Collected Essays 3: Philippine Theater Aesthetics, Critiques, and Personalities (PRE-ORDER)

SYNOPSIS:

Philippine Theater Aesthetics, Critiques, and Personalities, the third volume in Nicanor Tiongson’s trilogy of collected theater essays, is comprised of three parts. The first, “Criteria and Considerations in the Evaluation of Philippine Theater,” consists of an essay that proposes four approaches in the analysis of theater performances, the last of which is the use of “kamalayang Pilipino na maka-TAO” as the most important criterion for evaluation; a critique of the sarsuwela Walang Sugat by Severino Reyes, using the four approaches presented in the first essay; and an initial study which tries to define what might be called the “dating” or aesthetics of Philippine theater. The second part, “Reviews of Philippine Theater Performances and Books,” compiles selected reviews of a few books on Philippine theater and many performances of plays staged mostly in the 1970s by the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), Babaylan, UP Repertory Company, and others, using the RPN criteria. The third part, “Artists and Groups in Philippine Theater,” anthologizes articles on the life and works of theater enthusiast Juan Atayde, writer-producer-actors Aurelio Tolentino and Atang de la Rama, bodabil singer and actress Katy de la Cruz, and theater designer Salvador F. Bernal, as well as essays on theater groups of the 1970s and 1980s and their productions, like the PETA, Babaylan, UP Repertory Company, Repertory Philippines, Teatro Pilipino, and Bulwagang Gantimpala.

“Like Tiongson’s book on the sinakulo in 1975, most essays in this volume use the Filipino language for writing literary history and criticism, analyze the plays not only as dramatic text but especially as mise-en-scene on an actual stage, and, most of all, recognize the importance of traditional plays as part of the national theater. In this period, no other scholar or theater artist or art administrator had the solid and unshakeable faith in Philippine traditional theater forms that Tiongson had . . . Most important, the essays in this trilogy illustrate the primacy of research as the scholar’s contribution and participation in laying the foundation for the full development of our national culture and, with it, the full flowering of our people’s humanity.”

— APOLONIO B. CHUA
Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Letters
University of the Philippines Diliman

Author: Nicanor G. Tiongson
Weight: 0.6 kg
ISBN: 9786214483518
Imprint: Ateneo de Manila University Press
Format: Print
Language: English

❗️NOTE❗️:

THIS IS A ❗️PRE-ORDER ITEM❗️PRODUCT WILL BE SHIPPED IN THE END OF AUGUST-SEPTEMBER.

 If you are ordering an item that is currently in stock in the same order, the order will be held until the pre-ordered book or item arrives from the Philippines. Shipping of pre-ordered items from our partners in the Philippines to New York are scheduled to take place in May, August and November 2026 ONLY.

Once pre-ordered items ship and arrive from the Philippines to New York, items will be dispatched from New York to their final destination.

Due to the gas situation worldwide and especially in the Philippines, shipping of pre-ordered items are delayed and shipping from the Philippines has been set to ease our partner's in the Philippines.

Shipping during these 3 months for 2026 also allow our partnered local artisans from the Philippines such as our weavers, anitu sculptors, and brass pre-colonial gold replica jewelry pieces, the time needed they need to work on your one of a kind, handmade pieces. 

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