PETA’s senior actor-director-teacher Melvin Lee (Photo from Melvin Lee)
In the mid-1970s, the imprisoned Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. gets to have a one-on-one closed-door meeting with then-President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. They are fraternity brothers, anyway.
In another setting, Gregoria “Oryang” de Jesus-Nakpil, in her old age, is given the chance to confront the general who, 30 years ago, was believed to have ordered the murder of her husband, Andres Bonifacio.
But we’re getting ahead of the story.
If 2023 has been described by critics as the revenge year for the Philippine theater industry, 2024 is when theater companies and audiences could find themselves back in the busy pre-pandemic years.
Weekends would see us crisscrossing the metro to catch a minimum of five plays, spread over matinee and evening shows, Friday to Sunday, in familiar venues or newly opened theaters.
Just two weeks after the New Year revelries and a month after it closed the revitalized Tabing-Ilog, the musical, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) became the first professional theater company to open 2024 with a mini-festival of one-act plays and other new short works under the intriguing title Control + Shift: Changing Narratives at the PETA Theater Center, 5 Sunnyside Drive, New Manila, Quezon City.
Just like the computer keyboard command, which means “switching the keyboard layout,” PETA’s Control +Shift aims “to provoke curiosity, spark conversations, challenge assumptions, interrogate, and transform the toxic narratives and harmful depictions that hold society back.”
The festival started Jan. 12, 2024, Friday, and ongoing until this Sunday, January 21.
A scene from “Momsilogues” (Photo from PETA)
The first weekend had Momsilogues, a play about single mom foodie vloggers who collaborate on an interactive vlog about tapsilog, short for “tapa, sinangag, itlog,” a favorite Filipino meal of fried beef tapa, fried rice, fried egg.
Beneath the surface, the story “uncovers a savory journey of career, love, and motherhood.” It is co-written by Zoe Damag, Julia Enriquez, Pia Viola, and Gold Villar-Lim, and directed by Villar-Lim.
Felicity Kyle Napuli, Kiki Baento, and Sabrina Basilio in a scene from “Ang Mga Halimaw sa Compound Z” (Photo from PETA)
Sabrina Basillo’s Ang Mga Halimaw sa Compound Z, directed by Norbs Portales, is about a journalist (played by Basilio) who interviews two recovering “halimaw (monsters) on their reintegration into society, and discovers a shocking revelation that could alter humanity’s destiny forever.”
Albularyo is a movement performance about Filipino folk healing with direction, concept, and choreography by Carlon Matobato and dramaturgy by Ian Segarra.
Glecy Atienza’s Nakatala Sa Tubig is a staged reading in collaboration with Anthony Cruz and Bobet Mendoza, described as a “performance discourse on water and the lives and roles of women in times of war.”
Kyle Saldonido’s Pilipinas, Geym Ka Na Ba? is a devised performance by Umalohokan, Inc., directed by Kovi Billones with directing guidance from Ian Segarra. It tells the story of residents of Barangay Pinapili, who one day, wake up in an obscure playground and to get out, “they must beat a series of childhood games, each with a dark twist.”
Lastly, there’s Mixkaela Villalon’s Children of the Algo, directed by John Moran. It is about Gen Z content creators who “hide their deeper realities while navigating the digital age with wit and vulnerability, challenging viewers to see beyond the algorithm.”
This weekend starting today, there’s Dominique La Victoria’s Kislap at Fuego, directed by Maribel Legarda and J-mee Katanyag. It is the Filipino translation by Gentle Mapagu of a 2018 Palanca-winning play in English by La Victoria titled Toward The Fires of Revolution, which she adapted from the short story Odd and Ugly by Vida Cruz.
La Victoria described it as something akin to “a beauty and the beast story set in the Philippine Revolution against Spain.” This time, the beast is a “kapre.”
