PETA’S A Game of Trolls Returns

Press release

“Martial law is the best thing that happened to the Philippines in 1972. We won’t be the developing country that we are right now if it wasn’t for the Marcoses. Learn your history,” says the social media account without a real name.

Pro-HR netizens will probably go beastmode on statements like these. But before you go lit AF, maybe it’s good to take a step back, look at the bigger picture and think if “making patol” online will do you any good. Instead of wasting precious time arguing with faceless mythical beings who hide behind screens, why not log-out, get off your mobile phone or laptop, and invite family and friends to go to the theater with you, and watch A GAME OF TROLLS, PETA’s martial law musical for millennials (and millennials-at-heart!).

But what’s it about? A GAME OF TROLLS is the story of Hector (Myke Salomon / TJ Valderrama), a professional keyboard warrior for Marshalls of History, a troll center who is running a pro-Martial Law campaign lead by Bimbam (Vince Lim).  Hector, being the tactless and detached Internet tough guy that he is, effortlessly infuriates anti-martial law advocates with his insensitive and random unsolicited comments about the victims of Martial law, making him the top guy in the trolling game. This prompts the “visits” of the Ghosts of Martial Law from the Internet Cloud, reminding him to never forget their struggle to liberate the country from the dictatorship.  Their stories, along with his own mother’s, Tere (Upeng Galang-Fernandez / Gail Billones), made Hector re-examine his involvement in the trolling business. 

Directed by Maribel Legarda, written by Liza Magtoto and music by Vince De Jesus, (the same team that brought you Caredivas), A GAME OF TROLLS is not only an ode to the heroes of Martial Law. It is an appeal to the millennials to #NeverForget that the dark history that took away democracy decades ago has spawned the same strain of oppressor that is taking our democracy away right now. It is a reminder that by understanding the history of the people’s struggle for democracy, we are also keeping in mind to #NeverAgain allow a tyrant to steal it away from us. It is an attempt to stimulate discourse about truth and history in the age of social media: to look beyond the memes and fake news, and to encourage thinking critically and acting responsibly both online and offline.

PETA LAUNCHES “STAGE OF THE NATION” CAMPAIGN

Press release

QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES – After celebrating its golden anniversary and the milestone of receiving a Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2017, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) welcomes its 51^st theater season with another breakthrough.

From September 2018-June 2019, PETA devotes all aspects of its artistic and teaching practice to “Stage of the Nation”, a creative campaign that hopes to utilize the arts and engage artists to contribute to the discourses that concern our nation.

PETA has always harnessed the power of the arts to capture the imagination, shape opinion and provoke feelings that could transform and affect change. “The arts, specially theater, can tell stories, make us understand history and our past. It can communicate and educate, bring people together, inspire and heal,” shares PETA executive director, Beng Cabangon in an interview. 

Given the political, economic and social challenges that have divided the country, PETA has dedicated all its performances, programs, activities and workshops to break barriers between creed, colors, labels and stereotypes, and to move audiences to reflect, think, speak.

PETA artistic director, Maribel Legarda, known for creating plays like “Rak of Aegis” which are not only wildly entertaining but also thought provoking, believes that art can be a platform for meaningful conversations and discussions. “That is why, all our shows this year will be followed by debriefings. Some of them have also been designed to be coupled with workshops that can happen in the schools and communities,” she says.

PETA’s 51^st theater season line up is composed of three returning shows and one new musical that aims to tackle pressing social and political issues in typical PETA fashion. “A lot of the chosen productions will talk about the themes of truth, historical revisionism, human rights and EJK, martial law, the elections and people’s participation,” says Legarda.

From September 28 to October 7, PETA brings back “Ang Buhay ni Galileo” which serves as a clear and powerful interrogation of truth and power, followed by a short run and a mobile tour of “A Game of Trolls” in October, a musical piece for millennials about fake news, martial law and EJK. By November, PETA presents another installment of the PETA Laboratory featuring new and original works devised by its members. It also welcomes the return of its enchanting musical for young audiences “Tagu-taguan Nasaan ang Buwan?” a play that illustrates how storytelling can enrich a child’s understanding of the world. In the early half of 2019, PETA premieres a new production “Charot”, a political satire about the future of our country under a new chapter.

PETA will also host special performances and events like Jon Santos’ political spoof “Trumperte”, Dulaang UP’s “The Kundiman Party”, Third World Improv Theater’s “Manila Improv Festival 2019”, the 5^th year anniversary show of Words Anonymous, the popular spoken word group, and a “Human Rights Film Festival” in March, which will surely liven up the conversations with the audiences even more.

