Tanghalang Ateneo proudly announces its 36th season line-up of three productions with the theme “Navigating Identities”

Tanghalang Ateneo, the longest-running theater company of the Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University is celebrating its 36th season for the school year 2014-2015. 

Growing from a fledgling band of student players to one of the country’s leading school-based theater companies, Tanghalang Ateneo proudly announces its 36th season line-up of three productions with the theme “Navigating Identities” revolving around man's need to define himself and his significance in the world. 

The productions are as follows:

MIDDLE FINGER

written by Han Ong

translation by Ronan B. Capinding

direction by Ed Lacson Jr.

August 1-2, 5-9, 12-16, 19-22, 2014

Venue: Ateneo's Fine Arts Black Box Theater

MIDDLE FINGER is an adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s modern classic “Spring Awakening.” Set in the U.S., the play centers on four young Filipino-American high school students who seek their identities in a world dominated by the repressive authority of adults. This play was first produced by Tanghalang Ateneo in 2007.

RITE OF PASSAGE

written by Glenn Sevilla Mas

an adaptation of Ma. Milagros Geremia-Lachica’s

“Sa Pagtubu kung Tahud / Upon the Growing of the Spur”

direction by Ronan B. Capinding

November 27 - December 13, 2014

Venue: Ateneo's Rizal Mini Theater

RITE OF PASSAGE is a Carlos Palanca-winning full-length play about a young man from the Visayas who wants to escape the monotony of rural life and seeks guidance in navigating his teenage years but finds none from his family. The young man is overwhelmed by the fact that no one understands him as he navigates his way through life on his own. The play was first produced by Tanghalang Pilipino for the Virgin Labfest, the Cultural Center of the Philippines' annual festival of new plays in 2005.

WAITING FOR GODOT / PAGHIHINTAY KAY GODOT

written by Samuel Beckett

translation by Rolando S. Tinio

direction by JK Anicoche

February 5 - 21, 2015

Venue: Ateneo's Fine Arts Black Box Theater

WAITING FOR GODOT / PAGHIHINTAY KAY GODOT is a Nobel Prize winner for Literature. A classic absurd play, this will be staged in both English and Filipino. The play, translated into the national language by National Artist for Theater and Literature Rolando S. Tinio, is about two characters Vladimir and Estragon who go through the motions of patiently waiting for the arrival of a mysterious Godot. 

Glenn Sevilla Mas, a well-respected playwright and noted Carlos Palanca winner is at present the artistic director of Tanghalang Ateneo. He also teaches various subjects in theater at the Ateneo de Manila University. 

The officers of Tanghalang Ateneo (SY 2014-15) are as follows: Jose Antionio I. Caluag (Company Manager), Hershee D. Tantiado (Finance Officer), Rachelle Ann L. Go (Marketing), Ma. Julienne Ella S. Bautista (Publicity Coordinator), Joe-Nel C. Garcia (Secretary General), Angelique Louis S. Basa (Special Projects Officer) and Dane Larieze L. Chua (Theater Manager).

For inquiries and reservations, please contact Acel Go at 0916-480-2195 or email: ta.mpc78@gmail.com.

Connect to Tanghalang Ateneo online through the following social media networks:

Website: www.tanghalangateneo.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TanghalangAteneo

Twitter: www.twitter.com/TAOfficial_

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/tanghalangateneo

TANGHALANG ATENEO

1972 - 2014

Tanghalang Ateneo, the longest-running theater company of the Loyola Schools, Ateneo de Manila University, weaves into its work the theatrical traditions of the University’s sesquicentennial past: the devotion of the salon de actos at the Escuela Municipal, the eloquence of the Ateneo Dramatics Guild, the joie de vivre of the Ateneo Players Theater, and the innovative spirit of the Ateneo Experimental Theater.

Like these companies, Tanghalang Ateneo uses theater to foster eloquentia, sapientia, and humanitas – the pillars of Jesuit pedagogy. It sees itself as a theater company in the service of student formation, and by extension – given the Jesuit ideal of magis – a theater in service of the nation.

Since its founding in 1972 (and formally recognized five years later), Tanghalang Ateneo has grown from a fledgling band of student players to one of the country’s leading school-based theater companies.

Tanghalang Ateneo’s repertoire of plays is daunting: world classics, Filipino originals, and documentary texts turned into theater pieces. Its productions are noted for thought, generosity, and energy, while its lingua franca on stage is both Filipino and English. Its members come from diverse academic fields. In fact, many have pursued careers in theater, television, and film; many more use their theater experience to excel in management, law, teaching, media, and cultural work.

World class professional theater actors have graced its shows, and several outstanding designers and choreographers have served as members of the artistic staff.

To name a few, in our previous season we have invited Mr. Floy Quintos, a well-renowned playwright who has just released his first anthology, Ms. Frances Makil-Ignacio, a respected actress in the business, Ms. Myra Beltran, an established international choreographer and Mr. Gino Gonzales, a world-renowned production designer.

Moreover, its audiences extend outside the campus to embrace theater patrons within and outside the metropolitan area.

In addition, Tanghalang Ateneo has won two Aliw Awards for Best Production and another two for Best Direction for its previous production of Sintang Dalisay.

In its 35th season, “Ang Oresteyas” had been nominated in the Aliw Awards for Best Non-musical Production as well as Best Direction and has likewise been nominated in the following categories: Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Featured Actor.

The company has also received production grants from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Loyola Schools, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation, and the Japan Foundation.

Furthermore, Tanghalang Ateneo continues to makes itself known from the microenvironment of the Ateneo de Manila University, garnering nominations such as Project of the Year and Best Organization in the Council of the Organizations of the Ateneo de Manila University (COA) Awards.

Its shows have also been shown in campuses and venues across the country and abroad, notably in Shanghai and Taiwan as part of the Festival of the Asian Pacific Bureau of Theatre Schools, and in Belarus, Minsk for International University Theatre Association Student Theatre Festival.

The company’s past achievements have also facilitated the creation, in SY 2000-2001, of a degree program in Theater Arts within the Fine Arts Program of the Ateneo de Manila University.

Tanghalang Ateneo products educate and delight; they stimulate the imagination and provoke thought. Jesuit pedagogy fuses with theater arts to interrogate the Filipino social world so that students can invent themselves as critical Filipinos: sharp in thought, expressive in action, deep in faith and attuned to others – fellow players and audiences whose lives intersect with their own.

Salvador Bernal, named National Artist for Theater and Design in 2003, Doreen Fernandez, a notable writer and professor, and Nenita Escasa who had also taught in the Ateneo for almost 30 years were among the company’s advisers in the early years.

Ricardo Saludo, who, at that time, was a faculty member of the Department of English and of Communications became the first Moderator and Artistic Director when it gained university recognition in 1979.  He directed Tanghalang Ateneo’s first productions before handing the task over to Dr. Ricardo G. Abad.

Dr. Ricardo G. Abad succeeded him and has remained the Artistic Director and Moderator of Tanghalang Ateneo since 1984. He has directed over 80 productions, and has been awarded twice for his work as Outstanding Moderator in the University’s Service and Excellence awards (1991 & 1999) and by the Metrobank Foundation in 2001 with the Most Outstanding Teacher Award. He has also won the Best Director for the Aliw Awards with his work in Tanghalang Ateneo.

This year, Mr. Glenn Sevilla Mas came aboard the Company as its Artistic Director and Moderator. He has represented the Philippines in theater festivals and conferences all around the world and has won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature a whopping nine times. He is currently  a professor in Ateneo de Manila’s Fine Arts department.