“Wherever there’s magic and make-believe, and an audience, there’s theater.” That line was penned by film director Joseph E. Manckiewicz for his classic movie All About Eve. It rings true for the University of the Philippines Diliman, where a performance can happen anywhere, from a cafeteria to the sunken garden.
This small structure was once a canteen called Dulaang Kapeterya, where a few plays were performed. It’s now part of the compound of the UP Center for Women and Gender Studies. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
A handful of plays was indeed staged in a canteen called Dulaang Kapeterya. One of them was a parody on the 1974 Miss Universe pageant (in which Miss Spain was represented by Ampangit Munoz). The place was located behind the College of Mass Communications.
The basement of the Faculty Center, which burned down several years ago, was also ideal for plays that didn’t need elaborate sets or props. It’s where we went to see one of Floy Quintos’ works. Culture Vultures was the title, a hilarious send-off on the movers and shakers in the local art scene.
And who’d think that an old dilapidated classroom could be repurposed into a small theater? That’s what happened in a certain wing of the Palma Hall building. Occupying an entire block, the massive Palma Hall has four wings that extend perpendicularly from the rear of the building. They’re known as the pavilions. They served as the home base of the science departments.
This may not be news to readers unfamiliar with Palma Hall. For me, however, the pavilions were dreadful places to be in. Exams for biology, geology, and physics were given within these walls. One of these pavilions also had a strange odor that made the place feel like an abandoned hospital, a haunted one at that.
The Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan is housed in the third pavilion of the Palma Hall. The building used to belong to the science departments. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
The science departments were eventually transferred to newer buildings located in a hilly area of the campus. The pavilions were then spruced up for the departments of social sciences and arts and letters. Floor tiles were replaced and restrooms refurbished. The third pavilion is now used by the College of Arts and Letters. It’s also the home base of Dulaang UP. A big classroom was aptly turned into a small theater where shorter plays are staged. Also used as a rehearsal hall, the room is named after the famous Filipino tenor, Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan.
We visited Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan to see a few excerpts of an upcoming production, ‘Mga Anak ng Unos,’ a twinbill bringing to light today’s pressing climate issues
Excerpts from Joshua Lim So’s ‘Sa Gitna ng Digmaan ng mga Mahiwagang Nilalang Laban sa Sankatauhan’ were presented at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan. The actual show opened March 28 at the Ignacio B. Gimenez-KAL (IBG-KAL) Theater. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
Recently, we visited Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan to see a few excerpts of an upcoming production, Mga Anak ng Unos. It’s a twinbill showcasing two new performances that bring to light today’s pressing climate issues. The first has a rather long title, Sa Gitna ng Digmaan ng mga Mahiwagang Nilalang Laban sa Sankatauhan. Written by the award-winning Joshua Lim So and directed by Jose Estrella, it’s about an alliance made between the bathalas and other mythological creatures. They’ve agreed to pool resources to chastise mankind for ruining the ecological balance.
An excerpt from ‘Climate in Crazies’ was shown to the media at Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan. The theater occupies a former classroom of the science department. It also opens March 28 at the IBG-KAL Theater. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
The second play is Climate in Crazies, which was inspired by David Finnigan’s Scenes from the Climate Era. Directed by Issa Manalo Lopez and Tess Jamian, it shows how climate change has affected a number of individuals.
Today’s Dulaang UP has taken on a new persona and a new approach to the way members work. During the open forum, the directors sounded like true environmentalists. Congeniality also rules in this new environment where members of the cast and crew can express opinions. The tone was more scholarly and less theatrical.
Suddenly, the auditorium of the College of Architecture became the place to be for fans of classical Philippine music, what with the presence of National Artist Fides Cuyugan Asensio and Irma Potenciano. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
Mga Anak ng Unos goes on every weekend from March 28 to April 13 at the new Ignacio B. Gimenez-KAL Theater (IBG-KAL). This modern blackbox theater is equipped with sophisticated lighting and other high-tech theater effects. It’s located around three blocks from Palma Hall.
