After her role as Anastacia in Tanghalang Ateneo’s staging of Nick Joaquin’s May

Day Eve,

It is no surprise, then, that Rogers considers literature at the heart of every play.
This is especially true for Nick Joaquin’s May Day Eve, where she plays the part
of the old maga she will play Rizal’s mother, Teodora Alonso, in an
upcoming sala theatre production of Parting at Calamba. Rogers is also currently
writing her theater autobiography, documenting the names of the people she
has worked with in her long and illustrious career.

But as she has done Shakespeare, most notably A Midsummer Night’s

Dream, to generations of St. Scholastica’s students, she believes that age has
nothing to do with acting. “It’s the approach; if you teach them to imagine,
teach them why they’re doing it, they don’t become puppets.”

Rogers was a student at the University of the Philippines when she started her
formal training in theater under Wilfredo Maria Guerrero. Since then, she has
been directed by Severino Montano, Lamberto Avellana, and Rolando Tinio, all of
them National Artists. She was also a standout as Paula in Portrait of the Artist
as Pilipino, playing opposite National Artist Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana.

But as she has done Shakespeare, most notably A Midsummer Night’s

Dream, to generations of St. Scholastica’s students, she believes that age has
nothing to do with acting. “It’s the approach; if you teach them to imagine,
teach them why they’re doing it, they don’t become puppets.”

A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, known also as A Portrait of the

Artist as Filipino: An Elegy in Three Scenes[1] is a literary play written
in English by Filipino National Artistfor Literature and one of the Philippine’s best
postwar author, poet, and playwright[2] Nick Joaquin[3] in 1950.[4][1] It was
described as Joaquin’s “most popular play”[5][1], as the "most important Filipino
play in English"[6], and as “probably the best-known Filipino play”[7] Apart from
being regarded also as the “national play of the Philippines”[8] because of its
popularity, it also became one of the important reads in English classes in the
Philippines.[9] Joaquin’s play was described by Anita Gates, a reviewer from New
York Times, as an "engaging, well plotted metaphor for the passing of
Old Manila."[4]

Plot summary and thematic description

Set in the Filipino world of pre-World War II Intramuros of Old Manila in October
1941[4], the play explores the many aspects of Philippine high society by telling
the story of the Marasigan sisters, Candida and Paula, and their father, the
painter Don Lorenzo Marasigan. Due to an artistic drought on Don Lorenzo's
part, the family has to make ends meet by relying on the financial support
provided by their brother Manolo and sister Pepang, who were urging them to
sell the house.[6] Later on, they also had to take a male boarder, in the person of
Tony Javier.[8] Don Lorenzo, who refused to sell, donate, or even exhibit his self-
portrait in public, was only content in staying inside his room, a stubbornness
that already took a period of one year.[4] The painting has attracted the attention
and curiosity of journalists such as a family friend named Bitoy Camacho, and
other obnoxious visitors pretending as art critics.[4] When one of the daughters,
Paula, elopes with Tony, a journey of personal liberation is set in motion, which
ends with a restoration of family relations which had been strained due to the
neediness of the artist's family.[8] She also felt regret after destroying the
portrait.[8]

The theme focuses on family conflict and the amalgamation of old Filipino
identity and cultural character with the arrival of contemporary and Western
ideals.[6]

[edit]Historical setting and background

Before the Second World War, many Filipino intellectuals and artists – including
painters, as personified by Don Lorenzo Marasigan – searched for cultural
enlightenment from Spain, the first imposer of colonialism and authority in the
Philippines. This group of Filipinos was acquainted with the Spanish
language and customs. After the liberation of the Philippines from its Spanish
colonizer, the United States became the replacement model for cultural
enhancement, where English language and materialism became a part – as
personified by the boarder Tony Javier – thus marginalizing native tongues and
culture within the process. During this period, the Philippines was also plagued
by the looming war, frequent blackouts, and untrustworthy characters of the
existing nightlife in Old Manila.[8][6]

[edit]Productions and adaptations

[edit]Theatrical presentations
After Joaquin wrote A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino in 1950, it was first
published in Weekly Women's Magazine and Prose and Poems in 1952 and then
aired on radio before being formally presented on stage in 1955. It premiered at
the Aurora Gardens of Intramuros, Manila, through the performance of the group
known as the Barangay Theater Guild. Afterwards, aTagalog version was also
released followed by other adaptations.[1]

After several theatrical productions in the Philippines[1], A Portrait of the Artist as

a Filipino had also been presented at the Vineyard Dimson Theatre in New York
City by the Ma-Yi Theatre Ensemble production, under the direction of Jorge W.
Ledesma from July 26 to August 16, 1997.[4]

One of the recent theatrical performances in the Philippines was Repertory

Philippines’s production in 1999 at the On Stage in Glorietta One, under the
direction of Jose Mari Avellana, which was dedicated by the director to honor his
mother, the stage artist, Philippine National Artist for Dramatic Arts, and one of
the original performer of the role Candida, Daisy Hontiveros-Avellana.[7]
May Day Eve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"May Day Eve" is a short story written by Filipino National Artist Nick Joaquin.
Written after World War II, it became one of Joaquin's “signature stories” that
became a classic[1] inPhilippine literature in English. Together with Joaquin's
other stories like The Mass of St. Sylvester, Doña Jeronima and Candido’s
Apocalypse, May Day Eve utilized the theme of "magic realism" long before the
genre was made a trend in Latin American novels.[2] Published in 1947, it is a
story originally intended for adult readers,[3] but has later become a required
and [Character Description

The major characters in May Day Eve are Badoy, Agueda, Anastacia, Bitoy
(Badoy's grandson), and Angela.[5] Agueda and Badoy have different
personalities. Agueda was described to be a bold, liberated, and a non-
conformist young woman who was “ahead of her time”. While Badoy was
characterized in the beginning as a promiscuous young man who wanted to
prove his machismo, he realized that he was “deliriously in love” with Agueda. It
was their differences that attracted them to one another. However, Agueda died
without knowing Badoy’s true feelings for her. Badoy’s love never faded through
the years, even though Agueda was long gone.[6]
[edit]Plot summary

As Don Badoy Montoya visited his old home at Intramuros, Manila, memories of
his youth came back. He recalled how he fell in love with Agueda, a young
woman who resisted his advances. Agueda learned that she would be able to
know her future husband by reciting an incantation in front of a mirror. As she
recited the words: “Mirror, mirror, show to me him whose woman I will be,”
Agueda saw Badoy. Badoy and Agueda got married. However, Don Badoy
learned from his grandson that he was described by Doña Agueda (through their
daughter) as a "devil". In return, Don Badoy told his grandson that every time
he looks at the mirror, he only sees a "witch" (Agueda). Don Badoy ponders on
love that had dissipated.[5]The truth was revealed, Badoy and Agueda had a
“bitter marriage”, which began in the past, during one evening in the month of
May in 1847. The tragedy of the story is Badoy’s heart forgot how he loved
Agueda in the past. They were not able to mend their broken marriage because
their love was a “raging passion and nothing more”.[6]