Also part of the line up is the reunion concert and album launch of the band Buklod, composed of members Noel Cabangon, Rom Dongeto, and Rene Boncocan, who were known in the 80’s for songs like “Tatsulok”, “Kanlungan”, “Pagbabagong Nagbabago”, songs which were inspired by the lives, struggles, and aspirations of Filipinos.

Despite its busy show calendar, PETA will still offer its year-round workshops. This includes the Workshop Weekends from January to March 2019, which allows creative break for young professionals, and its annual Summer Workshop for children, teens, and adults from April to June 2019. Apart from learning about theater, the participants are encouraged to tackle the issues and themes that are in line with the “Stage of the Nation” campaign.

 Transformative Art

PETA will also launch two new programs that will work directly with schools and communities: Rehearsing Democracy & Resiliency as well as Arts Ed Matters. 

“For Arts Ed, we are working with 6-8 universities all over the country, helping develop their theater groups towards coming up with original productions that are relevant to young people,” Cabangon shares.

For its Rehearsing Democracy & Resiliency program, PETA will be working with some of the most vulnerable communities affected by the War on Drugs, such as urban poor communities in Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Manila. Cabangon adds, “The main purpose of this program is to use the arts as a means of psychosocial processing. We are there to assist the families and communities that have been left behind, to help them process what they have been through, and help them regain their strength as a community”.

Apart from these two new programs, PETA’s Arts Zone Program which focuses on children’s rights, safety and participation will continue to promote positive discipline as an alternative to corporal punishment through its partnerships with schools and communities in Metro Manila.

According to Artistic Director Maribel Legarda, “Stage of the Nation” aims to bring two of the things that PETA does really well, which is teaching and performing. “We are going to bring those two experiences together, in the hopes that this interaction with the arts can make a more powerful experience for our audiences and participants,” she says. 

Legarda likens theater to reality, “It’s like what Shakespeare said, ‘the world is a stage’, and in that stage, all kinds of stories can happen. As actors, we are lucky because we get the chance to perform many characters and be different things. We have a chance to learn, to change, to look at the world in different ways, to perform it and interpret it for others.”

PETA calls all artists, young people and the public to join the campaign. Everyone is invited to enter the stage, to take a role, and to make a better history for our nation!

For more information about PETA’s “Stage of the Nation”, contact PETA at (02) 726-6244 or email petafr@petatheater.com, petatheater@gmail.com. Follow PETA on social media: www.facebook.com/PETATHEATER, @petatheater on Twitter and Instagram.

THE PETA FESTIVAL OF WINDOWS

Press release

A CELEBRATION OF PEOPLE’S THEATER FOR DEVELOPMENT

ALL SET FROM OCTOBER 24 - 29

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), recipient of the 2017 Ramon Magsaysay Awards is organizing a week-long festival that highlights the role of arts in development, as exemplified in the various advocacy campaigns the pioneering theater company has engaged in the past 50 years – Children’s Rights, Women, Gender, Health and Sexuality, Youth and the Millenials, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction, and Human Rights.

Happening on October 24-29, 2017, the festival will feature PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS, LECTURES and DISCUSSIONS. It will showcase some the best advocacy PLAYS of PETA and its partners. There will be 13 performances from Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, 3 Performances from Cambodia and Thailand. Festival participants can expect to learn new skills through workshop sessions on songwriting, Shadow Puppetry, Physical Theater, Improvisation, BOAL Forum Theater, Circus Techniques and more! Exciting Keynotes, Lecture Performances and Special Interest Group Discussions will give participants a look into the experiences, success stories and the challenges of practitioners and experts, particularly in the areas of Building creative communities, Public spaces and awareness, Participation, Capacity Building, Participation, and Partnership and Stakeholder Building.

The Festival of Windows will gather more than 120 performers, 40 experts and speakers, hundreds of artists, arts managers, audiences and participants from different parts of the globe.

Festival passes are available at P 4,500.00 each (P3,500 for students) and entitles holder access to all the opening and closing reception, lecture performances, main stage performances and  one workshop or 2 huddles a day.  Day passes are also available for P 1,000 per day (P 800 for students).  For those interested to watch specific shows, tickets are also available for all Lecture-performances and Main Stage performances.

