Dulaang Kalay's inaugural production: "Series Finale: Saan Hahantong Ang Tagpong Ito?!" Dec. 5 to 18, 2011

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Announcement from Dulaang Kalay

Dulaang Kalay
presents
its inaugural production
"Series Finale: Saan Hahantong Ang Tagpong Ito?!"

Book by Katte Sabate and William Elvin Manzano
Original Music and Lyrics by William Elvin Manzano
Directed by William Elvin Manzano

Dec. 5 to 18, 2011
Vision 21 Theater, Crossroads 77 Event Venue
77 Mother Ignacia Street, Quezon City

A satirical look at Filipinos' obsession with telenovelas and their stars, the play centers around the last episode of a soap opera, with all its melodrama and cliches, aired in the midst of national scandals and big news stories.

Katte Sabate was the dramaturg and headwriter of "Rizal X." William Elvin Manzano created the music and lyrics of "Rizal X" and "Cyrano: Isang Sarsuwela."

Cast
Janine Santos and Erika Estacio (Helena San Diego)
Roxanne Aldiosa and Dreps Tatad (Venus San Juan)
Earle Figuracion and Acey Aguilar (Apollo)
Harry David (Michael)

and the Dulaang Kalay Ensemble

Collaborators
Jean Tanchuco and Nissi Gatan (Production Designers)
Niqi Granados (Costume Designer)
Meliton Roxas (Lighting Designer)
Gabe Ongkiko and Timothy Ng (Video Design)
Delphine Buencamino (Choreography)

The group
Dulaang Kalay is a theater organization founded by King Agamemon Harry T. David together and is composed of a young breed of theater actors and enthusiasts.

To sponsor or to purchase tickets, contact 0906-458-1711 or 0906-572-1157.

What do you think of this production? Share your comments.

Word of Mouth Theater Philippines' inaugural installment of its "Play with Your Food" series Oct. 18 and Nov. 8, 2011

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I heard about Steve Martin's play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" years ago, but have never read it nor seen it. I was fortunate enough to have seen a Picasso retrospective at the Metropolitan Musuem. And then I was fortunate enough to have visited Paris earlier this year (for the first time in my entire life) and I got a chance to stand outside the actual Lapin Agile in Montmarte. And now, look, a theater company in Manila is going to do a staged reading of it! With French food, too. I wonder if they will be serving lapin.

Announcement from Word of Mouth Theater Philippines

Word of Mouth Theater Philippines
presents
the inaugural installment of
PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD

A Staged Reading of Steve Martin's
"Picasso at the Lapin Agile"

Oct. 18 (Tues) and Nov. 8 (Tues), 2011
Quantum Cafe Pilipinas, ground floor of Feron Bldg.,
9590 Kamagong St. (cor. Bagtikan St.)
San Antonio Village, Makati City
(near the fire station)

Open house at 7PM
Showtime at 8PM

P450 only
includes
- a French dinner menu
- art exhibit by Anthony Piggott
- live music by guitarist Rigil Kent Borromeo and chanteuse Jean Judith Zeta Javier
- open mic jamming with Jennifer Blair-Bianco and Martin Rey Aviles

Featuring (in alphabetical order):
Apollo Abraham • David Bianco • Jennifer Blair-Bianco • Jeremy Domingo
Kenneth Keng • Lesley Leveriza • Leo Rialp • Rob Rownd • Jamie Wilson

Directed by Jeremy Domingo
Visual Design by Rob Rownd

Synopsis

Theaterbator took this photo of the
Lapin Agile in Montmarte, Paris in 2011

The Lapin Agile, a bar in Montmarte, Paris in October 1904, is the setting for an imaginary meeting between 25-year-old Albert Einstein and 23-year-old Pablo Picasso. It is a year before Einstein publishes the groundbreaking The Special Theory of Relativity, and three years before Picasso paints his defining Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The two young men on the verge of greatness, along with a host of eccentric characters, converge and collide in Steve Martin’s light-hearted comedy about imagination and the creative process.

The group
WORD OF MOUTH Theater Philippines is a non-stock, non-profit arts organization founded that brings performers, designers and creative practitioners of various disciplines together, to infuse Philippine theater with renewed relevance, creative collaboration, vitality and exuberance.

Play With Your Food
WOM’S PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD is an ongoing Gallery/Bar Theater series.  World Cuisine menus are specially designed for each PYWF event, as select visual artists, musicians, vocalists and actors from various media are gathered at a single occasion create a unique theatrical experience.

