BLOG NI OBLE

The whole University was abuzz last February 4 with the opening ceremonies of Sarsuwela Festival 2009, the centerpiece of this year’s Diliman Month, via a grand parade/motorcade around the Academic Oval. The event gave the public a small taste of the cultural celebration to come as the parade was designed like a play, starting at Quezon Hall where the festival was formally opened by UP President Emerlinda Román, UPD Chancellor Sergio S. Cao, College of Arts and Letters (CAL) Dean Virgilio Almario, Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts Prof. Rubén D.F. Defeo and CAL professor Jovy Peregrino. Among the noteworthy participants were Spanish Ambassador Hon. Luis Arias Romero and his wife, heads of the participating universities and representatives of the participating theater groups. Photo shows Alamario (center, in hat) flanked by the ambassador and his wife and the festival organizers and participants.

The opening parade had four acts set up at various locations along the academic oval, namely at the steps of The College of Arts and Letters (CAL), the steps fronting Palma Hall, in front of Malcolm Hall at the Law Complex, and culminating in front of the University Theater, which serves as ground zero for the festivities.

At each station a small production was staged, with the Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation, Inc. (BKFI) performing an excerpt from Walang Sugat (Feb. 11–13 at the University Theater) at the CAL and in front of Malcolm Hall while the FEU Art Theatre Clinique staged part of Sa Bunganga ng Pating (Feb. 18–20 at the University Theater) at the Palma Hall steps.  At the College of Engineering steps were The University of the East Drama Company and the Komedya ng Don Galo, a group that performed at the Komedya Festival last year, where the groups dramatized the congruence of the komedya and the sarsuwela as theater art forms.

The parade ended in front of the University Theater, where famous sarsuwelistas from all over the country performed in their dialects, and the UPD recognized the support and participation of the various groups involved in the grand fiesta.

The first group to perform this month was the University of the East Drama Company with Paglipas ng Dilim (Feb. 4–6), who had their premiere that same night before a full house. The last week of the Festival will have a double treat, with the UP Visayas Alumni Theater Co. performing Iloilo Sarsuwela, Padayon ang Istorya (Feb. 23–24) at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater in Palma Hall and UP’s own Dulaang UP staging Ang Kiri (Feb. 25–27) at the University Theater. Aside from the performances there will also be a small sarsuwela-themed film festival, an exhibit and the first Sarsuwela National Conference, to be held towards the end of the month.

Anna Regidor