Tales and illustrations

CEBU, Philippines -  Essential life lessons cannot always be communicated or taught by way of simple discussions only. Especially if the teaching is directed to the young, illustrations help a lot in putting the message across, to go with the words. And so the story books come to be.

A story book is usually associated with kids. It has a visually appealing look, to entice the children to read. But despite its being commonly for children, a story book is not really inconsequential learning material. It's a good way to enhance the kid's vocabulary; it's easier for young children to understand the words as there's illustration to help show what is being told. And, yes, the pictures also help stimulate the kid's imagination. Furthermore, and more importantly, the story often teaches lessons about life and realizations.

In the Philippines, there are plenty of good illustrated books for kids. Most of these books are written by talented and distinguished Filipino writers.  Following are samples of illustrated Filipino children's stories that are sure to capture the minds and fire up the imagination of the little ones.

Drama and performance workshop

The Cornelio Faigao Memorial Annual Writers' Workshop holds a Drama & Performance Workshop effective this year, and every June in the succeeding years. It is presently being conducted at the John Paul II Home for Priests in Mabolo, Cebu City. The participants are five Cebuano playwrights who write in English and/or Cebuano.

 The participating playwrights do a fully-realized short play during the workshop that runs for three days. The output materials are to be performed, either acted or read, towards the end of the month.

 Future plans for the Drama and Performance Workshop include having theater artists trained in New York and currently working in the Philippines to teach in the three-day workshop.  Other plans include a Php 10,000 award for Best Play in English and another Php 10,000 award for Best Play in Cebuano by 2015. Administration of these and other Drama & Performance Workshop guidelines will be announced later this year.

Lastly, the  Drama & Performance Workshop is not a commercial undertaking and will not be involved in commercial or for-profit full productions. It is a developmental non-sectarian workshop. The funding comes from the Terence G. Hall Memorial grant, whose mission is to work with other Cebuano theater artists  by offering an annual workshop primarily dedicated to playwriting. 

The Cornelio Faigao Memorial Annual Writers' Workshop and the Drama & Performance Workshop are spearheaded by Linda Faigao Hall, who holds a graduate degree in English literature and educational theater from New York University and Bretton College, Wakefield, England. Her plays have been produced in New York City, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Francisco as well as in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia and New Delhi, India.

Ms Hall's full-length play, "Walking Iron," was awarded a National Endowment of the Arts award. Her "The A-Word" was included in Smith and Kraus' "The Best Short Plays of 2008." An anthology of four of her produced plays "The Female Heart and Other Plays" was published in New York City last year by NoPassport Press, and was launched in Cebu City in June 2013 sponsored by The Freeman at the Waterfront Hotel.

Linda Faigao Hall is the daughter of Cornelio Faigao and Rosita Go Faigao (both deceased), and the widow of Terence G. Hall. She lives in Brooklyn. She divides her time between the Philippines, New York, Singapore, where her 28-year-old son Justin lives, and Ireland, where her husband's family has set up a Terence G. Hall Memorial Awards.