Reserve at 0915-357-7420

What do you think of this staged reading? Share your comments.

Deadline of submission to 8th Virgin Labfest 2012 is March 31, 2012

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Announcement from Virgin Labfest


The 8th Virgin Labfest (2012) now open for script submissions

Poster of 7th Virgin Labfest 2011

The 8th Virgin Labfest (2012)

now open for script submissions

For 2012, submissions are requested for the following written works:
1. One-act plays, (maximum running time: 40 minutes)
2. Full-length plays, (minimum running time: 1 hour 20 minutes; maximum running time: 2 hours)
3. All submitted works must NOT have previously been
     - published in book form;
     - staged commercially for more than two performances
       (staged readings, one-time workshop productions are allowed);
     - awarded any literary or drama recognition in competitions and the like
4. Works may be in Filipino or English.

The festival is open to various themes and genres. While we continue to uphold this principle, this year, however, the Virgin Labfest hopes to include works that fall into these categories:
          1. Regional Language plays: plays written in Hiligaynon, Cebuano and/or Ilocano.
          2. Plays for children (special venue)

Submission Deadline is on MARCH 31, 2012

Poster of 6th Virgin Labfest 2010 

Send your submissions either:
1) In .doc or .pdf format only to rodyvera@yahoo.com and drama_ccp@yahoo.com

2) Deliver at least two hard copies of the manuscript to
     DRAMATIC ARTS DIVISION
     Performing Arts Department
     Cultural Center of the Philippines
     Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

Submissions should indicate name and contact address of the playwright.

Contact rodyvera@yahoo.com and drama_ccp@yahoo.com.

What do you think of the Virgin Labfest? Share your comments.

Naty Crame Rogers' Philippine Drama Company Sala Theater stages "Portrait of an Artist as Filipino" dinner theater on Oct 22 and 28

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Yay! My article on a dinner-theater staging of "Portrait of an Artist as Filipino" was published by Philippine Daily Inquirer for its Oct. 17, 2011 issue.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iwroteit/message/314
Naty Crame Rogers stages "Portrait" dinner theater on Oct 22 and 28
By Walter Ang

(From left) Lala Castillo as Paula,
Naty Crame-Rogers as Candida,
and Lamberto "Bats" Avellana
(son of Lamberto and Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana)
as Tony Javier, during rehearsals.

Natividad "Naty" Crame-Rogers' Philippine Drama Company Sala Theater will perform Nat'l Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin's "Portrait of an Artist as Filipino."

Rogers directs and plays the role of Candida.  Lala Castillo plays Paula.  The play shows how the Marasigan spinster sisters who live inside Intramuros deal with the changes happening in Old Manila prior to the start of World War II, "stubbornly clinging to the genteel though impractical world of Hispanized culture."

The play will be presented as dinner-theater in Ilustrado restaurant in Intramuros.  Audiences can watch the performance while dining on the restaurant's Spanish-Filipino themed-menu: Paella Ilustrado accompanied by Callos Madrilena, Roasted Chicken ala Naranja, and Bonoan Bangus Relleno, among others.

Ilustrado, celebrating its 22nd anniversary, has served as the venue for several of PDCST's productions, recently hosting the group's performance of "Leonor: The love of Jose Rizal," an adaptation of Severino Montano's "The Love of Leonor Rivera," in commemoration of Rizal's birth sesquicentennial this year.

Theater for all
Now 88 years old, Rogers has been creating and teaching theater since training as a college student under theater artist Wilfrido Guerrero.  Her PDCST celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.  It tours productions and also holds performances in Amingtahanan Sala Theater, Roger's own residence in Pasig City, where the living room is transformed into a performance space.

In line with Rogers' thrust on getting as many people interested in theater as possible, and partly to celebrate the La Naval de Manila (held every second Sunday of October), the production's technical dress rehearsal in Ilustrado restaurant on Oct. 21 will be open to audiences.  Audiences can order food while watching the rehearsals.

La Naval lecture
The rehearsal will include a short lecture on the Virgin of La Naval at 3pm.  An event witnessed by characters in the play, the La Naval de Manila procession honors the Virgin of La Naval of Sto. Domingo Church--which used to be located inside Intramuros.

The procession was portrayed in National Artist for Theater and Film Lamberto Avellana's screen adaptation of "Portrait," where Rogers played Paula opposite National Artist for Theater Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana's Candida. Both also essayed the same roles in the stage version that premiered prior to the film, also directed by Lamberto with a script adapted by Daisy for the Avellana couple's Barangay Theater Guild.  This production will use the same script adapted by Daisy Avellana.