The Festival of Windows is presented by PETA in partnership with Starbucks, Save the Children, Development and Peace and the Festival’s Major Hotel Sponsor, Madison 101.

For details of Festival, visit the official website – www.petafestivalofwindows.com. For more information and registration, please call the FESTIVAL OF WINDOWS SECRETARIAT at 7256244 or email us at festivalofwindows@petatheater.com.

The Ampalaya Monologues Is Back

About a year ago and long before the word “hugot” became a common expression among Pinoys, there is already a series of monologues that tells about heartaches. The Ampalaya Monologues follows suit from The Vagina Monologues and put it in context for the Filipinos.

Each single vignette is written by Mark Ghosn. Mark start gathering this stories because he has not been in an official relationship. The monologues were presented in bars, cafes, bookstores, schools, and museums one year ago to promote and orient people about theater. It became the talk of the town or in online terms, it got trending.

On it’s one year anniversary, The Ampalaya Monologues will be presented once again for one night only. This time, it will be in the theater. The idea for this is to bring people to theater after educating people about theater.

Each vignette varies not just for being heartbroken from romance but also from perspectives of a best friend, widow, from the one who expects and moved on. Each vignette is a standalone piece that has no continuity.

From what I heard, the audience find it therapeutic because some can relate to the vignettes. The Ampalaya Monologues will be staged at PETA for one night only on October 15, 2016 at 6PM. Don’t miss this for anything. For more theater productions follow this blog and like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook.

PETA's Haring Lear at School of Design and Arts Dela Salle College of St. Benilde

STUDIO CONNECTIONS INTERNATIONAL
In partnership with
School of Design and Arts Dela Salle College of St. Benilde

presents

PETA’S
HARING LEAR
Bienvenido Lumbera’s Adaptation of Shakespear’s King Lear

DESCRIPTION:
The play is set in a post nuclear landscape that highlights the dramatic descent of a king into madness. As he is plunged into the world of anarchy, the themes of vision and blindness are explored masterfully by Shakespeare in this drama of purgation. Lear becomes mad at the same moment when he gains a vision of the cruelty of the world and the evil nature of his daughters. He discovers the real meaning of loyalty, love, and fidelity in his servants and his youngest daughter, Cordelia, whom he banished

CAST:
BERNARDO BERNARDO Haring Lear
ABNER DELINA JR Cordelia/Lakayo
GARRY LIM Regan
BUDDY CARAMAT Goneril
JACK YABUT Gloster
LAMBERT DE JESUS Kent
RENAN BUSTAMANTE Duke ng Albanya
ROI CALILONG Hari ng Francia
JEFF HERNANDEZ Duke ng Cornualles
GEORGE DE JESUS Oswaldo
JASON BARCIAL Duke ng Burgonia.


DIRECTION: Nonon Padilla

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Gino Gonzales
LIGHTING DESIGN: Jonjon Villareal

MUSIC: Dodjie Fernandez

TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Gerhard Ayala Daco

PLAYDATES: Fridays / February 27, March 6, 2015 / 7:30 pm
Saturdays / February 28, March 7, 2015 / 2:00 pm & 7:30 pm
Sundays / March 1, 8, 2015 / 2:00 pm

VENUE: School of Design and Arts (SDA) Theater
Dela Salle College of St. Benilde
P.Ocampo (formerly Vito Cruz) St Malate Manila

TICKETS:

Regular Prices: 1000, 800
Student Prices: 500, 400

20% discount on the regular price for senior citizens
and PWD (persons with disability)
**please present valid ID

Gala Night (Celebrity Night) – February 27 at 7:30pm
Regular Prices: 1,500, 1,000
Student Prices: 750, 500

20% discount on the regular price for senior citizens
and PWD (persons with disability)
**please present valid ID

*SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR BULK ORDERS AVAILABLE AT STUDIO CONNECTIONS.
* Special performances also available upon special arrangement

LENGHT OF
PERFORMANCE: Approximately two hours and 15 minutes

For ticket reservations, showbuying,sponsorship,and other inquiries, pls contact:

CHERRY BONG Z. EDRALIN
Marketing Director
STUDIO CONNECTIONS INTERNATIONAL
Mobile: 0917-750-0107, 0918-959-3949
Wireless: 218-3791
Email: cherry_edralin888@yahoo.com

TICKETS ALSO AVAILABLE AT ALL TICKETWORLD OUTETS. CALL 891-9999

Photography by Jojit Lorenzo
Poster Design by Aira Go

WALLY WATTHEAD AND HIS LOST GLOW FROM FINLAND ALL SET TO OPEN NOV. 14

Press material

JANNE RAUDASKOSKI is one of Finland’s most radiant professional magicians.

