Mapeh Balagtas

• Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz


  Also known as Francisco Baltazar, a famous Filipino playwright
• Francisco Balagtas was born

  April 2, 1788
• Francisco Balagtas died of pneumonia


  February 20, 1862
• Florante at Laura


  Balagtas' best known work
• Balagtas


  • Learned to write poetry from Jose de la Cruz (Huseng Sisiw)
  • Met Maria Asuncion Rivera who served as the muse for his future works
  • Wrote Florante at Laura while imprisoned, with the events paralleling his own situation
• Balagtas moved to Pandacan


  1835
• Balagtas published Florante at Laura upon his release from prison


  1838
• Balagtas moved to Balanga, Bataan

  1840
• Balagtas served as Major Lieutenant


  1856
• Balagtas died at the age of 73


  February 20, 1862
• Balagtas asked that none of his children become a poet like him who had suffered under his gift, and told them it would be better to cut their hands off than let them be writers
• The term for Filipino debate in extemporaneous verse is named after Balagtas - Balagtasan, and one of the greatest literary awards in the Philippines is also named after him
• Severino R. Reyes


  A Filipino playwright, known as the "Father of the Tagalog Zarzuela"
• Severino R. Reyes was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila


  February 11, 1861
• Severino R. Reyes


  • Studied at San Juan de Letran College and the University of Sto. Tomas
  • Founded and directed the Gran Compania de Zarzuela Tagala in 1902
  • Co-founded the Liwayway, a Tagalog literary weekly, in 1923
• Reyes' play Walang Sugat (No Wounds) was staged by the Gran Compania de Zarzuela Tagala


  June 14, 1902
• Severino Reyes died during the Japanese regime in the Philippines


  September 15, 1942
• Walang Sugat


  • Reyes' masterpiece, which underscores the injustice of Spanish rule and the cruel fate of young lovers Tenyong and Julia
• Dr. Ricardo G. Abad


  A Filipino director
• Dr. Ricardo G. Abad was born in Manila


  August 10, 1946
• Dr. Ricardo G. Abad


  • Graduated from Ateneo de Manila, obtained a Fulbright grant to finish a doctorate in sociology at Fordham University in New York
  • Full-time Faculty at Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Artistic Director of Tanghalang Ateneo
  • Has been involved as actor and director in over 120 productions, directed and acted for professional companies like Teatro Pilipino and Tangahalang Pilipino
• Salvador F. Bernal


  Known as the "Father of Theater Design in the Philippines"
• Salvador F. Bernal


  • Born in 1845 to a family that ran a Terno shop, the first to develop theater design as a profession and elevate it to an art form
  • Studied at Ateneo de Manila and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA, taught briefly at Ateneo de Manila and University of the Philippines
  • Designed more than 250 productions in ballet, theater, and film