"Portrait of an Artist as Filipino" runs Oct. 22 (Sat) and 28 (Fri), 2011. Ticket includes cocktails at 6:00 pm, show at 7:00 pm, dinner at 9:00 pm. Ilustrado Restaurant is at 744 General Luna St., Intramuros, Manila. Contact 527-3674, 527-2345, 0922-823-4981, 0922-823-4983 or reservations@ilustradorestaurant.com.ph. Visit www.ilustradorestaurant.com.ph.

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/18731/naty-crame-rogers-stages-portrait-dinner-theater-on-oct-22-and-28


What do you think of this production? Share your comments.

Sentrong Pangsining at Kultura Alaala kay Maria Carpena's 2nd Maria Carpena Kundiman Song Festival Oct 21, 2011

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Announcement from Sentrong Pangsining at Kultura Alaala kay Maria Carpena

Sentrong Pangsining at Kultura Alaala kay Maria Carpena
together with
United Artists for Cultural Conservation and Development, Philippines
presents
2nd Maria Carpena Kundiman Song Festival (2011)

October 21, 2011 (Friday) 1:00pm onwards
Pavilion Mall, Biñan City, Laguna province

This festival aims to immerse the present generation to practise, value and develop the traditional Filipino music. Educational institutions from Biñan, Sta. Rosa, San Pedro and other neighboring towns will be participating.


125th birth anniversary
The event also commemorates the 125th birth anniversary of Maria Evangelista Carpena, the first Filipino Recording Artist and the "Nightingale of Zarzuela," hailed as the first superstar of Philippine Entertainment. Her career that spanned for 13 years was devoted to the stage. She was the star of Severino Reyes' Walang Sugat (1902), one of the longest running sarsuwelas, and many stage productions in the early 1900s.

In 1908, she recorded the very first recording done by a Filipino under Victor Recording Company - making Carpena the 1st Filipino Recording Artist.

First Maria Carpena Memorial Awards

Part of the Kundiman Song Festival is the awarding of the first Maria Carpena Memorial Awards for the Arts to distinguish outstanding contributions of our artists in the field of music and theatre arts. This year's recipients are Philippine Theatre's gems Tony Mabesa and  Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio. 

Mabesa is a professor emeritus in the UP Dept. of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts. He is an outstanding stage director and actor, among others. He founded Dulaang U.P. in 1976 - a pioneer of academic theatres in the country. Mabesa mentored generations of seasoned performers and artists in the theatre, film and television. 

Bonifacio is the "Mother of Philippine Puppetry" and a professor emeritus in the UP Dept. of English and Comparative Literature. She is a set designer and playwright, among others. She was a pioneer in the spread of puppetry in the Philippines, and founder of the world renowned children's theatre group Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas.

The group

Sentrong Pangsining at Kultura Alaala kay Maria Carpena is a non-profit cultural organization established to keep alive the memory of Carpena (1886-1915), a native of Biñan and Sta. Rosa.

The group aims to perpetuate the traditional Filipino arts and culture; train and assist potential artists in the pursuit of development and excellence; instill in the hearts and minds of the youth the historic value of Filipino arts and culture; and give due recognition in the form of annual awards to deserving artists.

Contact Rosauro Sta. Maria (Executive Director) at 09178472476, BJ Borja (Artistic Director) at 09192160440, or e-mail uaccd.binan@gmail.com.

What do you think of this festival? Share your comments.

2011 is the year of the Twelfth Nights

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Earlier this year, I noticed that there would be lot of Shakespeare productions during Rizal's birth sesquicentennial.

Then I noticed how 2011 became the year of the Titus Andronici (and discussed the possibility of theater artists' brainwaves latching on to wanting to stage the same show and/or how some shows might having their own staging energies, emerging when they want to be staged).

How funny, then, for 2011 to also become the year of the Twelfth Nights!

Well, okay, November 2011 to be specific: Asian American Leviathan Lab is staging a Wong kar-wai inspired production in Manhattan while Assumption College San Lorenzo's Marie Eugenie Theater of the Assumption is also staging its own production in Makati.

All this talk about "Twelfth Nights" makes me remember Tanghalang Ateneo's Asian-inspired staging in 2000 (you can read about it here).  I also really liked the clever 2006 American movie adaptation "She's the Man," starring Amanda Bynes.

