March 11 to 16, 2015
San Carlos Diocese
revives theater arts
 |
| Young love starts bitter. Jason, a self-confessed genius and over-achiever, and Gia, a ‘lost’ starstrcuk transferee, are two college students who came from two opposite poles but found themselves gravitating toward each other as they go through the daily stress and rigors of college life. NewsRecord Photo |
Special feature
As if to chase after the recently concluded National Arts Month (February), some chosen members of San Carlos City’s youth witnessed the Ubuntu Theater Festival at the Bishop’s Home, the seat of the Diocese of San Carlos.
Dubbed as the ‘revival of performing arts in San Carlos,’ the three-Friday series was capped last March 13 through a four-act play written, directed and performed by the youth—all students from the University of St. La Salle, Bacolod City through the Masskara Theater Ensemble.
What they do on a break
Breaktime, presented under the group’s Crossroads series, tackled four major issues that greatly affect today’s Filipino youth—young love while going through the stress of college, same sex relationship and pre-marital sex; suicide and depression; and the boldness to hope for the youth’s future.
The first three acts were set simply inside a classroom for World Literature and included dialogues between pairs of students. The final act provided the resolution and synthesis of the play through a monologue of the janitor who apparently ‘sees everything ‘ but continues to believe that the youth today can still succeed in life despite their errors and the trials they go through.
The play’s use of everyday language that included even vulgarity and deadpan humor became its strength in catching and holding the young audience’s attention.
Objectives
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, of the Diocese of San Carlos, told NRWP that they aimed to “re-awaken the interest and appreciation of the young for theater arts; to communicate important messages (issues) to the youth; and to strengthen the collaboration of the Church and local institutions.”
Three Fridays
The festival opened last February 20 with the Trial of God that the Colegio de San Agustin Bacolod Kanlaon Theater Guild performed. Emotionally charged with an aim to move the audience to an examination of oneself, the play was full of spiritual reflections and realizations.
Last March 6 saw the performance of Ishmael Java’s Anagas. Kalingaw Teatro Hiligaynon of West Negros University performed the play that sought to enlighten audience on the preservation of nature and natural resources.
Young performers, young audience
By tapping high schools and local colleges, the festival has drawn more than a thousand young spectators, Alminaza reported. He is hopeful that the plays have helped shed light on major relevant issues and at the same time encouraged the city’s youth to engage in the performing arts.
After the plays, the youth were also invited to a weekend-long theater starting on the evening of March 13.
Breaktime director Rosco Cofreros, a senior BS Information Technology student at USLS, said that their Hiligaynon play was created to reach the youth and to promote Bacolod through the use of its language in performances.
Asked about his reason for directing stage plays, Cofreros said that he and his fellows in the Masskara Theater Ensemble are simply driven by their love to perform and their desire to inspire, to promote the arts and to heal the youth.
Meanwhile, the San Carlos Bishop expressed hope that the Ubuntu Theater Festival will only be the first of a number of stage performances directly involving the youth.
No comments:
Post a Comment