PETA celebrates turning 50
A nation which does not help and does not encourage its theater is, if not dead, dying... The theater is the most useful and expressive instrument for a country’s edification, the barometer which registers its greatness or its decline. — Federico Garcia Lorca
AT AGE 23, a wisp of a girl came home to pre-Martial Law Philippines, gave birth to a child, nursed it, and took care of it. Alas, when the child was six years old, she was forced by circumstances to leave it with a dear friend and colleague, with the fervent hope that her child would be in good hands. Last weekend, this mother was honored by her child’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in an event that was attended by almost all the people who have been a part of her child’s life.
An adoption story with a happy ending? Not quite. Because the story is still unfolding as we speak. This is the story of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) — touted as “one of the Philippines’ pioneer theater groups,” which kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration with a bang at the Rajah Sulayman theater in historic Fort Santiago — its home for many years — and the modern PETA Theater Center in Quezon City, its present and permanent home.
IN THE BEGINNING
“[PETA] founder Cecile GuidoteAlvarez came back to the Philippines in 1967 at the age of 23 with a masteral thesis in tow — brimming with dreams and courage but without a cent of support — armed with steely determination to implement her blueprint for a national theater in the service of the people,” PETA President CB Garrucho said after PETA’s 50th Anniversary Concert Singkuwenta last Friday.
The organization was born half a century ago “out of a vision of dynamically applying theater, the meeting ground of all the discipline of the arts, as a force for education and social transformation, towards peace and sustainable development,” said Ms. GuidoteAlvarez in the founder’s message given at the event.
As impossible as it may have seemed back then, she dreamt of building “a national theater movement” that would truthfully articulate the thoughts, feelings, values, and aspirations of the Filipino people, “by drawing meaning and power from the lives, language, heritage, and habitat of our people.”
Ms. Guidote-Alvarez said: “My goal was to initiate and develop a network of theater arts programs for enriching [ the curricula] for children, the Teen Theater League, college-university level and techniques for community development for empowerment and healing trauma.”
And given the local theater landscape in the late 1960s, she wanted to “throw away the notion that theater is for the elite and purely for entertainment but must be available to the masses.”
PETA was officially “christened” on April 7, 1967 at a national conference organized at the Pope Pius Center where regional coordinators were elected.
One of Ms. Guidote-Alvarez’s “surrogate fathers” (the other two were Fr. James Reuter, S.J. and Alejandro Roces), Teodoro “Doroy” Valencia, allowed PETA “to identify creative flexible spaces for the public — particularly in Fort Santiago: from the Rajah Sulayman stage, to the dungeon, to the gas chamber, the ramparts — as well as Paco Park and Rizal Park.”
PETA’s inaugural play, Bayaning Huwad (written by Virginia Moreno and translated by Wilfredo Sanchez), opened at the Rajah Sulayman Theater in 1967.
PETA spread its wings via the multi- awarded television and radio show Balintataw, which showcased famous stars such as Lolita Rodriguez, Rita Gomez, and Nora Aunor, and also proved to be a venue for playwrights’ works.
When Martial Law was imposed, there was “a shoot-to-kill order” for Ms. Guidote-Alvarez’s husband Heherson ( Sonny). To protect PETA “from persecution of the regime, and so that it could continue to thrive and through its creative presentations provide a platform of resistance and resilience,” the founder and her husband went into exile in the United States.
The foundress got film director Lino Brocka as PETA’s executive director and Remy Rikken as its administrator in her absence. “I left [Brocka] the grant money I received from the [Ramon Magsaysay] Awards Foundation as seed money for operations and to cover debts from holding the 1st Third World Festival in 1971.”
She also left in Brocka’s care “the Prospectus for a National Theater which I formulated from studies abroad that could serve as a framework of action with a training scenario for the Central Institute of Theatre Arts in Southeast Asia (CITASA) for an educational base... and a charter for an Executive Council to run the collectively artistic seasons of the Kalinangan Ensemble.”
CELEBRATION
Last Friday, staff and alumni visited PETA’s original home, the Rajah Sulayman Theater at Fort Santiago, where they held a ritual which included an inter-faith service, thanksgiving mass, and inculturated liturgy replete with narrations, indigenous prayers, scriptural readings, staged poetry, and contemporary songs and dances. Directed by Bohol-based cultural activist Lutgardo “Gardy” Labad, the ritual was “an ode to the early expressions of Philippine drama rooted in ethnic or folk traditions.”
The celebration was capped by Singkuwenta, PETA’s two-day 50th anniversary concert which featured an array of original Filipino music performed by the UP Singing Ambassadors, the PETA Choir, Aicelle Santos, Noel Cabangon, and other guests artists; as well as music from notable PETA theatrical pieces, some of which are in Sa Hirap at Ginhawa, PETA’s commemorative 13-track album.
“I am constantly amazed at how many people take a bow onstage: the entire cast, the artistic team, the production team, the stagehands, the backstage staff, and many more. All of them work hard to ensure the success of the production. Imagine how much work it takes for an entire season, or, for that matter, for 50 seasons of work in the theater. Innumerable hands at work, tireless minds, and dedicated souls are needed to sustain a theater company,” said Ms. Garrucho.
“PETA could not have gone this far if not for the unwavering, and unceasing engagement of our members, staff, alumni, partners from the government, program partners in the schools and LGUs, the embassies, the people’s organizations, the art and cultural institutions, the business entities, the media, the academe, the religious, and our partner communities here and abroad,” Ms. Garrucho added.
“We dedicate Singkuwenta to the Filipino people: whose history and culture are far too rich and meaningful to forget; whose stories of bravery, resilience, strength, compassion and capacity for sacrifice are far too inspiring to be left untold. These are the people who we tell these stories for and who are all part of the stories we tell. Then, now, and until the next 50 years.”
Ms. Guidote-Alvarez couldn’t stop weeping while being honored by PETA. Now 73, legally blind after battling cancer, and rehabilitating a broken knee, she said: “I am still alive to witness the creative growth of PETA to its golden years. Like a mother, I am privileged to experience the greatest joy from the success of her children, and even more thrilled with the zenith of achievement of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.”
For more information regarding PETA’s 50th Theater Season, contact (02) 725-6244, 0917-5765400, petatheater@gmail.com or visit www.petatheater.com or the official Facebook page: www.facebook.