Anyhoo, Phlippine Educational Theater Association is reportedly also planning on staging a Tagalog translation of "Twelfth Night" for its 2012-2013 season.  Perhaps it's not quite over its exclusive Shakepeare-centric line-up for its 2011-2012 season, kekeke.

What do you think of these productions? Share your comments.

Philippine Educational Theater Association's "Rated: PG" Oct. 15-16, 2011

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Announcement from Philippine Educational Theater Association

For Children’s Month in October 2011
Philippine Educational Theater Association
presents

“Rated: PG”
A play about Positive Discipline

October 15, 2011  (10am and 3pm) and
October 16, 2011  (3pm)

PETA-Theater Center
5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City

Physical and emotional punishment of children affect their development and personalities. The play challenges the old ways in rearing our children and urges us to adopt positive discipline in our homes, schools and communities. The play is very timely in the light of many cases of violent punishment of children reported in media in the recent months.

The play is a project of the Advocate Right To Safety (ARTS) Zone of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). Rated: PG tackles issues and concerns on building relationships between parents/adults and children. It has been well-received in various schools and communities in Metro Manila since its launch in 2010.

Contact 725-62-44 or 0927-554-2693.

For details on Advocate Right to Safety Zone for Children,
contact
Marichu Belarmino-Carino
Program Director
Advocate Right to Safety Zone for Children
Philippine Educational Theater Association
Landline: 725-6244; telefax 410-0821; cell +63920-953-1539; e-mail: marichu.belarmino@gmail.com

What do you think of this production? Share your comments.

Auditions for Tanghalang Ateneo's "Fireflies" Oct 13-14, 2011

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I wrote about Tanghalang Ateneo's 2011-2012 season line-up a few months ago and now they're already auditioning for their season finale. It seems they've changed the production. It was supposed to be a Tagalog adaptation of the "Oresteia" but now it's "Fireflies."

Announcement from Tanghalang Ateneo

Tanghalang Ateneo will be holding
OPEN AUDITIONS for its 2011-2012 season finale
Fireflies
by Suzue Toshiro

Oct 13-14, 2011
4:30-6:30 pm
Fine Arts Theater, 3/F Gonzaga Building, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City

Contact 0927-852-3961 or 0917-930-9247.

What do you think of this audition? Share your comments.

Resorts World Manila's "Sound of Music" Oct 15-Dec 30, 2011

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Yay! My article on the staging of "Sound of Music" by Resorts World Manila was published by Philippine Daily Inquirer in its Oct. 15, 2011 issue.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iwroteit/message/313
"Sound of Music" at Resorts World Manila starts Oct 15
By Walter Ang

Theater leading ladies Cris Villonco and Joanna Ampil will alternate as Maria Rainer in Resorts World Manila's staging of the musical "Sound of Music."

Both will bring to life the role of the earnest and determined postulant nun assigned as a governess to the untamed seven children of stern Navy Captain and widower Georg von Trapp.  Laughter and love blossoms when Maria wins the children (and their father) over with music.

Both have played other "Marias" prior to this production.

Villonco has played lead roles for Repertory Philippines, Dulaang UP and, recently, for Tanghalang Pilipino's "Noli Me Tangere" as Maria Clara.

Ampil has performed internationally, starting her career as Kim in the West End staging of "Miss Saigon" and recently as Maria in Stages Production Specialists' "West Side Story."

Leading men
Audie Gemora, Ed Feist and Jon Joven alternate as the Captain.

Gemora was last seen onstage playing the titular role in Repertory Philippines' "Sweeny Todd."

A former VJ for music channel Myx and theater actor (Bankard's "Diary of Anne Frank" and Actors' Actors' "Mother Tongue"), Feist returns to Manila after having been based in Australia the past few years as lead vocal for Soul Motel band.

Joven has played Thuy in the German staging of Miss Saigon and has credits on Broadway and off-Broadway.  Locally, he's played lead roles for TP such as Orly in "Himala the musical," and Crisostomo Ibarra in "Noli Me Tangere."

Memoir to musical
With music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, audiences may be more familiar with the 1965 film version starring Julie Andrews ("Princess Diaries") and Christopher Plummer (Pixar's "Up," "Inglourious Basterds"), though the musical premiered on Broadway six years prior.  The musical is based on Maria Augusta von Trapp's memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers."

Since the film's release, songs that were added for the movie, such as "I Have Confidence" and "Something Good," are usually included in revivals.  Previous Manila stagings have been done by Company of Players (1997) and Repertory Philippines (2006).