            In addition to traditional magic, he is known for his magic theater productions that have charmed audiences both home and abroad

.

            As a Finnish and Nordic champion in magic, he has worked as a professional magician since 1997. 

            Janne has created two magic theater performances:

---        The Outsider ( for adults and teenagers )

---        Wally Watthead and His Lost Glow ( for family audiences )          

            In his first solo production, Wally Watthead and His Lost Glow, Raudaskoski is researching combining the magic, theater, clownery, mime and different kinds of special effects with video.  Raudaskoski aims to create a performance which is a powerful experience for both children and adults, and that is easily translated into any language.

            Recently, he has worked in several art projects combining new circus, theatre and magic.  Raudaskoski has also played the protagonist in plays such as Werewolf (2009) in the City Theatre of Lappeenranta and Phantom of Theather (2007) in Åbo Svenska Teatern.

A Conjurer Par Excellence (Question & Answer)

Janne Raudaskoski is one of Finland’s most radiant professional magicians. In addition to traditional magic, he is known for his magic theatre productions that have charmed audiences both home and abroad.

Q: Magician Janne Raudaskoski, where can one study magic?

A: Tricks can be learned from books, magic can be learned by studying the history of magic and performing can only be learned by performing. Or if you find a good magic school you should definitely apply.

Q: Is Harry Potter your idol? If not then who is?

A: I prefer Pippi Longstocking to Harry Potter. Pippi does what she pleases, just as I do in my art. She has the right kind of attitude. I also belong to the Phantom Fan Club of Finland – my member number is 3557 if I remember it right.

Q: Why are magicians always men?

A: Is it perhaps because of Harry Potter? Well, I have also seen some very good female magicians.

Q: What do you do if one of your magic tricks fails on stage?

A: It happens very rarely because I always do my homework, but when it does happen, improvisation helps.

Q: Who pays the magician’s salary?

A: My greatest reward is captivated eyes, smiling faces, gasps and laughter – in other words the energy I get from the audience. The person who ordered the performance also pays me money.

Q: Why didn’t you become a clown if you enjoy entertaining people?

A: I did become a clown too. Both of my theatre productions, Wally Watthead and The Outsider, combine clownery, theatre and magic.

Q: What is the difference between a clown and a magician?

A: Clownery is an instrument of humor, but it can also be used to examine serious matters. It can be used to reflect on the ways of the world is a childlike way. Charles Chaplin was a clown. If a clown also knows magic, it opens up a world of new possibilities for his or her performances. Oh, but you asked about the difference? Well, the magician is usually the more boring of the two.

Q: What and where was your worst performance as a magician and why was that?

A: A professional performer must be able to finish the show no matter what the circumstances are. They have certainly been quite challenging sometimes: technical problems, the audience getting too drunk, hands freezing, things like that.

Q: Tell us something about the life of a magician that nobody knows.

A: The magician sometimes enjoys singing punk rock.

Q: Janne , do you know any magic tricks nobody else in the world knows?

A: I have conjured up two theatre productions that represent a new kind of magic. I combine magic, clownery and narrative in my performances using methods such as video, black theatre techniques and various kinds of special effects. I call it experiential theatre.

Q: Does a magician have any colleagues?

A: Sure. In theatre productions they are the director, the sound designer, the costume designer, the lighting designer, the set designer, the special effects technician, the dressmaker, the producer, the theatre manager, the technicians and the stage hands. Basically everyone I work with.

Q: What do you do most of the day on an average day in the office?

A: When I work on a new production I make plans, write, build things, rehearse, shoot rehearsals on video and make more plans. If I am performing on that day then I sit in a car or an airplane, build the show, perform, pack the show and sit in a car or an airplane. If I am not doing either them I’m usually sitting in meetings, planning new things, and answering questions like this.

Q: What was the magician supposed to become when he grew up?

A: A pilot, a magician or an actor. Now I spend my time flying on theatre stages combining magic and theatre, so I guess I got all of my dream jobs.

Q: Are magic tricks useful in everyday life?

A: When I was young I used to cheat at supermarket checkout by conjuring the money from behind the cashier’s ear. Luckily I have rid myself of that habit.