SINTA Alumni Night

They came they saw they conquered. Last month I got excited with the fact that Dulaang Sibol will be showing once again its long running play SINTA which is now in its 34th year of playing at the Tanghalang Onofre Pagsanghan.  Last year and also this year I was invited to perform for the February run of Sinta. Unfortunately this year I was so tied up with the STI National Youth Convention that I wasn't able to join them or even watch the show.  I was just happy that Dulaang Sibol Alumni were able to put up the show all for the benefit of the SIBOL HESUS Foundation..

For friends who have been out of touch, the Dulaang Sibol Theatre has since been renovated and named Tanghalang Onofre Pagsanghan which is a fitting tribute to the man who  has devoted more than fifty years of molding young minds into what they are now - and that includes me. Mr. Pagsi said "Lahat na yata ng kasabay ko wala na....Moro Lorenzo was my classmate in High School, now he is just a statue and gym outside.  Fr. dela Costa who used to be my teacher is now a building!" Buti na lang this theatre is named after me!"

Mr. Pagsi usually gives a short speech before each presentation and what caught my mind was the playbill that he held which was given to him by Brother Jim Dunne years back signifying that the play "The Fantastics" from has just celebrated its 40th year in broadway. And for those who have watched SInta know that Mr. Pagsi watched the Fanstastics back then in the 60's when he was in New York and combined it with his imagination to create the longest running play in the country.

One thing new with the play is that I think it is now on its third set of casts.  When Sinta opened in the 70's Atty Jimmy Hofileña and Stella Pagsanghan (Mr. Pagsi's daughter) topbilled the cast together with notable Sibolistas Ray Miranda, Henry Totanes and my favorite Matanglawin Fred Ortiz. A lot of Sibolistas have played different roles like Mang Pedring, Mang Anding, Redentor, Tibo and the Pader but Jimmy, Stella and Fred definitely defined the roles of the three lead characters.  In the 90's a new cast was created and Jimmy Bondoc together with his older brother Johnny played Narding and Matanglawin respectively.  Johnny also alternated with my batchmate Cholo Mallilin while Joey Oreta and Blue Avelino later on became fixtures as Mang Anding and Pedring.  

Many Sibolistas have come and played various roles with Sinta, but unfortunately the beauty of the play is not with the actors, its with the genius of how Mr. Pagsi wrote the script and the meanings that with them. Imagine, SINTA will be pushing for forty years in the near future and the beauty and purity of what Mr. Pagsi wrote still echoes through the minds of many Sibolistas, Ateneo students and Dulaang Sibol loyalists.  I believe that I will be blogging more about SINTA performancesin the near future. Great Job guys.