reviews
IPAG’S Hapoy daw Waig (Fire and Water) was Electric!
Rogelio Garcia
I arrived just in time to secure a good sightline among the audiences in MSU-IIT, after 3.5 hours of travel against heavy rain from Cagayan de Oro, to catch the final show of Hapoy Daw Waig of the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG). Hapoy is a minor episode of the great Manobo epic, the Ulahingan.
When I came in the Cassalida Theater, the heat was almost unbearable, the aircondition system could not quite make the room full of people cold enough for comfort. But the excitement was obvious as more audiences came in noisily. Some were not sure what the thin films of cloth that separated the audience from the stage and performers were all about, or the women lying and scattered on cement floor. I thought to myself, okay here now is the very condition that makes IPAG a genuinely powerful theater company of the global South for over forty years–its capacity to transform spaces, to emerge via make do, to enthrall their audiences with magic through music, movement, spectacle, depth of story.
I counted twenty two minutes before the show started. Which meant that the women performers I saw lying on the cold floor when I came in would have been there at least twenty five minutes. The kind of discipline to be still and gather energy was admirable. With the first note breaking out, the images refracting on the ceiling that became a giant film screen, the chant of the babaylan climbing in its mysticism and going down in intentional off-keys, counterpointing with the equally powerful prophetic chanting of Mungan, the Manobo matriarch-figure, all the noise and heat in the room became immaterial. Everyone was transfixed, brought to another world, suddenly caught in the struggle to make the text. When the women started moving, we witnessed the quality of labor that made IPAG world-class. There was no mistake in each unit, each body labored to tell a nuanced story. This was carried on by the men, by everyone, sustaining the energy to its explosive end–the final image of the Manobo Arumanen in exodus towards their paradise, the Nilandangan.
I did not take a lot of photos, only before and after–house rules, but goodness, if you were there, you would have had goosebumps over the brilliance in the choices of dramaturg-playwright-composer-cinematographer Steven P.C. Fernandez and the wonderful artistic team behind the production. During discussion after the show, when they gave me the mic, I said I envy Iligan and MSU-IIT for having IPAG in their very home. IPAG is our nation’s pride. With his massive and outstanding body of work, Steven P.C. Fernandez is ripe for the Order of the National Artist in Theater! Hapoy Daw Waig was electric
In a world dominated by Youtube and Netflix, theatre is here to stay
Reggy H. Bartido
Growing up, I had limited exposure to the world of theatre arts, primarily because there is a preconceived notion that it is only for the elites. Youtube was still in its infancy back then, and I had no way of knowing or seeing any live theatre performances. This, in effect, restrained my growth of enthusiasm toward theatre. However, entering University at the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) offered me a unique opportunity to experience a personal and a much closer look at the world of theatre arts through the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG), one of the University’s resident cultural groups. While no one is ever ignorant of the existence of this guild, their production never failed to amaze me.
IPAG’s latest production, the ‘Hapoy daw Wahig,’ is a transcreation of the Monobo epic, Ulahingan. As stylised in the performance for contemporary times, the epic’s tale underscored the struggles of indigenous people fighting for their rights, especially in an overlapping space with another tribe. Kuyasu, a Monobo child, has ignited the seeds of conflict between their tribe against the Maguindanaoan’s Sultan. This then cascaded into events of demise, disorder, and discord between the Manobos and the Muslims. Lastly, the performance presented how these troubles between tribes can shift for beginnings anew and redeem peace in the end.
As far as it can be determined, the show highlighted powerful emotions that arrested the audience’s consciousness and beating hearts. Capitalising on the relatively miniature theatre, the production team elected to have the sounds louder, and the consequential effects were there to dramatise further and animate the scene making it more immersive as if it were jumping from one ceiling to the next, from one heart to another—it was reverberating. When dialogues are thrown, they would abruptly stop and start dancing again to the beat of the drums and gong.
Watching the performance closely and intently, one may feel confused about the story and wonder what is currently happening and where the story is going.
Only one thing is sure; the performance encapsulated the struggles of the indigenous peoples in fighting for their own as they live in an overlapping space with another. The story’s setting in the performance may be from the old times, but the struggle to create boundaries and live in an overlapping space with people from different cultures is timely. That is what theatre artists do—from the archives to the stage!
