Arts - Original Performance with the Use of Media

• Theater is the one major art form that brings together all the other art forms—from painting and sculpture to installation art, to music, to dance, to literature, even to computer arts—in a single production.
• Theater - A story is acted out on stage (or other performance area) by actors portraying the characters, bringing them to life and developing the plot through dialogue and actions, and sometimes through song and/or dance.
• Productions range from original plays with Philippine themes and settings, to renowned theater classics from past centuries to contemporary musicals from Broadway or London’s West End.
• With the American presence in the Philippines for the first half of the 20th century, it was inevitable that many U.S. and European theater forms and scripts found their way here. Among them were the classics, such as the plays of William Shakespeare, as well as the works of great American playwrights.
• Local theater groups staged original Philippine zarzuelas which were plays

  performed in song, like the European opera.
• In the past few decades, modern theater groups have continued to express

  the distinctly Philippine interpretation of both originally written plays as well as adaptations of foreign works translated into Filipino.
• Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA)

  • founded in 1967 by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez
• Tanghalang Pilipino

  • the resident theater company of the

  Cultural Center of the Philippines, founded in 1987.
• Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) and Tanghalang Pilipino

  • The productions of these groups span the range from daring new presentations of classical works, to the spectacle of Philippine myths and legends, to commentaries on current social and political issues.
• Other Philippine theater groups are also staging original and adapted plays and musical productions, primarily in English.

  • Best known among these are Repertory Philippines, Trumpets, and New Voice Company. More recently, Theater Down South has been added to their roster.
• Trumpets

  • In the 1990s, the Philippine theater group Trumpets also began mounting grand productions of originally written musicals with a slant towards good values for children and the whole family.
  • Among their plays have been Joseph the Dreamer; First Name; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Little Mermaid; Honk; N.O.A.H.; and The Bluebird of Happiness.
  • The intention of Trumpets is to provide wholesome theater experiences for Filipino youth while also building up the Philippine theater-going public.
• New Voice Company

  • Also making its own distinct contribution to the Philippine theater scene
  • established in 1994 by Monique Wilson—also a Repertory Philippines’ protégée who went on to star on the international stage
  • has earned a reputation for staging thought provoking productions on daring and deep topics
• Philippine Opera Company (POC)

  • founded in 1999 by a group of dedicated classically trained singers, led by soprano Karla Gutierrez as artistic directress
  • seeks to develop performers as well as audiences for classical music performances, both foreign and Filipino
• Theater Down South

  • was founded in 2007, with with Philippine theater mainstay Michael Williams as artistic director
  • The vision of the company is to widen the reach of stage productions beyond the traditional centers within Metro Manila, therefore develop a broader audience base .