Big theater
This production will be staged at RWM's 1,500-seater Newport Performing Arts Theater.

Set design is by Mio Infante with video design by television commercial director Paul Soriano.  Video backdrops will be shown via the theater's 30meter by 8meter LED (light emitting diode) screen, touted as the largest in Southeast Asia.  10feet x 14feet LED walls will also be placed at each end of the stage. The screens allows for showing of 3D sceneries.

Cast and collaborators
Theater veteran Pinky Amador and jazz singer Lynn Sherman alternate as the captain's fiancée Baroness Elsa Schraeder.  Miguel Faustman and Robbie Guevara alternate as von Trapp family friend Max Detweiler.

Pinky Marquez and Sheila Francisco alternate as Mother Abbess. TV and film comedienne Debraliz Valasote plays the von Trapp's housekeeper Frau Schmidt.

Liesl, the eldest of the von Trapp siblings is played by Tanya Manalang and Rachel Coates.  Rolf, Liesl's love interest, is played by former TV child star and current ABS-CBN talent Bryan Homecillo and 2009 Philstage Gawad Buhay! awardee for Best Featured Actor in a Musical ("Sweeny Todd") Marvin Ong.

The production is directed by dinner theater and concert director Roxanne Lapus. Lyn Fabella is vocal director.  Rodel Colmenar conducts the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra.  Choreographer is Terri Aldeguer of the dance duo Aldeguer Sisters.  Lighting design is by John Batalla. Costume design is by fashion designer Francis Libiran.

Discount
Since the theater's inauguration last year, it has hosted concerts of local and foreign artists (Lani Misalucha, Lea Salonga and David Pomeranz, Zsa Zsa Padilla and Basil Valdez, to name a few), beauty pageants, corporate events, and a Vegas-type musical spectacle show "Kaos."  Concerts will still be staged at the theater on days when "Sound of Music" is not running.

Newport Performing Arts Theater is located in Resorts World Manila, which combines hotels, restaurants, gaming facilities, entertainment spots and a luxury mall in one destination across Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, beside Villamor Golf Course.

RWM members using their Visa Platinum and Gold credit cards to purchase tickets can avail of up to 25% discount, applied to a maximum of four tickets per card per show, when transacted at RWM Box Office and Ticketworld outlets. RWM members can also use points earned in their membership cards towards purchase of tickets. Membership to RWM is free.

"The Sound of Music" runs Oct 15 to Dec 11, 2011. 8:00PM Wed to Sat with 3:00PM shows on Sat and Sun at Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila, Pasay City. Contact Resorts World Manila Box Office (836-6333) or Ticketworld (891-9999). 


UPDATE: Show is extended until Dec. 30, 2011

Also published online:
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/18265/%E2%80%98sound-of-music%E2%80%99-at-resorts-world-manila-starts-oct-15

What do you think of this production? Share your comments.

UP Dance Company's "Past forward" Oct. 17, 2011

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Announcement from UP Dance Company

UP College of Music and UP Dance Comapany

present

PAST FORWARD

Ala-Ala Bagong Anyo

Oct. 17, 2011 7:00PM

Abelardo Hall, College of Music, UP Diliman

Featuring: UP Dance Majors

                Josiah Samaniego, Jesper Colleen Mercado, Kim Feliz, PIANISTS

                Jourdann Petalver, CONDUCTOR

                Dmitri Shostakovich Orchestra

Chorepgraphy by: Sarah Maria Samaniego, Chaya Joyce Baris and Michel Fokine

Music by: Frederic Chopin, Alexander John Villanueva and Dmitri Shostakovich

What do you think of this production? Share your comments.

24th Aliw Awards now open for nominations October 2011

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The Aliw Awards Foundation has no website, but it does have a Wikipedia entry.

Its 21st installment (2008) was panned for its strange nomination eligibility period by Gibbs Cadiz (read about it here).

Further Googling reveals that there seems to have never been any announcements for acceptance of nominations.  The announcement below to accept nominations for its 24th installment (2011) might be the first time it has done so.

The announcement below is a mix of information I Googled.  Their media release that has been picked-up by different publications does not indicate a deadline for submission of nominations nor any contact numbers, but they did indicate a mailing address and an email address.

(Using the venue of this year's awarding ceremonies as a clue, I have a feeling that I think I know which production and which roles will win the theater-related awards this year, kekeke. Let's see if I will be correct.)


The 24th Aliw Awards (2011) is now open for nominations
The 24th Aliw Awards (2011) is now open for submission of nominations. The Aliw Awards "honors the best in Philippine live entertainment."

