2005 : QUO VADIS BALANGAW?
There is a notion that community theaters are “where people's most base elements thrive: egos exalted, fed, stroked, and patted; jealousies run rampant; tantrums tolerated and considered part of the culture; where strangers come together--for nothing profitable, nothing useful, nothing tangible or lasting, for nothing more than such stuff as dreams are made of--all because of some unnamable desire to imagine themselves into other people's stories and relate those stories to others.” (Cohen, 2001)
But Balangaw never was a place for that. Here, egos are deflated before they attempt to reach the skies; jealousies discouraged; tantrums are never tolerated as they are considered not part of the culture; where strangers come and are told that they have a responsibility to change the situations around them that make their lives miserable; that they can effect positive changes in society, but that it starts with them; that we have come together to prove to the community that not all have accepted their fate as slaves or serfs in such a feudalistic island; that we have a responsibility to those who will come after us and those after them and must strive to cease the wanton destruction of our environment; that the vain desire to just imagine themselves into other people’s stories is not art but just an illusion; that our work is nothing if it does not serve a greater social purpose.
At Balangaw no one has sought recognition for his/her work except a few – those who continue to harbor blind, grandiose, illusory thoughts of epical greatness about themselves - who turn up at moments of victory to seize and steal the moment from those who have labored - hard against many odds - for their art, their creation
Aba ah anong haba noon. Resulta ng katotohanang wala kang napala, at wala kang kadala-dala sa pagteteatro mo.
Nasaan na yung mga kasamahan mo dati? Sina Danny Mandia, Dindo Asuncion, Peng Recalde Rudy Mariposque, Benjie Montenegro!
Hindi nawala kailanman si Benjie at si Rudy, salamat sa Diyos! Nandiyan pa rin basta't makakatulong sila. Kahit nasa Kamaynilaan sila at ako nama'y nasa dulo ng Marinduque, ay ayos lang.
May mga bagong kahalili yung nawala. Si Selo Salvacion ng Gasan ay ilang taon ding nagpakahirap sa Teatro. Gayun din si Ian Sotto at Joseph Ogalinola - ng walang kapalit, wala talaga kundi Kaligayahan.
(to be continued)
