Oct. 16, 2014, 7:23
a.m. – THE
FUTURE is bright for Philippine musical theater.
Local
theater companies are thriving because of the sudden burst in theater
literacy among Filipinos, said
the dramatist, screenwriter, and Palanca winner Nicholas Pichay in this
year’s “USTingan” roundtable discussion.
Growing enthusiasm for musical theater is driving the
existence of the industry, he said in the forum at Tanghalang Teresita
Quirino on Wednesday.
“If you
want to upgrade theater in the future, you should invest in knowing the
audience well,” he said of the growing demand for musical productions.
Other
speakers in the roundtable discussion, organized by the UST Center for
Creative Writing and Literary Studies, include Director Rody Vera, also a
Palanca awardee; Liza Magtoto, member of the Philippine Educational
Theater Association; and Sir Anril Pineda Tiatco, a professor from the
University of the Philippines Department of Communicated Speech and Theater.
They talked
about the Philippine theater industry’s status and trends, as well as its
direction and identity in the modern era.
Tiatco’s
book Cuaresma: Isang Dulang Ganap ang Haba, published by the UST
Publishing House, was also launched during the event.
