HOW TO AVAIL?
Joining is easy. Bloggers need to send their names, contact numbers and a link to their sample blog to petampro@yahoo.com.

PETA will choose the top 20 bloggers, which will be notified through email. The lucky bloggers chosen will get a chance to watch PETA’s opening production, Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (Dos Mil) for FREE. They should then write a review of the play to avail of the season pass. Back stage passes, special house seats and an exclusive interview with the director and cast of PETA’s productions are also up for grabs!

Lined-up for the season are three of PETA’s plays: Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (Dos Mil), a contemporized adaptation of Rizal’s Noli at Fili written by Nicanor Tiongson and directed by Soxie Topacio (July 17 – August 9 2009); Ismail at Isabel, a play about children’s rights, the celebration of individuality and respect for each one’s race, religion and culture, written by Rody Vera and directed by Maribel Legarda (August 28 – October 4, 2009); BOTO Another Musical, a musical comedy on the Philippine Elections written by award-winning librettist Vince de Jesus together with Liza Magtoto and Anj Heruela and directed by Phil Noble (February 5 – March 7, 2010).

Deadline for applications is on July 26, 2009. For inquiries or more information, contact PETA at 4100821-22 / 725-6244, 0917-8044428, petampro@yahoo.com or visit PETA’s website at http://www.petatheater.com.

PETA has been known and credited for creating issue-based performances that mirror and reflect the times – and for its fearless delivery of truth through a palette of theatrical forms. Now on its 42nd Theater Season, PETA continues to contribute to help bring about social awareness and change through its productions, performances and workshops, as it calls on its audiences to act and respond to the clarion call that hound the Philippine society. Using fresh, innovative and interesting techniques and approaches, PETA welcomes its new theater season as a renewed challenge to test and push the capacity of art in to inform, influence and inspire its audiences.

First on its list of productions is Nic Tiongson’s opus, Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil, an adaptation of Jose Rizal’s two most influential novels: El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere. Reworked as a postmodern narrative, Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil is inspired by real events, characters and testimonials that arose during the landslide in the Quezon province. The story, which revolves around small town politics and the fight against corruption, also zooms into the problem of illegal logging and its corrupted relation with governance and religion.

Following Noli at Fili is Christine Bellen’s Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. Now on it’s third year, Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang still remains to be one of PETA’s most-loved productions. Featuring stories from Severino Reyes’ folktales, Prinsipeng Mahaba ang Ilong, Ang Babaeng Tumalo sa Mahal na Hari at Prinsipeng Duwag – Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang presents different mythical stories about self-discovery and values formation.

In August, PETA celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child through its presentation of Ismail at Isabel (Ang Paghahanap ng mga Bagong Kuwentong Bayan), a moving story about two children, a Christian and Muslim, who once lived happily in their small village in Dilangawen, Mindanao. Blind to their differences, the two told and retold the folktales that narrate the likeness of Muslims and Christians – until the fearsome war reached their community and permanently broke their innocence.

In time for the 2010 elections, PETA creates a vaudeville style musical, Boto-boto-boboto-bonana-fanna-fo-foto-fee-fy-momoto-boto (BOTO Another Musical), that uses iconic characters of the Philippine electoral process: Lorrie Logarta, Chix Pedero, and popular terms such as ‘trapo’, ‘ispits’ (speech) and many others. The story, cast with 10 actors with interchanging roles and characters, also follows the electoral process, beginning with the voter’s registration and ending with the need for vigilance after elections.

The four productions, which officially begin on June 2009, also commence PETA’s renewed commitment to artistic excellence as it cradles a people’s culture through its use of theater that is distinctly Filipino.

For inquiries regarding PETA’s new season, contact PETA at 410821/ 7256244, petampro@yahoo.com or visit PETA’s website at http://www.petatheater.com

Don’t miss your chance to enroll at our various courses that are all made to bring out the thespian in you: Children’s Theater 1 and 2, Production Workshop for Children, Teen Theater 1, Production Workshop for Teens, Theater Arts 1, Basic Acting, Creative Musical Theater, Creative Dance, Production Design and Creative Pedagogy.

PETA Launches it’s 42^nd Theater Season

(March 28, 2009  3:00pm)

PETA will open its 42^nd Theater Season on March 28, at the PETA Theater Center! Teachers and administrators are invited to attend and witness our exciting line-up of shows, performances and events available next season!