Screening will be done in October 2011. The awarding ceremonies will be held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Resorts World Manila on Nov. 8, 2011.

Theater/performing arts-related categories include:
Best Actor (Musical and Non-musical)
Best Actress (Musical and Non-musical)
Best Classical Performer (Male and female)
Best Stage Director (Musical and Non-musical)
Best Production (Musical and Non-musical)
Best Dance Company (Classical/folk and contemporary/modern)

To qualify, performances must have been staged from September 2010 to Oct. 15, 2011.

Aliw Awards members are not voting members except for the president.
The Board of Judges is invited by the Aliw Awards Foundation and it deliberates and chooses the winners.

Material of performances (such as CDs and DVDs of performances)
and write-ups for nominations may be sent to:
The Screening Committee Chair
2011 Aliw Awards.
39 Kirishima St., BF THAI, BF International,
Las Piñas City, Metro Manila 1740

Details of the nominations can also be sent to aliwawards2011@rocketmail.com

What do you think of this award-giving body? Share your comments.

Jay Españo in Theater Works' "The King and I" until Oct. 16, 2011

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I wrote about Jay Españo landing the lead role in a production of "King and I" in Chicago earlier this year (you can read about it here).

He apparently has landed the same role again for a different production in Phoenix.

He sent Theaterbator blog by Walter Ang an interview done with the director of the production he's currently in. This time, he's working with Theater Works, a theater company in Arizona, USA.



Announcement from Theater Works

Arizona’s Theater Works  casts Filipino actor Jay Españo for lead in "The King and I"

The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic story of an English governess going to Siam (now Thailand) in the 1860’s to teach the stern king’s royal children  in the hopes of modernizing his country continues to dazzle  people of all ages.   Multi Arizoni Award (Arizona’s equivalent of Tony Awards)-winning director Athena Hunting took time to answer a few interesting questions about her current theater endeavor.

(From left) Kristi McEwan (Anna Leonowens),
Athena Hunting (director), and Jay Españo (King Mongkut).

Why did you cast Jay Españo and Kristi McEwan in the title roles?
I cast Jay and Kristi because in them I saw authenticity, heart, and humor – the ‘ahh’ factor -- all of which I needed to fulfill my vision for the relationship between Anna Leonowens and King Mongkut.  From the beginning, Jay demonstrated such an understanding of the role, to which no one at auditions even came close.  There were many Anna’s to choose from, but Kristi has this Bridget Jones-like quality that is so endearing, I couldn’t resist.


You've seen the movie (with Yul Brynner) and you've seen productions of  "The King And I," how does this production compare?  What's different?  What's new?
Actually, I've not seen a staged version of this show, but I did play Tuptim years ago in a production of it in Washington , D.C.   Having watched the film many years ago, I sort of came into this project like Jay – no expectations!  We fused the screenplay with the stage script for our production, making cuts here and there to keep the show fresh.  It seems our version might be the first one of its kind!  The use of shadow puppets in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (in addition to our fantastic dancers, musicians, and singers) is a beautiful way of enhancing the re-enactment of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s beloved story.

Jay admitted  that he has never seen the movie version with Yul Brynner in the iconic role that catapulted him to stardom.  Is this a good thing or a bad thing? How did it affect your vision for the production?
Unlike Yul Brynner, Jay has a lot of hair!  Seriously, my vision before rehearsals begin for any show I direct, is quite broad, so that the actors can bring their own interpretations.  But the one thing we all have in common is the text – and as long as we are respectful of the text, I don’t think we can make a mistake.  Case in point: although Jay had never watched Yul Brynner in the role, a local reviewer wrote, “Jay Españo’s King is heavily influenced by Yul Brynner’s definitive original interpretation (which) works perfectly…”  It’s really all about the text!  And of course, great minds think alike!

The relationship of Anna and the King has a lot of very understated romantic moments. They bicker, they fight and they fall in love. Tell us about finding that chemistry in terms of motivating  your lead stars.

Sometimes finding the arc of a character, a relationship, a scene, and a play happens because the director is very specific, and sometimes it happens more organically, with everyone bringing their own perspectives to the table.  All I can say is, the trust I put in my leads paid off in spades!

"The King and I" at The Peoria Center for  Performing Arts, Phoenix, Arizona runs until October 16, 2011.  Contact +1-623-815-7930 or boffice@theaterworks.org

What do you think of this production? Share your comments.