Theatre

PLAYWRITING

Philippine Educational Theatre Association Laboratory

Ang Mga Halimaw sa Compound Z

1/7

My favorite of the evening was Sabrina Basilio’s dystopic Ang Mga Halimaw sa Compound Z, an inventive and brave rebuke of Philippine politics and media."

—Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN

Meron Pa Bang Mabuting Mag-aaral?

Isang Re-konstruksyon ng The Good Person of Szechwan’ ni Bertolt Brecht

Teatro Baguntao

Excellent work locating Brecht in the contemporary. . . The whole time I was reminded of an important quote from The Pedagogy of the Oppressed: "If the structure does not permit dialogue, the structure must be changed."

— Itos Ledesma

1/3

Antigone vs. the People of the Philippines

Tanghalang Ateneo

Antigone versus the Philippines (1)

B&W BOBBY

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Antigone versus the Philippines (1)

1/3

A fresh piece of imaginative, interactive theatre that was simply exhilarating, placing the audience at the center of a trial of the characters of the Greek tragedy but in an original conception that fits right in with the current Philippine socio-political situation, “placing justice in our hands,” making us decide on the guilt or innocence of the characters as we question our own values and positions in our present society.

— Ricky Toledo Chito Vijandre

Hango sa 'Lysistrata ni Aristophanes

Lysistrata ng Bakwit

Tanghalang Ateneo

Watching Lysistrata ng Bakwit is an opportunity to be reminded of the need to combine mind and body, spirit and soul in human affairs; the need to reexamine our nationhood in relation to the way we respond to threatening global forces; and the need to support one another in the work of art, which really brings us together, imparts insights and values that help us to live better in community.

— Niccolo Vitug

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WCK-8183

Lysistrata ng Bakwit

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1/3

DRAMATURGY

Ang Bakkhai (2024)

Teatro Baguntao

Ang Mga Pag-ibig Nina Elias at Salome (2023)

Thank you for heeding the call to reimagine love and revolution with us. Thank you for joining us in the task to find our place in the trails that have been planted in the Rizal library—by Jose Rizal himself, by our humble company, and now by all of us together.

What we have learned from working in the Old Rizal Library is this: to love, especially in the face of so many mechanisms of hatred, is to remember and to imagine at the same time. To hold both the great tragedies we’ve inherited from our past and the belief that we can create a different future.

Part of this work is always questioning the ways that knowledge is kept, produced, erased, narrativized, curated, and transferred —how these choices have (for better or for worse) molded our relationship with our history, our perception of heroism, and what it means to be a Filipino.

Where better to practice this than a university library and art gallery? Where before absorbing knowledge must be a silent, intellectual, and individual act, Tanghalang Ateneo’s performance exhibit demands that it be loud, tactile, sensual, and communal. It is after all a colonial project that stories and art must be sublimated into a final and canonical form, tucked away in gilded containers and increasingly revered as the distance of time grows. It is our creative project that we let these stories come fully alive now, so that we may truly interact with them, feel them in our bodies, carry them home to our personal lives, and perhaps by doing so, save them from textual erasure and denialism.

This was our process in devising the performances, through the generosity of Delphine's direction, TA’s trainees & prod teams, and the leadership of our Dramatists Collective—a team of new writers and dramaturgs who teach me new ways to remember and imagine everyday. It is now a process we are passing on to everyone.

Often, we think of love and revolution as a great and monumental act, like the legacy Jose Rizal left behind. Tonight, let us also think of it as the simple courage to unsettle expected decorum and likewise be unsettled by things we don’t yet know. To listen with our full selves when they are speaking to us. If we do, nothing will ever truly be forgotten or lost.

Ardor (2023)

Sunod! (2023)

Perfomance

PERFORMANCE

THEATER

Before [her debut as playwright,] she already had three indelible turns [in 2019] as featured actress—first, as the abused Martha Bessell in Ateneo Blue Repertory’s “Spring Awakening,” stealing the spotlight with just one number—“The Dark I Know Well.”

Vincen Yu, Philippine Daily Inquirer

THEATER x FILM x ZOOM

@NLEX

An online adaptation of Tony Perez' 'Sa North Diversion Road'

Direction: Serena Magiliw

Dramaturgy: Fitz Bitana

@nlex is an online adaptation of Tony Perez’ “Sa North Diversion Road” which weaves together Zoom footage, video games, dash cam footage, Messenger video calls, and other media to reflect on the fractured back-and-forth of a failing marriage. It was filmed by the actors and staff within their own homes and stitched together in post-production.

LAMON-BABAE

By: Rocio Castillo, Isabella Darang, & Aleiana Duque

Direction: Shaun Ocrisma & Danilo Vanquilar

Lamon-Babae is an online play inspired by the myth of one of the Philippines’ most fearsome creatures — the Manananggal. Set in the 17th Century, the story revolves around the origins of the Manananggal, questioning the perception of her as a monster. “Lamon-Babae” aims to push to the forefront women’s power to reclaim their freedom and agency, and the solidarity among survivors of oppression.

TAHANAN SA MAYNILA

Written and directed by: Fujita Takahiro (mum&gypsy)

Translation: Guelan Luarca

Video direction: Mesuda Jitsuko

Ang mga Halimaw sa Compound Z

Philippine Educational Theater Association - Laboratory

This was a biting socio-political commentary."

— Fred Hawson, ABS-CBN

1/7

My favorite of the evening was Sabrina Basilio’s dystopic ‘Ang Mga Halimaw sa Compound Z’, an inventive and brave rebuke of Philippine politics and media."

— Vladimir Bunoan, ABS-CBN

Basilio’s prose is commendable for its ambition in crafting this complex world.

— Nikki Francisco, Theater Fans Manila