Kislap at Fuego has real-life couple Jerald Napoles and Kim Molina in the cast. It’s like a homecoming performance, though limited. Both played lead characters Tolits and Aileen in PETA’s all-time jukebox hit musical, Rak of Aegis.
There’s also Liza Magtoto’s “/” (Slash), directed by Meann Espinosa. The synopsis reads: “When an influencer’s best friend is ‘canceled,’ her seemingly neutral stance is put to a test. As these two friends grapple with the idea of re-entering the industry, Xendy (the influencer) tries to balance loyalty, righteousness, and branding.”
“Ang Parangal”
Lastly, there’s Ang Parangal, an adaptation of Miloš Forman’s 1967 comedy film, The Fireman’s Ball, by Michelle Ngu-Nario, directed by Eric dela Cruz.
It is a “a story about barangay tanods (village watchers) who organize a community celebration in tribute to their retired barangay captain, but crumble in the face of their dire ineptitude.”
For its second and final weekend, Control + Shift has the re-staging of Kumprontasyon, a set of three one-act plays all directed by PETA senior actor-director-mentor Melvin Lee.
The three short plays are Allan Palileo’s Lakambini, Guelan Luarca’s The Impossible Dream, and Joshua Lim So’s A Color for Tomorrow.
Seasoned actors Teroy Guzman and Sherry Lara in “Lakambini” (Photo from PETA)
Just for an appetizer, Lakambini is based on the historic real-life meeting between Emilio Aguinaldo, played by Teroy Guzman, and Gregoria “Oryang” de Jesus-Nakpil vda. Bonifacio, played by Sherry Lara. The story takes place 30 years after the death of Andres Bonifacio. The widow Oryang gets to confront the first strongman in Philippine history, the former general who ordered the assassination of her husband.
Ron Capinding in a scene from “The Impossible Dream” (Photo courtesy of PETA)
The Impossible Dream is the imagined secret meeting of fraternity brothers Ninoy Aquino, played by Romnick Sarmenta, and Ferdinand Marcos Sr., played by Ron Capinding, in the mid-1970s, when Ninoy is imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio. One night, Ninoy is brought to the Palace to have a one-on-one talk with his “brod,” the longest serving strongman in Philippine history.
In a review by theater critic Vladimir Bunoan for ANCX, he praised Capinding for having been “given the role of a lifetime as then-President Ferdinand Marcos.”
We quote: “Capinding bravely chose not to do yet another impersonation of Marcos (who has had more than his fair share of impersonators, mostly in comedy revues), but instead highlighted his intellectual arrogance and hubris in this riveting imaginary political showdown with Benigno Aquino Jr. (played with surprising calm by Romnick Sarmenta).”
A Color for Tomorrow, according to the synopsis, tells the story of how “in the future, a product can create augmented realities of your younger self that you can interact with, intended to provide nostalgia therapy.”
It is about “a former advertising bigwig testing this technology against the backdrop of an imminent presidential election. She then engages with her 24-year-old self, a young Gen-Z copywriter, and a volunteer for the 2022 Philippine elections. After which, she encounters herself at other ages, when she has a more brutal way of seeing the world.”
Multi-platform actress Adrienne Vergara in a scene from “A Color for Tomorrow” (Photo from PETA)
Missy Maramara in a scene from Joshua Lim So’s “A Color for Tomorrow” (Photo from PETA)
The actors are Missy Maramara, Adrienne Vergara, Gillian Vicencio, Eric Dela Cruz, and Carlon Matobato.
The three short plays were initially staged in September last year as the thesis production for Lee’s Master of Arts in Theater at UP Diliman, which was presented as part of the PETA Laboratory.
The PETA Lab is an annual test production for new works where select critics, reviewers, actors, directors, and other stakeholders are invited to give their inputs. The recent smash hit, Walang Aray, is a product of PETA Lab.
Kumprontasyon has been described by critics as a “theatrical masterpiece.” It is being staged at the PETA Phinma-Theater until Sunday, January 21.
