The Cultural Center of the Philippines, through the CCP Intertextual Division, will mount the Performatura 2017: Performance Literature Festival on March 31 to April 2 at its venues. The festival features poetry readings, cultural performances, film showings, marathon readings, book fair, and interviews with renowned artists and writers from 9am to 9pm.
Performatura 2017 is a performance literature festival celebrating the intersections of the written word and performance. The word Performatura is a mash up of the word performance and orature or oral literature. Orature is a term coined by Ugandan linguist Pio Zirimu who wanted to raise oral literature to the level of written literature.
The festival theme is “Sa Loob at Labas ng Bayan Kong Sawi” (Within and Without My Sorrowful Country), a direct quotation from Florante at Laura, the masterpiece of Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar. Balagtas’ spirit likewise animates Performatura as various artists give live to his body of work.
March 31: Rio Alma, Nora Aunor
National Artist Virgilio Almario, a.k.a. Rio Alma, will speak on the opening ceremonies at 9:00am on March 31 in the CCP Little Theater. Ms. Nora Aunor will give lucky fans and attendees an intimate look into her practice as an actress on the same day at the MKP Hall of the CCP Main Building at 2:00pm.
April 1: F. Sionil Jose, Leoncio Deriada
National Artist F. Sionil Jose will grace the opening show April 1 at 9:00am at the CCP Promenade. Gawad CCP Para sa Sining Panitikan Dr. Leoncio Deriada will talk on the practice of poetry on the same day.
April 2: Ricky Lee, Sari Dalena, Giancarlo Abraham, Jim Libiran
Mr. Ricky Lee will talk about his craft as a scriptwriter in a separate cafe session on April 2. Filmmakers Sari Dalena, Giancarlo Abrahan, and Jim Libiran will talk about the art of writing and the art of making films during the Peliteratura segments.
On April 2 at 7:00am in the Balagtas Shrine in Pandacan, Manila, National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, CCP officials, and Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino Director General Roberto Añonuevo will head a wreath-laying ceremony with some performances.
Entrance to the festival is free! Audiences are encouraged to donate a book as a price for admission. Each donation will go to the CCP’s partner libraries.
For details, visit the Performatura website. Contact Markus Aserit at +63.2 832.1125 loc. 1707, +63.2 551.5959 or +63.919 317.5708 or e-mail ccpintertextualdivision at gmail.com.