After a series of workshops, collaborative productions, mini performances, and recital plays, the PUP Sining-Lahi Polyrepertory (PUP SLP), or more dearly known as Polyrep, is set to culminate its current theater season with a staging of Kasaray Duma: Mga Supling ng Sigwa by Eljay Castro Deldoc as its major production.
Kasaray Duma follows a titular fictitious indigenous tribe as they face looming displacement from their homes due to a development project their local government plans to build. This causes division among the Kasaray Dumas on whether to submit to relocation orders or fight for their rights to their ancestral land, triggering the return of a long-lost spirit.
The full-length play, with a runtime of approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes, will run from March 31 to April 2, 2025, with three show schedules per day (12:00 NN, 2:30 P.M., and 5:00 P.M.) at Tanghalang PUP, College of Communication Compound, Sta. Mesa, Manila. The theater group also plans to announce cast schedules soon.
The Final and Loudest Utterance of Puyra Buyag
Kasaray Duma reflects true-to-life narratives of land-grabbing and corruption among those in power, criticizing the lack of systemic protection for Indigenous Peoples’ basic human rights and culture. Moreover, the play emphasizes themes of power, injustice, and collectivism—timely subjects that SLP deems crucial to continuously echo in a time of political unrest.
This aligns with Polyrep’s 43rd Theater Season, Puyra Buyag, which revolves around questioning the status quo, rejecting hierarchy, and ending cycles of abuse and division. Like Kasaray Duma, Puyra Buyag is anchored on the theater group’s goal of using the art of uttering and manifesting to ward off evil—whether in the antagonists of this play or real-world oppressors, from personal to social contexts.