A few days before Kumprontasyon’s re-staging, TheDiarist.ph had a quick online tete-a-tete with Melvin Lee, who we still remember as Chelsea in another PETA blockbuster production, Care Divas.
Excerpts:
First, just to be clear about it: What was the actual title of your thesis?
Lee: The title is Kumprontasyon: Trilogy of One Act Plays.
A little background on the life of Melvin Lee. College years, and how many years have you been with PETA?
I’ve been with PETA since 1982. Been a working student since college, had to stop on my second year due to load of work, but went back after 26 years of absence. Graduated 2016 and pursued an MA degree in 2018 at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
How did you choose the three plays for Kumprontasyon?
I conceptualized the three plays as a reaction to the result of the 2022 elections.
I asked myself how come the dictators’ family came back to position easily. Then I figured we as a people tend to forget and erase the past even if there are unresolved events, issues in our history like the death of Andres Bonifacio, the violent Martial Law era, and the polarized society, especially during the 2022 campaign. So maybe we need to confront these unresolved issues from the past by mounting this production.
What were your criteria in choosing the three one-act plays, besides being written by three of the finest playwrights of today?
I broached the idea to Joshua and Guelan. They got interested. I think I pushed the right button for them to collaborate with me on this thesis project. Lakambini was an existing piece by Allan which I mounted in the ’90s.
How about in choosing the actors? Did they audition, or you chose them specifically for their respective roles?
I invited them to read as click bait. I was confident about the material. I just had to let them get a sense of the play so that they can commit to it, voluntarily.
Pardon my bias, but seldom do seasoned actors like Sherry Lara and Teroy Guzman get to be paired in a two-hander, and Teroy has a cult following. Kindly tell us more, describe how is it working with the two.
They are both committed and competent actors. It was my first time to work with Teroy, and it was a pleasure collaborating with him. I’ve worked with Tita Sherry several times, and I know it will be a blast to see them together working on a piece.
So the initial staging in September was for PETA Lab? Or the thesis defense itself? So this January, it’s a pure PETA production to start the year?
The September run was in fulfilment of my MA program. It was a co-production with my thesis mate, Carlo Pagunaling. The rerun this January is still an independent venture, but this time part of PETA’s Changing Narratives Festival.
Can we say Control + Shift: Changing Narratives is the first of its kind?
Yes, this is the first time with those themes mentioned, but PETA Lab has been around since the 1990s. The Virgin Lab Festival (of the Cultural Center of the Philippines) was formerly PETA Lab that was organized by (PETA members) Charley dela Paz and Rene Villanueva, who have both passed on. The leadership went to Rody Vera. Because of unavoidable circumstances, Rody moved PETA Lab to the CCP and called it the VLF.
Tell us about PETA Plus and your role in it.
I am the program director of PETA Plus. This is an income-generating unit servicing other companies both online or on-site, tapping the services of PETA doing line production, venue rentals, and creative services. This is used to be the Theater Center Program initiated by the late Queng Reyles. I took over in 2017.
The tie-up with Star Cinema and Teatro Kapamilya started with Tabing Ilog in 2020 and this went on until Walang Aray and Tabing Ilog 2023 version. What are the other projects of PETA Plus, or any still on the planning stage?
That is the main goal of our unit, which is to collaborate with other interested partners who would want to tap the expertise of PETA.
Some theater lovers still remember you as Chelsea in Care Divas. Would you consider it your signature role?
Aside from CareDivas, I would like to think that my other notable roles are Jean Genet in Bilanggo ng Pag-ibig for Dulaang UP, Solange in The Maids for PETA, Inao in Diablos (PETA), The Bomb (PETA), and Diana Ross in Kung Paano ko Pinatay si Diana Ross (PETA).
Anything you like to add?
Thank you for the support.
After the PETA theater run, Kumprontasyon will be toured in schools nationwide. Please follow PETA’s social media pages.