Featuring excerpts of PETA’s upcoming productions: Noli at Fili Dekada Dos Mil, Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, Ismail at Isabel and BOTO Another Musical!

AMAGIKOMEDINAYT A magic, stand-up comedy, musical and a ventriloquism show rolled into one!

(March 27, 8pm, PETA-Phinma Theater)

What a memorable night it’s going to be as three of the country’s top live comedy performers gather together to give the Pinoy audience a unique stage comedy experience!

The cast is headed by the irreverent Brod. Pete (a.k.a. Isko Salvador), a veteran sitcom scriptwriter, actor, and the leader of the infamous “Ang Dating Doon,” which is now a local classic comic segment. Multi-awarded magician and TV comedian Jeffrey Tam will showcase the acts that crowned him the first MAGFI back-to-back (2008 & 2009) Close-Up Magician Grand Champion and 2008 MAGFI Close-Up Magician of the Year, and the country’s premier ventriloquist Ony Carcamo will tickle the crowd with his awesome voice-throwing illusion.

Other guests include: TV actor/comedian Long Mejia, Europe-based International Illusionist Oliver, and rappers Glock 9 and Dice & K9.

For inquiries, call PETA Marketing at 4100821 or 0917-8044428. 

Catch the shows at the following show dates:

MGA KUWENTO NI LOLA BASYANG:  January 29, 2009 (10:00am and 3:00 pm), January 31, 2009 (3:00pm)

BATANG RIZAL: January 30, 2009 (10:00 am and 3:00 pm), January 31, 2009 (10:00 am) 

TICKETS ARE ONLY P200 each!

For ticket reservations and inquiries, please call 410 0821 or contact Alvin Landicho at 0917-5133312 or Michelle Fabunan at 0908-6678709.

See you at the shows!

NOVEMBER 4-7, 2008
Nic Tiongson’s NOLI AT FILI DEKADA 2000 (DOS MIL)
Directed by Soxie Topacio

Palayan Sports Complex
Palayan, Nueva Ecija

NOVEMBER 11-15, 2008
Nic Tiongson’s NOLI AT FILI DEKADA 2000 (DOS MIL)
Directed by Soxie Topacio

Isabela Provincial Capitol Complex
Ilagan, Isabela

NOVEMBER 17, 2008
KARAOKE DREAMS
Directed by Maribel Legarda

Laoag

NOVEMBER 20-21, 2008
Christine Bellen’s BATANG RIZAL
Directed by Dudz Teraña

Pampanga

NOVEMBER 25-26, 2008
Christine Bellen’s MGA KUWENTO NI LOLA BASYANG
Directed by Phil Noble

Nueva Ecija

Are these cities just too far away?
Want to take the shows to your own province, school or community?

Call PETA Marketing NOW at 410 0821, 725 6244 or 0918 9068083 and get a chance to witness theater at it’s finest!

EXPERIENCE THEATER. EXPERIENCE PETA.

In celebration of the Children’s Month this October, the Philippine Educational Theater Association – Children’s Theater Program, through the support of Terre Des Hommes – Netherlands, brings together children, young people, children’s rights advocacy organizations and agencies in a grand festival of theater performances, workshops, exhibits, conferences and fora in Likhang Bata, Likhang Buháy (A National Children’s Theater Festival) at the PETA Theater Center from October 24 to 26, 2008.  The festival carries the theme CREATING A GOOD LIFE FOR THE FILIPINO CHILDREN, which stresses the need for all sectors of the civil society – government, professionals, academe, church and media – to work hand in hand in creating a safe and supportive environment for our children and youth. 

Festivities begin with a grand opening program on October 24 at 7am at the PETA-Phinma Theater highlighted by a performance of PETA’s children’s musical Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. 

Other events to look forward to are performances by partner organizations and guests: PILAK (Pinag-isang Lakas ng Kabataan) of Bahay Tuluyan – Laguna & Quezon, YATTA (Youth Advocates through Theater Arts) – Dumaguete City, Kaibigan Foundation – Manila, Batang Art (Nakar, Quezon). PETA – Metropolitan Teen Theater League, ECLIPSE (Ormoc, Leyte), PETA’s Batang Rizal, Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas, Kontra-Gapi and QC Performing Arts Development Foundation Inc.  Workshops include puppetry, masks and make-up, arts and crafts, Philippine games, visual arts, role-playing, dance and movement and creative sounds and music.

