History of Theater

• • Historically, Indigenous theater came in the form of rituals and was often combined and accompanied by music and dance.
• • Indigenous theater or rituals were often accompanied by a priest or priestess who leads the community in its ceremonies
• • Formal Theater came during the Spanish colonization.
• • It was used in tandem with the other disciplines of art to spread Christianity.
• • These religious plays are often retelling of the stories of the different events, figures and personalities in the Bible
• • KOMEDYA - Descended from the 16th-century Spanish Comedia (play).
  • It is one of the colorful theatrical traditions in the Philippines used by the Spanish as a method to spread Christianity.
• • Most KOMEDYA describes the conflicts between Christians and Muslims.
• • There are two types Komedya: Secular Komedya & Religious Komedya
• • SARSUELA - another Spanish influence theater which was popularized in the Philippine During 1800's
• • SARSUELA - it portrays the typical realities and stories in a particular country and social relations which viewers can relate in their lives such as elections and feast, marriage, and family, vice and values.
  • It is a lyric theater drama, comical in nature and it is incorporated with singing, dancing and dialogue.
• “Walang Sugat” by Severino Reyes

  • This is perhaps the most iconic and popular Zarzuela in the Philippines, written by Severino Reyes in 1902.
  • It tells a tragic love story set during the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonizers
• • The American colonization brought other theater forms that continued to enrich and evolve Philippine theater.
  • An example is the stage show or the bodabil, which is the precursor of the modern-day variety show.