Who was Aurelio Tolentino and why should we care?
THE Little Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has a proper name – Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino. But few people know who Aurelio Tolentino was and why he merited having a theater in the country’s premiere cultural institution named after him.
Aurelio Tolentino was many things to many people – playwright, actor, seditionist, hero.
Born in Guagua, Pampanga in 1867, the youngest of three children of Leonardo Tolentino and Patrona Valenzuela, he was educated in schools run by the Dominicans and eventually became a playwright and actor.
He was also a Katipunero. Together with Andres Bonifacio and Mariano Sakay, he founded Teatro Porvenir (Theater of Tomorrow), and was one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence in Kawit Cavite, on June 12, 1898.
He was arrested by the Americans in 1903 for sedition and rebellion immediately after the staging of what is perhaps his most famous work: the verse drama Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas. Eventually pardoned, he returned to the theater, writing several more plays including his revolutionary interpretation of the life of Jesus called Ang Bagong Cristo.
This is the story that is told in Tanghalang Pilipino’s rock sarswela Aurelio Sedisyoso.
After staging Mabining Mandirigma, a “steampunk” musical on Apolinario Mabini,” the CCP’s resident theater company opens its 31st season, which has the theme “Freedom Writers, Freedom Fighters,” with the sarswela Aurelio Sedisyoso.
There will be performances from Sept. 1 to 17, with evening shows (8 p.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.
It is but fitting that it is being staged at the theater named after him.
While Mabining Mandirigma focused on the conflict between national heroes Apolinario Mabini and Emilio Aguinaldo during the second phase of the revolution, its sequel of sorts, Aurelio Sedisyoso, “dramatizes the conflicts in Philippine society between 1902 and 1907, which constitutes the third phase of the revolution; and from 1908 to 1915, the last chapter in the life of Mr. Tolentino. It investigates and analyzes the events in this crucial period of Philippine history from (his) point of view,” explains a TP release.
On his deathbed, Mr. Tolentino “rededicates himself to the pure ideal of ‘kalayaan,’ which connotes total and absolute freedom in the economy, in governance, and in cultural expression.”
Aurelio Sedisyoso stars “powerhouse tenor” David Ezra as Aurelio Tolentino, and multi-awarded film/TV actor Baron Geisler – in his first stage appearance – as Tikbalang, “a shape-shifter that takes on the different faces and phases of American colonization” (with JV Ibesate as understudy).
Also in the cast are Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company’s Remus Villanueva as Mariano Sakay and Andres Bonifacio; former Rivermaya bassist and vocalist Norby David as Manuel L. Quezon; Alfritz Blanche as Lope K. Santos; and Jonathan Tadioan as Dominador Gomez.
The sarsuela’s book and lyrics were written by Dr. Nicanor Tiongson with Manny Pambid as dramaturg and music by Jed Balsamo. The musical is directed by CCP VP and artistic director of CCP Chris Millado. Toym Imao designed the set while Denisa Reyes choreographed the sarswela’s dance routines.
Tanghalang Pilipino’s other plays this season are: Ang Pag-Uusig (The Crucible) by Arthur Miller, translated by Jerry Respeto and directed by Dennis Marasigan; Nang Dalawin ng Pag-Ibig si Juan Tamad, a story for children by Nick Joaquin, adapted for the stage by Rody Vera and directed by Ed Lacson, Jr.; and Walang Aray, a stage adaptation of Severino Reyes’s Walang Sugat, adapted for the stage by Rody Vera and directed by Carlos Siguion-Reyna.
Tickets to Aurelio Sedisyoso are available at TicketWorld (ticketworld.com.ph, 891-9999) and the CCP Box Office (832-3704). – Susan Claire Agbayani
