Dulaang UP’s thriving fresh Talents, returning Alumni and Collaborators

Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP) has been a home for Filipino theatre talent to flourish for almost 5 decades since its founding by National Artist for Theatre Tony Mabesa. Alumni and past collaborators have gone on to pave their own unique paths in the creative and entertainment industry, some taking their learnings to explore other fields as well. Whether the artist performs, directs, writes, designs, researches or manages, passion and out of the box thinking is embedded within the DUP training into each student and colleague.

In their 48th Theatre Season, “Paano umuwi nang may pagpapasya?” Dulaang UP picks up on probing the question of intentionality in coming home through looking back at their humble beginnings building upon the nearing 50th Theatre Season. Sir Tony’s legacy lives on with the university-based company bringing their student-artists, collaborators, and alumni at the forefront, initiated by their recently staged first ever all student-led twin-bill production, Para Kay Tony: Tungo sa Ginintuang Alaala, A Tribute to our National Artist for Theatre Tony Mabesa.

Continuing the discourse on homecoming and widening their student spaces, their production in the works is a revival of UP Playwrights’ Theatre (renamed to DUP Playwrights now on its 29th Theatre Season): Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan, written and directed by Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature multi-awarded playwright, returning alumni and newly-appointed Artistic Director, Arlo Deguzman.

Written from a place of diasporic experience, this piece is a powerful and contemporary work that tackles the emotional landscape of and an ode to our present day heroes, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). These stories, embodied in movement and lyric, aim to negotiate the melancholically veiled struggles of an OFW: a father’s frustration from unending remittances, a mother seeking to make the sacrifice worthwhile, a sister negotiating the promise of separation, and a son bearing the silence of a deafening burden. DUP invites us to contemplate on our origins and bids for connection and home.

Industry professionals and students will work more closely with each other as alumni, returning and new guest artists lead the ensemble with Sandino Martin, Tess Jamias, Fermin Villegas, Sheryll Ceasico, Marichu Belarmino, Jojo Cayabyab, Hazel Maranan, Domileo Espejo, and Mitzie Lao. Current artist-scholars Kerr Allen, Angel Manansala, Raymond Aguilar, Julianne Quimio, Ralph Onrubia, Janae Delos Santos, and Cy Guerrero craft their own creative footprint alongside the professionals.

The artistic team is likewise a team of alumni, previous guest artists, and artists-in-training — from freshmen to graduating students. Joining Arlo Deguzman are Angel Dayao for Music Direction and Sound Design — together with Neil Shane Alcain and Jisu Jang, siglo for Puppetry Design, Jonas Gabriel Garcia for Dramaturgy, Kirby Dunnzell as Movement Collaborator, Dan Wesley as Associate Movement Collaborator, Aaron Misayah leading the Scenic Design, Tilda Oreta for Costume Design, Third Salamat for Lighting Design, and Jada Bartolome for Projection Design.

The production will run from March 12, 2026 to March 29, 2026 at the IBG-KAL Theater, UP Diliman; Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30PM, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30PM and 7:30PM. Tickets are available via Ticket2Me.net and direct purchase (https://bit.ly/AKKDirectPurchaseForm) with the following prices:

• Php 1,000 - Regular Price
• Php 800 - PWD / Senior Citizens / Non-UP Students
• Php 700 - OFWs—current and former, ticket is transferable; available via direct purchase
• Php 650 - UP Community (Students and Employees): Friday–Sunday shows; available via direct purchase
• Php 550 - UP Community (Students and Employees): Thursday shows; available via direct purchase

Note that discounts/promos are not stackable on each other.

Follow Dulaang UP's social media pages Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok

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PETA’s Control + Shift: Changing Narratives StudioLab A Brave Exploration on Narrative Change

With a decades-long commitment to telling Filipino stories, the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) is once again redefining the power of People’s Theater. This April, PETA’s Control + Shift: Changing Narratives returns to the PETA Studio Theater from April 10 to 19, 2026. Featuring a "StudioLab" of fresh stories and restaging classics, the showcase invites audiences to reclaim the Filipino narrative.

Since its successful 2024 debut, followed by a month-long festival in 2025, Control + Shift: Changing Narratives has been pushing the boundaries of what theater can be. Through a unique collaboration between PETA artists, students, and community partners, this year’s StudioLab continues to tackle the tough questions of our time. It’s a creative space designed for crafting stories that confront the present, hold space for healing, and envision more humane and democratic futures.

This year, Control + Shift: Changing Narratives StudioLab presents two new works, a product of the PETA Artist-Teacher Training, alongside two returning pieces from last year’s festival, including one developed with a theater group from a community partner. The lineup includes:

Set A: When Power Falls into our Hands
In a classroom and a workplace, people discover how easily violence, corruption, and silence can become normalized. But when power falls into our hands, we also face a choice: to comply with the system or to interrupt it.