Interested participants are invited to join!  The activities for DAY 1 caters to children age 7 to 12, DAY 2 for teens age 13 to 17, and DAY 3 is offered for college students, student leaders, educators, cultural workers, parents and generally adults and young adults who work for and with children.

Application forms are available at the PETA office, #5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City.  Duly accomplished forms may be faxed to (02) 4100821 or sent thru email petampro@yahoo.com. Registration fee is only PhP500.00 per day, inclusive of the festival kit and meals. For details and other information, contact (02) 4100821, 7256244 c/o Ms. Gail Guanlao-Billones (0922-8068477) or Ms. Julie Bautista (0916-5805153).

Pepe with his mother, Teodora Alonzo

We all know Rizal’s last words, what he wore on his execution. We’ve read his famous books and we all think we know the guy. Rizal the writer. Rizal the doctor. Rizal the hero. Rizal the man. But beyond his marbled figures, his pop icon graphics (Rizal sporting raybans?), what else do we know about the Rizal? What was his childhood like? Did he ever exchange blows with boys of his age? Was he skinny? What games did he play? Our history books skipped these among all things as author’s fast-forwarded Rizal’s chronicles to his manhood…to his death—so we end up knowing more about how the man died, than how he lived.

PETA’s Batang Rizal, written by Christine Bellen, explores on Rizal’s childhood, his relationship with his family, his siblings and his life back in Calamba, Laguna. During the time when the great hero used to be called Pepe and the Rizal we know was still a Mercado.

But the life of the hero will not be retold simply as it was. It will be in this time that a boy from the present, Pepito, will magically cross paths with our hero. Together the two boys will traverse time and history as they share each one’s experiences and struggles. And in their journey they will learn about friendship, and the real truth about heroes …

A side-splitting comedy directed by Dudz Teraña with music by award-winning composer Vince de Jesus, Batang Rizal is surely more than a visual history lesson—it carries a more valued message: that each one, even children, can be heroes.

Batang Rizal is showing at the PETA Theater Center on Sept 19, 20, 27, 28 (3pm), Oct 3-5, 11, 12, 18 (10am), Oct 17 (9am) and Oct 19 (3 pm). For inquiries and ticket reservations, please call PETA Marketing at (02) 4100821/7256244 or text 0927-7031437.

*Schedules may change without prior notice.

If Jose Rizal had written his two novels today, what issues would he have raised?  In modern society, who would Ibarra and Maria Clara be?  Who would be the equivalent of the villains Fray Salvi and Fray Damaso, and the characters of Elias, Pilosopong Tasio, Basilio, Isagani, and Padre Florentino?  Would his second novel end the way it did when he wrote El Fili in 1891?

The Philippine Educational Theater Association opens its 41^st Theater Season this July with a new interpretation to Rizal’s classic works Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo with Nicanor Tiongson’s NOLI AT FILI DEKADA 2000 (Dos Mil).

Inspired by the national hero’s powerful critique of the “social cancer” festering in the very heart of late 19^th century Filipinas, NOLI AT FILI DEKADA 2000 with humility and concern reflects on the “reign of greed” in contemporary Philippine society.  It seeks to underscore the continuing relevance of Rizal’s characters and the validity of his social analysis today.  But it also highlights the differences in the conditions of the 19^th century and those of our time.

NOLI AT FILI DEKADA 2000 (DOS MIL) is set in the small town of Maypajo in the province of San Lorenzo in Southern Tagalog where an idealistic but naïve Ibarra Marasigan, newly-elected mayor, decides to put a final stop to the deforestation of the Sierra Madre.  He finds loyal support for this cause in Fr. Ino, parish priest of Maypajo, Mr. Atanacio, the principal of Maypajo High School, Kapitan Badong, the present chief of all barangay chairmen in Maypajo, and, most of all, Clarissa Santos, his childhood sweetheart and now fiancé.  However, as Mayor Ibarra makes more vigorous moves against deforestation, he uncovers the whole web of corruption which implicates his future father-in-law and godfather Governor Santiago Santos, Provincial Commander Colonel Salvador (Salvi) Salvatierra, and Monsignor Damaso, bishop of the newly-established diocese of San Lorenzo.  Mayor Ibarra is removed from office by “people power”, his fiancé is blackmailed into marrying Salvi, and his childhood friend Kumander Elias of the National Liberation Army (NLA) dies while covering Ibarra’s escape from prison.  Three years after, Ibarra has risen to the leadership of the NLA.  Now feared as Kumander Simon, he leads personal, punitive attacks against the individuals who caused his downfall as mayor of Maypajo.

