 3!

Myra C. Beltran
Festival director, Wi-fi Body 3
Artistic director, Dance Forum


Wi-fi Body Festival 3

June 12, 2008

11am-2pm Contemporary Dance Workshop
Georgette Sanchez
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

230-430pm Dance Journalism
Rosita Boisseau, dance critic, Le Monde
Courtesy of Alliance Francaise de Manille
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

3-430pm Uncensored Bodies (dance on screen)
In cooperation with Alliance Francaise de Manille and International
Festival of Cinema & Technology
CCP Little Theatre Lobby

5pm Blackbox Initiative
Sa, Se, Si et. Al. (UP Dance Company)
Memory Wares (Chameleon Dance Theatre)

615pm New Choreographers Competition
(Set 1)
CCP Main Theatre Stage

8pm IndepenDance
Song for Life ( Shigemi Kitamura , Japan )
Indios Bravos (Airdance)

930pm Dance-on-site
Oedipus (by Rudolph Segundo)
CCP Little Theatre Lobby

June 13, 2008

11am-2pm Contemporary Dance Workshop
Raul Alcoseba
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

230-430pm Dance Journalism
Rosita Boisseau, dance critic, Le Monde
Courtesy of Alliance Francaise de Manille
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

3-430pm Uncensored Bodies (dance on screen)
In cooperation with Alliance Francaise de Manille and International
Festival of Cinema & Technology
CCP Little Theatre Lobby

5pm Blackbox Initiative
Sa, Se, Si et. Al. (UP Dance Company)
Memory Wares (Chameleon Dance Theatre)

615pm New Choreographers Competition
(Set 2)
CCP Main Theatre Stage

8pm IndepenDance
Song for Life ( Shigemi Kitamura , Japan )
Indios Bravos (Airdance)

930pm Dance-on-site
On Standby (by Robbie Hayden)
Loading dock / Main theatre backstage


June 14, 2008

11am-2pm Contemporary Dance Workshop
Herbert Alvarez
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

2-430pm Plenary: Towards a Philippine Contemporary Dance Network
Moderated by Paul Morales
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

3-430pm Uncensored Bodies (dance on screen)
In cooperation with Alliance Francaise de Manille and International
Festival of Cinema & Technology
CCP Little Theatre Lobby

3pm New Choreographers Competition
(Set 2)
CCP Main Theatre Stage

5pm Blackbox Initiative
The Line between Come & Go (Kahayag Dance & Theatre
Collective)
Karga-Tapas (Dance=Pull, Bacolod )

6pm New Choreographers Competition
(Set 1)
CCP Main Theatre Stage

8pm IndepenDance
My body, your body, et. al. (by Ava Villanueva)
The Sky in my Pocket (Provisional Danza , Spain )

930pm Dance-on-site
All that Matters (Yvonne Torres)
Dance Freedom (Horhe Amparado)
CCP Main theatre lobby

June 15, 2008

11am-2pm Contemporary Dance Workshop
Ava Villanueva
Bulwagang Amado Hernandez

3-430pm Uncensored Bodies (dance on screen)
In cooperation with Alliance Francaise de Manille and International
Festival of Cinema & Technology
CCP Little Theatre Lobby

3pm Emerging Talent Showcase
& Awarding of New Choreographers Competition
Features various school-based dance groups
CCP Little Theatre

5pm Blackbox Initiative
The Line between Come & Go (Kahayag Dance & Theatre
Collective)
Karga-Tapas (Dance=Pull, Bacolod )


8pm Wi-fi Body Gala
Featuring Choreographers¢ Network of WDA-Philippines
With guests

930pm Party / jam
CCP Main theatre lobby

CineMalaya 2007

Tanghalang Pilipino's MULAN

Start:	Sep 14, '07
End:	Oct 7, '07
Location:	Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater), Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City

In MULAN, wars are fought not just by men but between the gods. Set in ancient China, MULAN tells the story of the bravery and courage of the legendary character Hua Mulan, the heroine who joined an all-male army described in a famous Chinese poem known as the "Ballad of Mulan". The production showcases spectacular and innovative staging techniques, and features a brilliant choreography that fuses elements of martial arts and original music inspired by Oriental traditions.

This new musical is perfect for children and young people of all ages, musical theater enthusiasts and for those who simply want to get in touch with their Asian roots.