Consequently, performances should not necessarily be categorized as an event from the past but should be thought of as something happening in the present. Where a timely issue is being discussed—an important message is being conveyed vis-a-vis the issue being faced today. As Dr. Steven P.C. Fernandez, the Founding Director of IPAG, answered during the Public Engagement, “Ang epics, hindi nagiging static ‘yan— it is a performance of the present.”
As a novice in understanding and analysing the world of theatre, I must admit that I initially struggled to keep up with the rapid transitions between the dialogues and dances and the sudden changes in the lighting and howls. During the performance I attended, a fellow audience member dared to ask about the significance of a girl singing on the centre stage, and she revealed that she was the Babaylan. This moment left many of us in shock.
While I do not intend to discount the production team in any way because the performance was unequivocally powerful, I cannot help myself from thinking that the limitation of this performance is its format itself. Unlike other formats like film, it transcends the limitations of live performances by thawing each character out through special cuts, zoom-ins, voice narrations, and some special effects; live theatrical performances have to rely on the audience’s cognitive prowess to tie things together.
However, IPAG does away with this limitation by giving the audience some closure in Public Engagements (or a Closure Session is what I prefer to call it). They allowed the audience to launch their questions to the production team and would give out the information the audience lacked. As far as I am concerned, this is better than any Director’s note in films because we would have the chance to talk with the Artistic geniuses behind the production.
Likewise, a counterpoint to that limitation thesis is that it is its greatest asset. Paradoxical, I suppose, albeit looking into the silver lining of the limitation, it (the format) provides us an avenue for critical thinking. Theatre artists do this; they do not necessarily spoon-feed the audience, nor do they dictate the right analysis and the wrong analysis. Art is not something that ought to be so easily operationalised. Art is a feeling. Art is an emotion. Art is an expression so byzantine that it transcends the “simplicity of bureaucracy.”
During the Public Engagement at the end of the performance, Dr. Fernandez was asked about what the message is with this play. The Artistic Director declined to respond, as it would be a disservice to oneself. “Dahil ang tama—kayo. In fact, dapat mas malalim pa ang nakikita ninyo kaysa sa ginawa ko. Kasi ang pag-intindi niyo dito ay galing ngayon sa inyong culture [or context],” said the Founding Director of IPAG.
Historically, theatrical plays were reserved for the elites, but IPAG offers a venue for consuming and appreciating theatrical art from the roots to the tips. In a world of Youtube and Netflix, theatre is not dead, and IPAG provides an avenue for creativity and collective humanistic expression.
𝗔 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘁: 𝗜𝗣𝗔𝗚’𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗼𝘆 𝗗𝗮𝘄 𝗪𝗮𝗵𝗶𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Report by Noe Gel Roy, Silahis, May 3, 2023
The Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG) has again brought another story to life from the books to the stage. The Hapoy Daw Wahig, or the “Fire and Water” production which was retrieved from the Ulahingan—a traditional Manobo epic—premiered at the CASSalida, College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS) Building of the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) on May 1, 2023, at 3:00 p.m., and is set to continue its showing on May 2-3 at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
The hour-long show featured the rift between the Maguindanaons and the Manobos over a debt that ignited the fight and flight of Manobos on their stomping ground. The story progressed as Kuyasu killed the Maguindanaon sultan which prompted bloodshed between Muslims and Manobos. The epic tale peaked when Mungan, Kuyasu’s mother, was afflicted with a consuming disease. IPAG’s show revolved more around Kuyasu and the adversities he had to face as a ‘bagani’. It further showcased how conflicts turn into opportunities for beginning again and redeeming peace in the end.
Engrossed by the talents the performers showed as they gave due to the epic tale from the archives, resounding applause and cheers from the audience during the curtain call filled the CASSalida. Afterward, an interactive question and answer was hosted by the IPAG to address queries from the audience and impart thoughts, especially on the symbolisms that were exhibited on the show. The director of the production, Prof. Steven Patrick C. Fernandez particularly emphasized the contemporary touch he applied to the epic, achieving relevance to the audience.