• Multiawarded artist Elmer Borlongan shares with us his recent work, “Hatid,” which is up for auction at the Art 40 this weekend. Works from 39 other artists are also up for bidding. Art 40 is the project of broadcast …
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London-based thespian Joanna Ampil is finally coming home to the Philippines to do her very first musical theater project in Manila after 16 years of being a West End star.  Joanna is playing the role of Maria in West Side Story to be produced by Stages and directed by Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.

Joanna has long wanted to perform in her own country but never had the chance until she heard of the casting call for West Side Story. She was then busy playing Fantine in West End’s Les Miserables. So she e-mailed Stages president Audie Gemora and asked if she could send in her audition materials instead. Without thinking twice, Audie said yes.

By Leloi Arcete

This time there will be no cuts and second takes. Ten years after since his last theater appearance, Bembol Roco is coming back on stage.

You would think that a seasoned actor like Bembol Roco is never anxious about performing or  does not experience stage fright, which to some of us is equivalent to the feeling of a sudden rush to go to the john, sweaty palms, and stomach butterflies. But apparently even actors of his status become a little jittery every time they perform. Especially if that someone’s last theater appearance is some ten years ago.

By Antonio Graceffo

The continuing saga of a Brooklyn monk come to Manila to study EMT. Stumbled onto this randomly? Read this article first.

Last of four parts: Read first, second, and third parts.

The next call came at about nine at night. It was a rekindle. There had been a huge fire earlier in the day in a Chinese factory, next to the Chinese school. The school had been evacuated, then the firefighters climbed up on the second-story roof of the school and cut holes in the walls of the second story of the factory to pump water in.

As always the people of Manila, or the people of Philippines, have luck, fortune, and corruption completely against them. In the case of fire, fore example, the Bureau of Fire Protection only has 60 fire trucks in all of Metro Manila. From that number only 10 to15 are working at any given moment. The rest are waiting for maintenance.

At the Datu Ambel Memorial High School in North Cotabato, NGOs and school administrators are giving away free breakfasts starting this July to encourage students to complete their education. The high school has a low completion rate, with only 8 graduates in 2008 out of 50 enrollees in 2004.

“Going to school hungry most of the time could affect students’ performance in school,” says Lhor Laguia, teacher in charge at the Datu Ambel High School.

If Jose Rizal had written his two novels today, what issues would he raise?  In modern society, who would Ibarra and Maria Clara be?  Who would be the equivalent of the villains Fray Salvi and Fray Damaso, and the characters of Elias, Pilosopong Tasio, Basilio, Isagani, and Padre Florentino?  Would his second novel end the way it did when he wrote El Fili in 1891?

The Philippine Educational Theater Association opens its 41st Theater Season this July with a new interpretation to Rizal’s classic works Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo with Nicanor Tiongson’s Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 (Dos Mil).