CAST

MULAN Mayen Estañero

JADE EMPEROR Jonathan Tadioan

EMPRESS WANG MU Marjorie Ann Lorico

HUA HU Sugus Legaspi

JI LI Kathlyn Castillo

COLONEL YU Chromewell Cosio

XIANGLAN Jennilee Chuaunsu

JULAN Anna Deroca

MADAM SUN Wenah Nagales

CHING EN LAI Riki Benedicto

MENSAHERO Bong Cabrera

KOMADRONA Sheenly Gener

MGA KAWAL / TAUMBAYAN Susan Decena, Carlos Deriada, Jorge Amparado, Russell Legaspi, Tara Cabaero, Nar Cabico (understudy)



ARTISTIC & PRODUCTION STAFF

DIRECTOR Dennis N. Marasigan

LIBRETTIST Rody Vera

MUSIC Jed Caballero Balsamo

PRODUCTION DESIGNER Gino Gonzales

CHOREOGRAPHER Denisa Reyes

MAKE UP DESIGNER Dennis Tan

LIGHTING DESIGNER Jonjon Villareal

SOUND DESIGNER Jethro Joaquin

PRODUCTION MANAGER Minette Palcon

STAGE MANAGER Ma. Kristine Chynna Roxas

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS Ed Lacson, Max Celada


September 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30, October 6, 7, 2007 3:00 P.M.
September 14, 21, 28, October 5, 2007 8:00 P.M.


Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theater)

“PILIPINAS CIRCA 1907” OPENS TANGHALANG PILIPINO’S POWERFUL NEW SEASON

Start:	Aug 10, '07
End:	Sep 2, '07
Location:	Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City

The landmark sarswela by Dr. Nicanor G. Tiongson is revived in a new production as Tanghalang Pilipino’s 21st theater season opener. “PILIPINAS CIRCA 1907” will run at the CCP Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino from August 10 to September 2, 2007. The production, set in the period prior to the national elections in 1907, tells about political conflict and family relations getting in the way of two pairs of star-crossed lovers when America was more in the heart.

Leading the remarkable cast are two of Manila’s finest sopranos alternating as Leonor, Ana Feleo and Lani Mabilangan Ligot. Theater’s most beloved leading men, Arnold Reyes and Miguel Castro, alternate as Leonor’s lover, the poet-journalist Emilio. Classical singer Nazer Salcedo and Tanghalang Pilipino Actors’ Company member Bong Cabrera alternately play Andres, the supervisor of the family’s tobacco factory. Alternating as Pura, Andres’ object of affection, are Aliw Best Supporting Actress nominee, Wenah Nagales and Sugar Hiccup lead vocalist Jeanette Reyna. The bane to the star-crossed lovers is Don Pardo, played by character actor Dido dela Paz, the Federalista who’s at political odds with his family. Doña Pilar, the family matriarch, is alternately played by Mia Bolaños and Clotilde Lucero. Veteran actor Lu Veloso and comedian Garry Lim lend their comic talents as the balikbayan trumpet player Porong. Also in the cast is Andrew Cruz and Bong Embile (Juan/Pedro) , Eric dela Cruz and Roeder Camañag (Robert), Jean Judith Javier (Dorothy), and the Tanghalang Pilipino Actors’ Company.

The libretto is by Nicanor Tiongson, with music by Lutgardo Labad, Louie Pascasio, Chino Toledo, Lucien Letaba, Nicanor Abelardo, Scott Joplin and Barry Fagan. Musical direction is by Chino Toledo, with production design by Leo Abaya. Notable fashion designer, Danilo Franco, creates fabulous ternos for the production. Legendary Dance artist Edna Vida Froilan provides the choreography while Barbie Tan Tiongco handles technical direction. At the director’s helm is Dennis Marasigan. The production is his first directorial assignment with Tanghalang Pilipino after assuming the company’s Artistic Director seat. He also doubles as the production’s lighting designer.

“PILIPINAS CIRCA 1907” has all the elements that made the sarswela very popular with audiences – love between gallant heroes and beautiful heroines, poignant solos and lavish choruses, comic songs and characters, period manners and domestic situations. But more than these, “PILIPINAS CIRCA 1907” also has contemporary themes – politics and tradition, human tragedy and conflict, and the search for realistic solutions – that make a point for today while retaining the sarswela’s old charms. This production caters to all ages and persuasions, but more specifically for music theater enthusiasts and students of Philippine history, literature, political science, and humanities. And plain old romantic lovers, too.

“PILIPINAS CIRCA 1907” is generously supported by Tesoro's, artonedesign, Flowerline, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5 RT and Heart 103.5.

For details, bookings, reservations and ticket inquiries, please call Tanghalang Pilipino at 832-3661, Ticketworld at 891-9999, or the CCP Box Office at 832-3704.

R'meo Luvs Dew-lhiett

me as Lady Capuletto. a Tanghalang Pilipino production, 2005. directed by herbie go.