Talakayan | What Will Philippine Theater Look Like in the Future?

In this episode, three young theater makers --Guelan Luarca, Katte Sabate, Neil Azcuna -- join Ricardo Abad to imagine the future of Philippine Theater in post-pandemic times.
Guelan Luarca teaches at the Ateneo Theater Arts Department and is the current artistic director of Tanghalang Ateneo. He is an award-winning playwright, translator, actor, and director.
Katte Sabate is the Director for Academic Affairs and an Assistant Professor for Performing Arts at Guang Ming College. She is presently completing her Master of Arts in Theater Arts at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, while continuing to hone her craft through freelance projects in theatre, TV, and film as an actor, director, playwright, and dramaturg.
Neil Azcuna is the production manager of MSU-IIT Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG). He also contributes to the company effort as a playwright, dramaturg and musician of IPAG. He likewise serves as a faculty member of MSU-IIT teaching History, Geography and the humanities.
Ricardo G. Abad, PhD is the Artistic Director of Areté, founder of the Ateneo Fine Arts Program, former Artistic Director of Tanghalang Ateneo, and Professor Emeritus of the Ateneo de Manila University
Talakayan is a series which presents how scholarship merges with practice by highlighting innovations, creative solutions, or responses to the complexities, ambiguities, and vulnerabilities we collectively face today. It is produced and shared for the benefit of learners everywhere. Talakayan is available on Arete’s KZbin channel for free.
Talakayan is an Areté Production done in partnership with Loyola Schools Department of Communication and the Eugenio Lopez Jr. Center for Multimedia Communication.

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unintentionally, the discussion went to "community" and "fringes" and breaking the "ivory tower," and yet the panel are all from the academe. could have invited a public high school student who is a theatre club member whose life in the stage is threatened by her parents' disapproval due to financial reasons, or better yet an out-of-school youth cultural performer who hast got the chance to be on zoom due to absence of necessary equipment. how does philippine theatre look like in their future?-is perhaps the better question. because these are critical practitioners of theatre, in a sense, since they have less control of their socioeconomic status plus they are young and are heavily influenced by the decisions of their authority figures. it's the high schoolers, mainly the students are the real subjects of the question of "future." to have all panel members coming from the academe is missing the point, i feel. but again, the direction of the discussion was in a way unforeseen. so the episode in a way dodges my comment. hehe but maybe consider this in the coming episodes, perhaps for two reasons: 1. exposure therapy of sorts. sir Luarca mentions fear, trauma, etc. maybe talking about this topic more but with a more socio-academically diverse panel would be a sort of exposure therapy. maybe exploit the chance of having the abyss stared back at again by a diverse panel of theatre practitioners. hehe 2. letting new voices in. consistent to the notion of bringing the theatre to the community, it could also be of value to have the community talk about their theatre in a platform like this. their concerns and feelings. especially those coming from communities who have little to no control of their theatre life. and no outlet to voice their concerns out at that. the academic theatre, as long as universities value the humanities, will always be there in one form or another. but unlike universities, high schools do not have consistent theatre outlets. in this world, most of the time, theatre is expendable. the question of future is heavier here. but thank you for this insightful talk. i enjoyed and learned a bunch.