Iloilo school theater group joins international festival

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

The University of San Agustin Little Theater (USALT) will join other youth theater groups from 11 Asian countries in the Asian Youth Theatre Festival (AYTF) 2021 on Nov 18 to 21, 2021.

The AYTF is a four-day festival offering theatre practitioners and youth theatre collectives across from Asia the platform to present a workshop and performance based on the theme for the year.

AYTF 2021, with the theme “Colours of Asia”, will feature 14 original performances and 11 workshops and other activities such as a collaborative performance, an open mic, and a regional singing competition.

Participating theater groups from other countries include Buds Theatre (Singapore), Gigi Art Of Dance (Jakarta, Indonesia), Taylor’s University and The Actors Studio (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Prachyanat (Dhaka, Bangladesh), Mat Tran Ensemble (Hanoi, Vietnam), 247 Studios and Medley House Productions (Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei), Lanyim Theatre (Chiang Mai, Thailand), Inwa School of Performing Arts (Mandalay, Myanmar), Team Japan (Osaka, Japan), and Khmer Art Action (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

USALT is the only theater group from Western Visayas joining the international theater event. The other Filipino youth theater groups are the De La Salle University Harlequin Theatre Guild (Manila), Teatro Guindegan from La Salle University (Ozamiz City), and the host group from Dumaguete City, the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts (YATTA).

The festival concept is driven by the desire to share ideas, methodology and pedagogical approaches with young artists around the region, to enlighten, challenge and empower them, with the ultimate aim of progressing the theatrical and artistic landscape within the region.

Each theatre company will be presenting a 15 to 30-minute video performance based on the theme, to be followed by a discussion regarding the subsequent issues. In addition, each theatre company will also stage a specialist workshop sharing their own art forms.

YATTA will be hosting the event virtually from Dumaguete City, as travel is still heavily restricted due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

A press conference was held by AYTF 2021 Youth Ambassadors last October 18, 2021, to kickstart the anticipation for the event.

YATTA ambassador Al Anthony Siplon said that they hope to be able to showcase Dumaguete and Filipino theater to the rest of Asia through the screen.

“Although you can’t be here physically with us, we hope to ensure that the spirit of the city transcends the screen as we transport you to our very own backdoor,” Siplon said during the AYTF 2021 media launch.

The USALT is USA’s resident theater company founded in 1965 and is committed to conserving Filipino heritage and innovating aesthetic forms through theater, expressive of the Agustinian cultural and artistic soul, affirming Filipino identity in a global society.

As part of the AYTF 2021, they will be presenting the Palangga bARTer Trilogy on November 19, 2021, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The performance was based on the stories of female Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDLs) from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in Iloilo City, which they exchanged with USALT actors, with themes of

The performance depicts an exchange of quarantine stories of the women deprived of liberty from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Iloilo City, Philippines and the actors of USALT. These are stories of Love (Pagpalangga), of Hope (Paglaum) and of Community (Panghimanwa).

Tickets for the AYTF 2021 are at SG$10 for each performance or workshop, or a Festival Pass can be availed for SG$100, and can be bought via aytf.tix@gmail.com.