MEDIARTRIX, a University-wide multimedia organization in UST, delved into the topics of social injustice and the people-government interplay in its comeback musical production “Patay na si Cory.”
Set in the fictional town of Santa Juana, the story unfolded with the community mourning the death of Corazon “Cory” Piqueño, a 15-year-old sampaguita vendor portrayed by legal management sophomore Marion Vicentino.
Triggered by the death of Cory, the secrets of the characters Mayor Jun, Jade Layap, and Kevin Fuerte (played by Joaquin Villanueva, Iano Jaramel, and Mikhail Dela Cruz, respectively), began to unravel when they visited her wake.
Pushing the musical’s plot forward were original compositions by literature junior Neika Beyonce Gaviola and creative writing sophomore Rosemarie Uy.
Michael Ocampo, scriptwriter and production manager of “Patay na si Cory,” said the storyline was inspired by a short story he had written about youth victims of the drug war.
“One general theme that we have here is the theme of how the youth is interacting with society and the government,” Ocampo told the Varsitarian after the first run of the show on Feb. 21.
“But, when you dissect it, it can be portioned into three: how the youth is involved in LGBTQ awareness, how the youth is involved in civic movements, and how the youth is being handled by their parents,” he added.
Directors Yel Moreno and Bea Bautista told the Varsitarian that the musical aimed at inculcating awareness in its audience about problems in society.
“[It’s] an eye-opener to the Thomasian community–there are still injustices that are happening and that we, as the youth, should know,” Bautista said
“This is [also] a call for a plan of action, not only to Thomasians but to every youth involved,” said Moreno.
Ocampo noted that the protagonist’s name, which was a nod to former president Corazon Aquino, was a “paradox” as Aquino was a “beacon of hope,” but the character Piqueño was a beacon who was dimmed after being killed.
“[It’s] somehow a paradox — Cory was killed, the beacon of hope was killed. After that, what’s next? What’s the next right thing for us to do?” he said.
“Patay na si Cory” marked the first onsite production of Mediartrix since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Because all pandemic productions of the organization were delivered online, Ocampo said Mediartrix had to rely on its team’s previous experiences in other in-person productions to make the musical.
“It’s a fulfilling thing that this is one of the productions that has an original script [with] original songs,” he said. “Here in Mediartrix, we take pride in that.”
Four more runs of the musical were staged on Feb. 23 and 24.
