MANILA, Philippines – It has been a busy December for the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). With Rak of Aegis just closing last December 14, activities inside the PETA Theater Center have been coming one after another continuously. Along with the craziness of Rak of Aegis and all the other productions that have been buzzing around the PETA Theater Center, last December 7, PETA also hosted the final showcase for the students enrolled in the “Workshop Weekends”. Theater enthusiasts, and friends and families of the workshop participants flocked to the PETA Theater Center to witness the talent and skill of their loved ones.
The Workshop Weekends
Now on its second year, PETA developed the “Workshop Weekends” in order to cater to professionals and students who can’t seem to find the time in their busy schedules to work on their artistic inclinations. From lawyers to college students to housewives and househusbands, the Workshop Weekends created an avenue for these creative individuals to act on their dreams of becoming a stage performer. The Workshop Weekends usually has two batches every year; happening during the opening of the theater season in July, ending in August and another one to cap the year off in October until December.
For this batch, the Workshop Weekends offered three courses: Theater Arts, Basic Acting, and Creative Musical Theater. And as with all PETA Workshops, it concluded with a stellar showcase that featured the incredible talents and skills of the workshop participants.
Workshop enrollees are challenged to either write, produce, and direct their own material or adapt and interpret an original Filipino play into a full-blown production. Two of the classes from this batch took on the challenge of creating their own pieces whereas one class adapted three gripping stories written by renowned Filipino playwrights.
The Theater Arts class started off strong with ‘Yuppies’ Stairway to HEAVEND (House of Eternal Absolution and Eternal End), a light and satirical play visualizing heaven as a job wherein the “applicants” needed to undergo several different stages of crazy interviews and tests. Another original production that came out of this showcase was ‘Rush Hour’ by the Creative Musical Theater class, a production that featured seven stories tied together by the MRT. Using different songs some originally composed and produced whereas others a reworking of old favorites, they managed to present a musical production that’s entertaining and lyrical. Taking a different approach, the Basic Acting class used original Filipino works such as Nicolas Pichay’s Koloring Koloraw, a revolutionary tale on the struggles of being an activist in the Philippines, Elmar Ingles’ Serbis, an eye-opening production tackling the dirty business of politics and corruption, and lastly Vic Torres’ Single Brown Female, an emotionally charged story on the experiences and pains of a Filipino baby maker.
All the performances definitely showcased the different techniques and skills that the workshop students had picked up over the two months of weekend sessions with their PETA artist-teachers. The showcase ended with the students receiving their certificates and plenty of applause and nods of recognition from the audience.
PETA Workshops in the coming months
To close the theater season, PETA will be holding its annual Summer Program, a series of intensive workshops offering a variety of courses for children, teens, young professionals, and experienced thespians that will surely get things heated up as the summer season approaches. Opening on April 7 at the PETA Theater Center and a new and accessible venue at the Taguig area, PETA welcomes aspiring stage performers to show off and sharpen their skills not only in acting but also in writing, music, body movement, and more with its specialized Integrated Theater Arts approach.
The Integrated Theater Arts approach manages to combine all the vital aspects of good theater such as creative drama, creative writing, music and sound, and body movement into all the courses offered by PETA. This coming 2015, interested applicants may get to choose from Children’s Theater 1, Children’s Theater 2, Teen Theater, Theater Arts, Basic Acting, Creative Musical Theater 1, Creative Musical Theater 2, and a new course, Advanced Acting. The Advanced Acting class will be taught by master director, Nonon Padilla. It tackles a variety of contemporary and classic material that challenges the enrollees to think outside the box and test their knowledge on theater and acting.
For professional actors looking for advanced training, the Royal Academy of Drama and Arts (RADA) partners up with the British Council and PETA to bring back their Acting Techniques workshop. The Acting Techniques workshop will revolve around Shakespeare’s the Tempest. It will be taught by world-renowned acting tutors, Nonna Shephard and Tom Wakeley.
Enrollment for the Summer Program starts in January whereas the enrollment for the RADA Workshop is already ongoing.
(by Vic Altiche)