Tabsing Kolektib celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Month with ‘Kasaray Duma: Mga Supling ng Sigwa’
(Tabsing Kolektib opens its 4th theater season with an original Filipino play about a fictional tribe in the country.)
In celebration of the National Indigenous Peoples month this October, Tabsing Kolektib, an established theater organization in the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB), presents Eljay Castro Deldoc’s Kasaray Duma: Mga Supling ng Sigwa, an original Filipino play about a fictional tribe in the country.
Tabsing Kolektib’s 4th season opener is supervised and directed by UPLB professor, Jeremy Dela Cruz, who has done notable choreography for Tanghalang Pilipino and Dulaang UP productions.
The play revolves around the struggle of the Kasaray Duma tribe of Sapang Kawayan island as they are being forced by the government to leave their ancestral land so the mayor could turn it into a sanitary landfill. Even more alarming is the division this has caused within the community. The tribal chieftain, Labang Biwas sides with the government with its promise of a relocation site and financial subsistence, while Pinak, one of the tribe’s elders, strongly opposes it because he believes that they are the rightful steward of the land. In the middle of such dispute, Pakawakaw, the forgotten priestess of the tribe, prays tirelessly for her most awaited coming of a storm. Amidst the threat from a coercive government and a possible disunion amongst themselves, will the Kasaray Duma still find within them their innate knowledge and power as the descendants of the storm?
Presented as an advocacy play, Kasaray Duma tackles the political issue of land-grabbing and the aggression of indigenous peoples that it brings about. The play echoes the silenced stories of the Lumads in Mindanao and the Iraya Mangyans in Mindoro, who experienced violation of human rights, exploitation of natural resources, and other forms of oppression in their fight for their ancestral land. Tabsing Kolektib hopes to give awareness about these issues that are prevalent in different parts of the Philippines.
Kasaray Duma’s cast includes Dane Afuang, Maki Salas, Allyssa Mae Herrera, Third Alub, Giselle Barrientos, Salvador Lleno, Jerom Canlas, Anton Segismundo, and Rose Ruiz.
The production boasts of a formidable artistic team: Miziel Mañalac (Assistant Director), D Cortezano (Lights Designer), Darwin Desoacido (Costume Designer), Toni Muñoz (Sound Designer), Aizel Cabanlit-Cabilan and Mykah De Mesa (Set Designers), Dedong Marcelino (Music Designer), Earl Dulay (Technical Director), Tim Lagundi and Rochelle Molina (Dramaturgs), and Martie Rosales (Graphics Designer).
Kasaray Duma:Mga Supling ng Sigwa shall run from October 11 to October 13, 2016 with 4 PM and 7 PM shows at the NCAS Auditorium, UPLB. For ticket reservations and sponsorship, kindly contact Trisha at 0906-2464-975. For the members of the press or media who want to watch the show, direct your queries to Tim at 0915-822-9654.
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