THEATRE

• Theater


  One of the oldest and most popular forms of entertainment, where actors perform live for an audience on a stage or in another space designated for the performance

  
• Bodabil


  A genre of variety entertainment composed of song and dance numbers, slapstick comedy routines, magic acts, and chorus girls, an indigenized version of the American vaudeville
• The bodabil in the American period was not a form of stage play since it was composed mainly of songs, dances, and skits
• It was during the Japanese period that the bodabil included short melodrama
• The educational system established by the Americans in the country paved the way to the development of legitimate theater
• Western contemporary classics entered the scene, including the production of Shakespearean plays, through the Western education
• The Philippine theater was Americanized, and theater artists tended to imitate popular American actors and actresses

  
• Western culture greatly influenced theater production in the early stage of Philippine theater

  
• Forms of early Philippine theater


  • Sinakulo
  • Comedya, Sarswela

  
• National Artists who contributed to the progress of Philippine theater

  • Severino Montano
  • Lamberto Avellana
  • Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero

  
• Different styles employed in Philippine contemporary theater

  • Representational style
  • Presentational style
  • Documentary style

  
• Representational style


  Composed of psychological and social realism
• Psychological realism


  Deals with the problems of the individual
• Psychological realism plays


  • "Paraisong Parisukat" by Orlando Nadre
  • "Bayan-Bayanan" by Bienvenido Noriega
• Social realism


  Deals with the problems of the individual considering their society
• Social realism play


  • "The World is an Apple" by Alberto Florentino
• Presentational style


  -Highlights discussion of social studies, employed during the Marcos regime when realistic portrayal was prohibited,

  -using different methods like dance, song, mime, etc. to summon ideas from the audience
• Presentational style play


  • "Theater of the Oppressed" by Augusto Boal
• Documentary style


  Tends to discuss historical events
• Documentary style play


  • "Mayo A-biente Uno" by Al Santos. -Dula-dula(short drama poem)- form of theater art that emerged
• Different theater art forms today include plays mixing realistic and non-realistic styles, dance dramas employing ethnic music and choreography, musicals with contemporary themes, and traditional drama forms with contemporary messages
• Regional theater groups in the Philippines

  • Luzon: "Cultural Workers" from Bicol
  • Visayas: "Dumaans sarswela group" from Silay City, "Dagyaw Theater and Dance Company" from Iloilo City
  • Mindanao: "Kaliwat Theater Collective", "Sining Kambyoka Ensemble"

  
• The National Theater Festivals of the CCP involved performances of theater arts groups