One of the centerpiece activities for its 50th foundation anniversary this year is this five-day international celebration of People's Theater for Development dubbed "FESTIVAL OF WINDOWS". The objectives of this grand event is two-fold: 1) To present an exhibition of how theater can be used for communication and advocacy through performances, lectures, workshops and discussions; and 2) to use arts-based means of bringing together artists, practitioners and audiences to share insights and experiences, identify historical and emerging trends and share best practices for arts as advocacy.
Each day form October 24-29, 2017 is full-packed with various activities the whole day. In the mornings from 10 am to 12 nn, there are lecture performances called "Dungaw" (or Peep-Out). In the afternoons from 1-5 pm, there are workshops, called "Tamwa" (or Look), or small group huddles called "Silip" (or Peek). In the evenings at 7 pm, there are performances called "Tan-aw" (or View) featuring not only PETA, but also other regional and international theater groups. While waiting for the house to open, the lobby was full of excited participants, several of them from different countries, like China and Thailand.
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Too bad for me that despite all these exciting offerings, my hectic calendar this week could only allow me to check out a lecture-performance this Thursday morning October 26, 2017 called "Half of the Sky." The longer subtitle is "The Evolving Practice of Women's Rights and Gender-Equality Advocacy in PETA Workshops and Performances." This particular session was directed by Maribel Legarda, written by Liza Magtoto and presented by CB Garrucho, Lea Espallardo and She Maala -- all women. The program was delayed more than 30 minutes due to technical difficulties, which Ms. Magtoto joked was funny for a lecture about women by women, being late and "ngarag" (or haggard from lack of sleep).
PETA began paying due attention to women's issues by the 1980s, thanks to a woman named Remy Rikken, whom they interviewed on video. She was eventually appointed by Pres. Corazon Aquino to lead a commission dealing with women's rights. Rikken harnessed PETA to help her with this thrust and this eventually brought about the birth of the Women's Theater Program. We were told about landmark community theater projects (Advocacy Theater) with women lead characters like "Iteng" and "Libby Manaoag" who were meant to encourage the women in the cast and the audience to reevaluate their own feelings about these issues.
"Di Pa Makintab ang Sahig!"
The passion of PETA's women artists on that stage about this topic was very palpable, especially that of Lea Espallardo, who had been one of the facilitators from the get-go. Espallardo engaged the audience in a participative type of interaction for their short excerpt from "Iteng," about a battered wife. Anytime anyone from the audience wanted to stop and change how the story of the play was running can shout "Stop!" and express her desired change. That morning, a bold audience member named Wilma stopped the play when Iteng's husband was about to hit Iteng. She turned the play around and instead chased the husband around the stage with a metal ladle!
Vincent de Jesus was there as musical director, playing the piano and leading the band for the live musical numbers of this presentation. So that was why it was called a "lecture performance." We heard songs like "Patriarchy" (by Lucien Letaba and Liza Magtoto), "Di Pa Makintab ang Sahig" and "Napasakamay" (by Vincent de Jesus and Liza Magtoto), with those incisively witty lyrics interpreted in energetic acting and dance by the funny and engaging ensemble.
J-Mee Katanyag and her doll
Things turned serious with a provocative poetic dance from "La Vie en Rose," directed by Melvin Lee, with poetry by Lea Espallardo and Ces Millado, interpreted in dance by Delphine Buencamino, Stephanie Ocampo and Kit Trofeo. There was an excerpt from PETA's Creative Pedagogy for Feminist Education modules where J-mee Katanyag and Stephanie Ocampo meditated about their body images with the help of life-size dolls. She Maala also stepped out of her hosting duties to give a stunningly dramatic solo song number about a woman named "Magda," who was a "dove" (the Tagalog lyric "kalapati" described her better) who flew at different heights during her life.
The event concluded with all the presentors and the ensemble on stage talking about the state of women's rights at the present. It was noted that with all the progress that have already been made in the areas of gender sensitivity, body politics, reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, there are still forces that threaten to pull the movement back into the Middle Ages in the form of sexist remarks and rape jokes. Thus, there is still very much a role for a Theater of Resistance, to lead the fight against this potential backward slide. It is in projects like this that one can clearly see why PETA deserves its Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The Presentors and Ensemble at the Finale
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