I asked the staff of Dulaang UP if they plan to use the old Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater at Palma Hall anytime soon. Sadly, I was told the theater is in a state of disrepair and would be too costly to restore. It’s being razed to make way for a new multi-purpose building. Another building currently under construction will house a theater and will carry Guerrero’s name.
Students of the UP Conservatory take their bows after a well-received performance of ‘Walang Sugat’ at the auditorium of the College of Architecture. The presentation was held in November 2024 to honor opera stars Irma Potenciano and National Artist Fides Cuyugan Asensio. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
A construction boom is indeed ongoing on the campus. Most of the new structures will most likely have their own auditorium. The theater of the College of Architecture is fairly new. It’s architecturally impressive, of course. Late last year, the students of the Conservatory of Music did a performance of Walang Sugat at this venue. But why at the College of Architecture? It was explained that the conservatory’s own Abelardo Hall was unavailable.
Walang Sugat was staged to pay tribute to two acclaimed opera singers; Irma Potenciano and National Artist Fides Cuyugan-Asensio. Now in their 90s, the two ladies made it to the affair. And for one brief shining moment, the College of Architecture was the place to be for connoisseurs of classic Philippine music.
Even the new building of the College of Statistics has its own auditorium. With its modern glamour interiors, it seemed perfect for the piano recital I attended a few years ago. In a place where brilliant statisticians toil, binary numbers and means took a backseat to F sharps and B flats.
Even the College of Statistics has its own auditorium, where I attended a piano recital a few years ago, where binary numbers and means took a backseat to F sharps and B flats
Admittedly, the new theaters make the Guerrero Theater look like a war-torn relic. It was simply a lecture hall when it was new. It was renamed after Guerrero in 1976 after National Artist Tony Mabesa established Dulaang UP. According to a news story by Totel de Jesus, plans were being made to restore it in 2020, as it was almost 70 years-old. But as we all know, the pandemic happened.
I was attending elementary school elsewhere when I saw Dulaang UP’s production of Senyor ng La Mancha. It was staged at the Guerrero and was directed by Tony Mabesa. A Tagalog translation of the Broadway classic Man of La Mancha, it remains unforgettable for me because my late mother had a small role in it. She was even given a humorous song to sing.
Senyor ng La Mancha starred the late Dodo Crisol as Don Quixote. At that time, he was working for GMA 7 as a voice talent. He dubbed the voice of Prince Zardoz of the Boazanian Empire and nemesis of the Armstrong family of Voltes V. Not long after, Crisol became a prolific tenor.
Last December, I got to talk to Dennis Marasigan at the Christmas party hosted by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). I mentioned that my mom knew him as they had both been part of Senyor ng La Mancha. It was in 1978, and he was just in his mid-teens. It was a memorable time for him, he said, because it was his first ever theater production. And the cast, he pointed out, was amazing. Young Lou Veloso had a supporting role. An even younger Rene Requiestas was cast as the barber. As I recall, Requiestas stole the few scenes he was in.
Joey Nombres was also on hand as one of the rapists of the heroine Aldonza. Of course, there was Dennis Marasigan, who took charge of the lighting. He grew up to be vice president of the CCP. After Christmas, he emailed me a copy of the list of the show’s cast and crew, typewritten and mimeographed in 1978. Majority of the names were as illustrious as they could get (except my mom’s!).
The curtain goes down on the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater. Photographed by the author on March 26, 2025. (Photo by Edmund Dennis Ladaw)
It’s going take decades for the IBG-KAL Theater to approximate the storied past of the Guerrero Theater. If its impressive glass walls could talk, they won’t have anything to say just yet. Today’s UP theater people seem to have what it takes to make theater history in the blackbox. If they do, then let’s hope they can also honor some of the accomplishments of their predecessors. Like it would be wonderful if they could restage the campus productions of yore, namely, Floy Quintos’ Culture Vultures, or Tony Mabesa’s Senyor ng La Mancha.
