Teatro Weekend Treat!

Now, I’m starting to think why I didn’t take Theater Arts. (Well, I’m still in 3^rd year? I can… Okay, stop. I don’t want to get there. Hehe)

 In high school, actually, I built up a career as a director and screenplay writer. My batch branded me as “the 3-2-1 action” girl. I was always asked to direct or write the script or produce a play –from 1^st year to 4^th year. Seriously. I still don’t understand why I never refused. Maybe peer pressure. Maybe.

But going back further, I think I've always been fascinated with theaters and stages. In kindergarten, we had this big play (it is huge for a 4 yr old okay), I wanted to be Snow White but my teacher insisted that I fit the role of Snow White’s mother better ‘cause it was a more “emotional” role (I still don’t understand ‘till now how she can be emotional though. Hahaha.) Maybe I didn't fit ‘cause I wasn't as slim and as pretty as Snow White. But whatever, I never liked that high-pitched princess anyway. Haha! (I've always wanted to be the tough princess since I was a kid, by the way). Don’t worry, I’m not ranting about my insecurities. I’m past that stage. Haha! Well, pretty much, that was my first exposure of being in a play.

My kindergarten teacher was certainly a bit “picky” yet she was one of the full-pledged “dreamers” I've ever known. Since “Snow White,” she always shared us stories of adventures of real-life heroes, princesses and knights, mysterious creatures and talking animals, objects that fly, etc. We even had a storytelling on stage. I was one of the few chosen storytellers. Since then, I never lost that “sense” of wonder, especially with stories and tales and well, the theater.

I give much credit to my teacher then.

Theater, I think, will always be the most powerful (and most expensive) medium. You experience the story, the people, the message first-hand.  Not TV. Not radio. Not the Internet.

To see the character cry and laugh 3 ft away from you cultivates a different intensity of emotion and mind processing than watching on TV (maybe edited or live; it’s near.. yet so far HAHA). But you get what I mean?

Experiencing reality in its rawness is more engaging, don’t you think?

Last Thursday, I watched a Dulaang UP play entiled "The Seagull/Ang Tagak" which was a comedy in three acts. It was... just okay. Full of unrequited love. Satire. And sarcasm. But it wasn't startling. Or maybe my standards are just too high (always too high hahaha if you know what I mean).

I just watched The King and I tonight with my cousin, sister and my grandfather. I still can’t believe he treated us to something as costly as this. But anyway, I am grateful for his effort to nurture a sense of history, art and learning in his grandchildren. That is truly noble.

Unexpected. Really unexpected. I found out weeks ago that it was a full-house Filipino production. I didn't know we could pull off something like that. So indeed, bravo!

From the acting to the performances to the music to the props to the stage design to the startling electronic elephants walking around the stage, it was perfectly executed!

I've seen the film several times already. So even if I knew about the story, my eyes were still glued on every scene, thrilled to see what’s next.

But that’s only a starter.

Wait ‘til you see The Phantom of the Opera.