June 23, 2015

• Raking the boat of social calamities

  Thoughts

  

  Last June 21, Saturday, we watched Rak of Aegis courtesy of a very generous art patron and it is one of the best plays I've seen.

  Here's part of the press release for the play, retrieved from PETA's website:

  MANILA, Philippines – It’s been a fruitful 47th theater season for the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA); and while the theater is ablaze with the ongoing Summer Program, the company shows no signs of stopping for a breather.

  PETA’s 48th season sees the comeback of crowd favorite and hit comedy musical Rak of Aegis. Fans and first-timers are expected to flood the theater for this record-breaking hit that is set to open this June, due to insistent public demand.

  Breakout Kapuso star Aicelle Santos, and 2009 WCOPA Champion Kim Molina come back as Aileen; the promodizer with big dreams to raise her family from the knee-deep floods that have plagued their town for months. This all-Filipino, all-original musical features songs from the iconic band Aegis, with a star-studded ensemble on an award winning, must-see set.

  This comedy musical has hit a record-breaking 135 shows in the first year of its showing alone, a milestone for the theater company and indeed, for Philippine theater. In 2014 alone it has garnered over 16 citations for performance and technical categories including Outstanding Original Musical, Outstanding Ensemble Performance for a Musical, Stage Direction for a Musical (Maribel Legarda), Original Libretto (Liza Magtoto), Musical Direction (Myke Salomon), Choreography (Gio Gahol), Costume Design (Carlo Pagunaling), Sound Design (Salomon and Happy Constantino), Set Design (Mio Infante), Female Lead Performance in a Musical (Aicelle Santos and Joan Bugcat), Female Featured Performance in a Musical (Kalila Aguilos) and Male Featured Performance in a Musical (Myke Salomon, Pepe Herrera, Jerald Napoles and Juliene Mendoza).

  So what did I like most of the play? Aside from the beautiful socially-relevant and moving story, the beautiful lines and the excellent interpretation by the singer/actors of classic Aegis songs, or even those original lines which were played in the tune of familiar Aegis tunes, the great cast, the stage and the lighting, the wonderful acoustics, well, aside from all these wonderful stuff, there is the feel of being part of the play with the way the stage was designed and the lay-out of the audience, and of course, in the way the actors related to the audience. It was just amazing.

  (Click here to listen to Aegis songs.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tE9y0nP_2Y.)

  Even the rain or the giant bubbles or the sunflowers that suddenly popped up out of nowhere were beautifully executed. It was just amazing. And with the flood in the middle of the set laden with trash, wow, how real could it be. I was reminded of Payatas.

  So last night I was talking to Roi Calilong, one of the casts and my former housemate during college (they were freshmen at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas then, I was reviewing for the Physical Therapy Licensure Exam), and he shared with me:
  

  "Sobrang masaya lang sa PETA, kuya. Tapos ganun pa yung mga plays namin. Kaya kahit wala halos kita, ok pa rin.(Its a lot of fun in PETA, kuya. Then our plays are like that. That's why even if we don't earn much, it ok.)."

  PETA's approach to theater is not just performing for theater patrons (who are mostly the elite) but actually raising the level of consciousness of their audience especially on the plight of the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the anawim of Christ.

  This, somehow, would give a much better sense of fulfillment and mission to all its members. Such a blessing indeed.
  And this is how theater can be used for many to realize their vocation as sharers in Jesus's prophetic ministry. This could be the reason why a few years ago they were recognized as one of the awardees of the prestigious biennial Titus Brandsma Awards given by the Philippine Carmelite Province of Bld. Titus Brandsma.

  Perhaps some of the casts of PETA were not even aware of these issues before joining PETA, having been shielded from the true state of the nation with all their concerns on honing their crafts and trying to make a living at the same time, considering the scarcity of job opportunities for thespians. But then, that exactly is what theater is about, without knowing the social conditions of the time, one's theatrical stint would be shallow, devoid of purpose.

  What I would like to see in their future plays, though, given the accessibility of multimedia and its beautiful use in theater, as proven by this very play, is for them to also include and show clips of stories of real people actually experiencing the situation on which their story is trying to make a commentary of. In fairness to them, they did show brief clippings of floods in the country to help situate the setting of the play.

  So, where do I see myself in the play?

  We have to admit that there are times when we feel that to recognize and see the gold behind our misfortune and to capitalize on it is the way to go. We always try to search for the silver lining behind the gray thick clouds, but sometimes, the solution to our challenges is actually right under our noses.

  It's not about doing something great or getting something significant from the unfortunate events of our lives, it's more about our behavior towards the event and often what we usually overlook is surprisingly what the challenge is about, why it came to us in the first place.

  Rak of Aegis tackles the behavior of the people of Barangay Venizia towards the flood that they've been experiencing for the last three months. At first they complained of their condition blaming the posh subdivision built probably a little elevated from their place, blocking their drainage system and eventually filling their village up with drainage from the place plus water from the rain. They're basically a catch basin. And then since the developers went through the backdoor in getting their government permits, the residents also blamed government for its selfish motives and for not acting on their problem since apparently they had other priorities, which, by the way, is a reality in the Philippines.

  There was really no end to people and institutions to blame for their misfortune, but what should they do? And then came Aileen's YouTube video which got so many hits, actually giving them the attention that they needed. It was a blessing in two-fold – first they planned to capitalize on it so that they would be able to raise money for a new health center, and second, people would come to know of their misery, and perhaps help them in some way. Some instant relief, perhaps?

  There is nothing wrong with that, but come to think of it, sometimes we are just comfortable with our complaints, doing nothing about it. We try to survive with what we have, and just complain of our difficulties, blaming people for it, and then we are content. Life goes on. Is anything resolved? Nothing really.

  As much as we should be thinking of our selves, Christ taught us to think of our neighbors just as much. That means not being greedy and looking at the consequence of our actions in terms of our neighbors. As Rotary's Four Way Test would put it: Is it beneficial to all concerned?

  Why can we not use the Four Way Test (Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?) as our yardstick in evaluating our actions or the decisions that we make? Or better yet, why not use Christ's teaching of love as the tool to evaluate our actions and decisions?

  Watching Rak of Aegis was, for me, not just a nostalgic experience listening to familiar tunes and trying not to sing along to familiar songs (the consequence of which was to sing in the lobby the vocal-cords straining songs of Aegis two octaves higher!), but it's really a reflective experience on my very response to such calamities, to the storms in my life.

  Have I been selfish to think only of myself, forgetting that others will always be affected by my actions or decisions, regardless of how small it is?

  Mind you, even the decision not to be involved has great impact, as the quote attributed to the great Albert Einstein would put it, "The world is a dangerous place to live. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it."

  Am I making this world even more dangerous than it already is?

  Kudos to PETA for this wonderful play. For more information and ticket inquiries, check out their website.

  • 12:04 am
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