CCP's Newest Theater Opens With Filipino Musical Anak Datu
It runs from September 16 to October 9.
(SPOT.ph) With the Philippines' many islands, it doesn't come as a surprise that regions across the country have varying languages, mythologies, cultures, and collective memory. Tanghalang Pilipino, which is the Cultural Center of the Philippines' resident theater company, hopes to tell the tale of the country's path to peace in the eyes of a Muslim artist. Anak Datu, a play by Rody Vera and directed by Chris Millado, opens at the newly inaugurated Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (a.k.a. new Black Box Theater) on September 16. It runs until October 9.
Anak Datu, a Tausug musical, is based on a story written by National Artist of the Philippines for Sculpture Abdulmari Asia Imao in 1968, the same year his son and artist Toym Leon Imao was born. It explores the lives and struggles of the Tausugs in Mindanao amid the political turmoil and insurgency on the island that gave birth to the Moro National Liberation Front.
The set design is by Toym Leon Imao, who is expected to breathe new life into his father's creation through his very own visualization. Original music and composition are by Josefino Chino Toledo; costume design by Carlo Villafuerte Pagunaling; lighting design by Katsch Catoy; projection design by GA Fallarme; arrangement, sound design and engineering by TJ Ramos; and pangalay and martial arts choreography by Hassanain Magarang and the PWU Indayog Gong Ensemble.
Playing the young Abdulmari is TP Associate Artistic Director Marco Viaña. TP Artistic Director Fernando "Nanding" Josef plays Jibin Arula. Other major roles are played by TP Actors Company senior members Antonette Go (Imao’s wife Grace de Leon), Lhorvie Nuevo (Putli Loling); TP guest artists Tex Ordoñez-de Leon (Putli Loling), Carlos Dala (Binatang Karim/Toym Imao), and Sining Kambayoka’s Hassanain Magarang (Datu Karim).
Anak Datu runs from September 16 to October 9 at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasay City. For more information, follow Tanghalang Pilipino on Facebook.