Under the direction of theater and movie stalwart Soxie Topacio, this contemporization of these much-studied novels will feature some of the country’s seasoned stage artists as well as PETA’s pool of talented young actors and guest artists:  Lex Marcos, Bodjie Pascua, Bembol Roco, Robert Seña, Raffy Tejada, Ernie Cloma, Randy Villarama, Gilbert Onida, Upeng Galang-Fernandez, Marichu Belarmino, Jess Evardone, Julia Enriquez, Shé Maala, Ian Segarra, Norbs Portales, Jack Yabut, Neomi Tabanao-Gonzales, Eric dela Cruz and Joseph Grantusa.

Performances are slated at the PETA-Phinma Theater from July 18 to August 24, 2008, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with shows at 10am and 3pm on all days.  Tickets at P300 each.

For inquiries and ticket reservations, call the PETA Marketing and Public Relations Office at 725.6244, 410.0821, 0917-8154567, 0917-5642433, or email petampro@yahoo.com.  Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (Dos Mil) is also open for sponsorship and showbuyers.  (www.petatheater.com).

(Poster design by Brenda Fajardo, photo by Jojit Lorenzo)

May 30^th sparkled red as the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) members, staff, honored guests and special friends celebrated 40 glorious years with a concert of the most unforgettable songs from some of PETA’s most memorable plays.

The evening opened with the unveiling of the mural at the Theater Center’s ground floor lobby titled Ang Baraha ng Buhay 1967-2007. PETA senior artist-teacher and visual artist Brenda V. Fajardo led fellow artists Noel Cuizon, Iggy Rodriguez, Karen Flores, and Max Santiago in the concept and design celebrating the continuing journey of PETA since 1967. The mural was made possible through the generous support of the Quezon City Government, most especially through Mayor Sonny Belmonte, a friend and supporter of culture and the arts.

The celebration continued as the PETA Chorale and guest artists filled the night with 40 years of making music – songs from Pilipinas Circa 1907, Diablos, 1896, Panata sa Kalayaan, Canuplin, Hanggang Dito na Lamang at Maraming Salamat and more.

Highlighting the evening is the launch of the book A Continuing Narrative on Philippine Theater: The Story of PETA. PETA president Cecilia B. Garrucho presented the first complimentary copies of the book to significant personalities that helped shape PETA’s history so far: to Ms. Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, the founder of PETA; Dr. Alejandro A. Roces, the first chairman of the Board of Trustees; Mr. Ramon del Rosario, Jr., the incumbent chairman of the Board of Trustees; the family of the late Teodoro “Doroy” Valencia, who helped fund the many projects of PETA during its early years; and to the PETA’s Metropolitan Teen Theater League as represented by Anj Heruela, for PETA has always believed in the youth as the future of our nation.

The product of more than 10 laborious years of research, compiling, writing and editing, the 740 plus page book chronicles PETA’s 40-year journey as a Filipino theater company.

The rest of the evening was wrapped with memories of good beginnings, dramatic journeys, and hard earned success; a reunion of sorts for members from way back 1967, and a step forward for those who have only recently joined the crew. People exchanged stories of their involvement with PETA over cocktails and good wine, reliving the good old PETA days and proud of what it has become now.

It was concluded with a more empowered spirit to spread our advocacy, keeping education through theater alive in the Philippines.

The Story of PETA is now available at a retail price of PhP1,499.00. For inquiries and reservations, visit or call PETA at the PETA Theater Center located at #5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City, telephone number 7256244 or 4100821. (www.petatheater.com).

*****

[images in this post courtesy of Rhona Ramos. top left, L-R: PETA President Cecilia B. Garrucho, Executive Director Beng Cabangon, Founder Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, Mayor Sonny Belmonte, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Ramon del Rosario jr. former Executive Director and senior member Soxie Topacio. center right: PETA President Cecilia B. Garrucho and Executive Director Beng Cabangon present Mayor Sonny Belmonte with a copy of The Story Of PETA. Lower left: serenading the audience with memorable PETA musical pieces.]