Philstage bares 2011 Gawad Buhay! nominees, honors 4 performing arts icons

THE PHILIPPINE Legitimate Stage Artists Group, Inc. (Philstage), the country’s only alliance of professional performing arts companies, announces the staging of the awarding ceremonies of the 2011 Gawad Buhay!: The Philstage Awards for the Performing Arts

Veteran actor, singer and director Audie Gemora will direct the program scripted by George de Jesus.

Now on its fourth year, Gawad Buhay! is the first-ever industry awards exclusively for the performing arts juried by an independent panel of critics, scholars, reviewers and artists. Outstanding individual and group achievements in various artistic and technical aspects of play, musical and dance productions and performances are honored based on quarterly citations deliberated by the jury who are required to watch all productions of PhilStage member-companies for the entire year.

The Philippine Educational Theater Association (Peta) leads this year race with a total of 19 nominations for its hit comedy-musicaldrama production “Care Divas,” about a group of Filipino caregivers working in Tel Aviv, Israel, who moonlights as glamorous drag queens by night.

It won the jury’s nod for nominations in the categories of outstanding musical production; stage direction (Maribel Legarda); ensemble performance in a musical (the entire cast); original script (Lisa Magtoto); original libretto (Lisa Magtoto and Vincent de Jesus); musical direction and musical composition (Vincent de Jesus); choreography for a play or musical (Carlon Matobato); costume design (John Abul); lighting design (Jonjon Villareal); sound design (Vincent de Jesus); set design (Leo Abaya); male lead performance in a musical production (Vincent de Jesus, Melvin Lee and Jerald Napoles); female featured performance in a musical production (Angeli Bayani); and male featured performance in a musical production (Paul Holme, Myke Salomon and Dudz Terana).

With 16 nominations each, Peta’s “William,” which casts Shakespeare in a modern light before its characters and audiences, tied with Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Noli Me Tangere: the Musical,” an adaptation of Dr. Jose Rizal’s novel, for the second most-nominated production.

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To be elevated in the Natatanging Gawad Buhay! roster of distinguished lifetime achievers in the performing arts are premier danseur Nonoy Froilan for dance, and veteran actor and director Baby Barredo for theater. Posthumous awardees are Tony Fabella for dance, and Rene Villanueva and Carlos dela Paz for playwriting and playwrights development.

According to PhilStage president and Tanghalang Pilipino artistic Fernando Josef, this year’s Gawad Buhay! Edition is a tribute to the enduring creative excellence, perseverance and the unrelenting spirit of the Filipino performing artists in the face of unmitigated influx of foreign artists to the country.

“Despite lack of government support for the arts, we managed to come up with world-class productions that can equal or even surpass the quality of imported productions,” Josef said.

Other PhilStage officers are Peta’s Maribel Legarda, vice president; Ballet Philippines’ Paul Alexander Morales, secretary; Repertory Philippines’ Rem Zamora, treasurer; and board members Bart Guingona (Actors Actors, Inc.), Susan Macuja (Ballet Manila), Tony Espejo (Gantimpala Theater Foundation), and Audie Gemora (Trumpets). Elmar Beltran Ingles of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit serves as executive director.

Admission to the awarding ceremonies is open to the public.