TAKING IN THE FIFTH: Iloilo Theater Fest draws in collab art forms of Region 6 artists

IN ITS fifth year of staging various performances, the Iloilo Theater Festival (ILOTF) is set to present the art collaborations of the region’s finest artists from February 15-25, 2019 in celebration of the National Arts Month of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

More than 30 performing arts companies have banded to stage over 40 shows in 10 venues in 10 days.

The passion of the four pioneer performing arts companies – University of San Agustin Little Theater (USALT), West Visayas State University Little Theater, Western Institute of Technology-Teatro Primiero, and St. Paul University Iloilo-Troupe de Paul have spread to other arts groups such as the visual artists of Hubon Ilonggo, the Kanlaon Theater Guild of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod, the UPV College of Management Play Festival of the University of the Philippines-Visayas, Teatro Dagway of the Iloilo City National High School Special Program for the Arts, and Blue Entablado of Ateneo de Iloilo, among many others.

ILOTF presents culture and the arts in varying faces and forms – dance and movement, film and the visual arts, monodramas and ensemble performances, musicals and zarzuelas, and devised and experimental theater.

As a special commemoration of the EDSA Revolution on February 25, the ILOTF has collaborated with two communities of persons deprived of liberty (PDL). The Boys of Balay Dalayunan, home to teens charged with delinquency, will perform Kun Ako Presidente; and the USALT will stage #shookt, a play on mental health.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology – Female Dormitory, on the other hand, will serve as host venue for “Prison Poetry Project: Voices with Wings,” featuring the stories of the 700 inmates interpreted by the USALT and the USA Fine Arts Major Organization in the fashion show, “Walk to Freedom.”

From a spark of an idea five years ago to the enflamed creativity in the pursuit of passion, ILOTF has gathered the region’s artist sons and daughters in forming and transforming the landscape of culture and the arts. (USA/jag)