Back to the theater

The theater scene in Cebu these days is a far cry from what it used to be. If you belong to the present generation, however, you wouldn’t know the difference. Your idea of local theater is perhaps only in terms of the occasional school plays there are and the sparse visits by out-of-town dramatic troupes.

I myself have not had the privilege of experiencing the magic of the Cebuano theater during its glory days. By “theater,” I refer to plays acted on stage before a live audience. Every show in those days, I heard, was always a big event.

It was not only at the classy Teatro Junquera or Oriente Theater that theatrical plays were performed. On any special occasion, a stage would be quickly set up in an open area and made to look like a real theater. It would be complete with elegant curtains and decorations, and beautiful sets to effectively transport the audience to the place and time of the presented play’s story.

There was a time when the name Buenaventura Rodriguez – or Turâ Rodriguez – reverberated throughout Cebu and the neighboring islands. He was, undoubtedly, the Lord of Cebuano Theater — a multi-faceted artist: actor, director, writer, and producer. His plays were not only highly entertaining, but intellectually stimulating as well.

Rodriguez’s name was a mark of exquisite artistic quality. His works were really something. Many of his original plays continue to be staged, by other groups, to this day. In fact, the Arts Council of Cebu, the primary exponent of the arts hereabouts, has chosen Rodriguez’s much-celebrated zarzuela Minî as its main theatrical production in its 50th anniversary this year.

There were other local theater luminaries alongside and following Turâ Rodriguez. These others became the pioneers of radio drama upon the introduction of the new communication medium here, which greatly boosted the theater’s popularity. Live drama performances by Cebuano radio talents soon became commonplace throughout Visayas and Mindanao.  

But the glitter of Cebuano theater eventually waned. Its appeal has since dwindled even among young people who are being trained in school to appreciate theater and encouraged to support theatrical productions. It no longer rings true among many students that to like the theater, either as performer or as audience, is an essential cultural value.

Many people complain that the intermittent stage plays we have today are poorly performed. The acting is so superficial that you couldn’t stop thinking that the players are just some guys told to say lines and to move here and there on stage. The only amazing thing, they say, is that the actors are able to memorize all their long lines.

Okay, we know that the characters in a play are simply portrayals by actors. An actor in the role of a saint is not really a saint, but just an actor playing that character. He needs to do his role well, of course, to help his audience forget about him being an actor and take the character he assumes in the play, as real.

But it’s not a one-way street. The spectators have as much responsibility for their own experience of the play as the actors themselves. The moment a spectator enters the theater, he must leave his personal reality at the door. 

The theater has a kind of mystique that naturally draws people to it. But only people who understand that they need to participate in the make-believe they have come to experience. People who will submit themselves to the basic stipulation for fully enjoying the theatrical fare — “suspension of disbelief.”

In live theater, the performers are actually there. The show is always fresh, because the actors give differently of themselves every time. It’s unlike cinema, where the performance is simply by way of photographic images, previously taken and locked in a particular way, and then projected on a screen, in exactly the same manner every single screening.

The theater is more like real life; not only because live actors are performing, but also because different conditions may take place at each performance. An actor may accidentally stumble or get his lines wrong, and we are watching as he tries to manage with the unexpected snag. It affects us in a very real way.

Also, we make it an occasion to go to the theater. We make time for it; make ourselves look good and, in the process, feel good; and all the more as we bring ourselves into the company of others. This itself is already a benefit, aside from the therapeutic emotional ride during the presentation.

Perhaps the Cebuanos of old understood the theater better. It is a sad thing that today we are losing our appreciation for this shining artistic invention of the human race. It’s a shame, because we’re supposed to be more educated now, more sophisticated.

We have very few local play productions these days. And of these few, very seldom is there an original Cebuano play. Often it’s the same poor imitation of Broadway hits over and over.

The situation is understandable, though. The present scarcity of live theatrical productions is due to escalating costs vis-à-vis a shrinking audience. The long period of rehearsals culminates in only a few actual performances.

The rehearsals alone already cost big – meals, refreshments, venue rental, etc. And there are many other, bigger expenses in staging a play. Put together, these can add up to a really considerable amount.

The local theatrical producers are in a really tight spot, indeed. So, they try to scrimp as much as they can. By staging works from far away, they may not have to pay for copyright; the authors will not know.

An original play either takes a long time to write or is expensive to acquire. It’s real hard work to make an original script. It’s hard to come up with an interesting story idea, and harder to develop it into an engaging exchange on the stage. Hardest of all, the producer may have to deal with a playwright who insists that he alone can direct his own work.

Moreover, it’s hard to find experienced actors around, much less afford their fees. Producers will have to make do with neophytes for performers. A greenhorn may not ask as much, but can also take much longer time training and rehearsing for a part. The production expenditure can bloat, just the same.

The local theatrical producers of the present are branded as being either heroic or unwise. Actors admire them for their unwavering dedication to the art form. But astute businessmen sneer at them for engaging in a losing enterprise.

I choose them to be my saints. Both those that do only Cebuano plays and those that do whatever they can. Because they don’t mind being called names – or having to sell their shirts sometimes – for something that seems to be their calling.

The arts are as much a human necessity as are hard economics. Electronic versions of art works, like music CDs and DVD movies, are now a major global industry. Yet while these derivatives have become convenient staples of our modern life, the live theater is still really something else. To know the difference, you have to rediscover it.

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