 

CLEANERS
Playwright: Jhudiel Clare Sosa
Director: Julio Garcia

A group of senior high students discovers that their graduation depends not just on cleaning classrooms but on how far they’re willing to go when violence, power, and truth land in their hands.

MONIT-OH! MONIT-AH! (Restaging)
Playwright: Herlyn Alegre
Director: Norbs Portales

A forum theatre piece that follows Jaylord, a rookie waiter hoping to win his boss’s favor through a Christmas monito-monita gift, only to uncover how seemingly harmless acts can feed into the larger, corrupt palakasan system—until one brave decision challenges the cycle.

Set B: When Care Becomes Survival
In war-torn landscapes and communities living at the edge of disaster, care becomes something embodied… shared through faith, ritual, play, and collective endurance.

 

Tanghalang Bagong Sibol’s AT NAGKATAWANG-TAO ANG VERBO (Restaging)
Playwright: Mikaela Regis
Director: Anthony Cruz

In a small urban fishing community along Ilog Tullahan, religious icons and biblical imagery come alive—not as distant saints, but as reflections of the people themselves—revealing how faith becomes flesh in the daily struggle for dignity, livelihood, and hope.

BAGA NG GUMUGUHONG LANGIT
Playwright: Anj Heruela
Director: Ian Segarra

Amid the chaos of war, orphaned children fight to survive in a world that has forgotten them, begging for care from communities pushed to the fragile edges of survival.

BE PART OF THE SHIFT!

Tickets are now available via Ticket2Me or bit.ly/CS2026Tickets. Rates are at Php 700 per set. For more updates, follow @petatheater on social media.

Complete Show Dates

Set A
Fri, 10 Apr. 2026 - 2:00 PM
Fri, 10 Apr. 2026 - 7:00 PM
Sun, 12 Apr. 2026 - 2:00 PM
Sat, 18 Apr. 2026 - 7:00 PM
Sun, 19 Apr. 2026 - 7:00 PM

Set B
Sat, 11 Apr. 2026 - 2:00 PM
Sat, 11 Apr. 2026 - 7:00 PM
Sun, 12 Apr. 2026 - 7:00 PM
Sat, 18 Apr. 2026 - 2:00 PM
Sun, 19 Apr. 2026 - 2:00 PM

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Shop All-Out at SM City Marikina’s 3-Day Sale

Get ready for an all-out shopping weekend as SM City Marikina brings back its much-awaited 3-Day Sale happening on March 13, 14, and 15. It’s the perfect time to pursue your gala plans, discover exciting promos, and enjoy bigger savings from your favorite stores.

From fashion must-haves and beauty finds to gadgets, home essentials, and everyday favorites, shoppers can enjoy discounts of up to 70% off mall wide. Whether you’re shopping for yourself, looking for gifts, or simply spending a fun day at the mall, this is the moment to max out the deals and enjoy a rewarding shopping experience all for you.

Every ₱1,000 single or accumulated purchase earns you an e-raffle entry for a chance to win exciting prizes. Make the most of your visit by dropping by during the weekend, when shoppers can max out their chances with double e-raffle entries on Saturday and Sunday.

You can also earn more entries while dining or catching a movie. Get one (1) e-raffle entry for every ₱250 single-receipt purchase at the SM Foodcourt, and one (1) e-raffle entry for every purchase of four (4) cinema tickets at SM Cinema—making your mall gala even more rewarding.

Shopping gets even better with exclusive perks at SM Store:

• Up to 50% off on select items
• Exclusive early access with extra 10% off for SM Prestige Cardholders on March 12
• SMAC Weekend with extra 10% off for SMAC Cardholders from March 13 to 15

Round up your shopping crew and go all out this March at SM City Marikina’s 3-Day Sale. With irresistible deals, exciting promos, and rewarding experiences waiting around every corner, it’s a shopping event designed all for you.

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OFW Realities Mirrored Through Theatre in Dulaang UP’s Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan

For many different reasons, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) courageously make a living abroad for years and oceans away from their loved ones. Most venture far in high hopes of greener pastures for their families. They confront homesickness, loneliness, culture shock, language barriers and (frustratingly) even racism in their everyday lives. Our migrant workers endure this altogether as they are driven by the struggle of life in the homeland.

Deemed as the country’s “modern day heroes”, their remittances play an integral role in the economy. There is then a strong sense of dependence by the government on the taxes collected from our “heroes”. Sensibly, one might expect that currencies entering the country would elevate the collective Filipino way of life, but that is not the case even after decades of waging OFWs.

Their presence (or absence) has been normalized. It has become routine to see them out to the airport and greet them with Duty Free goods — often every Christmas or New Year’s season. Before leaving the country, they treasure moments at home as best as they can through feasting, meaningful conversations, and nostalgia walks. As they prepare to leave again, they take memorabilia and a new set of memories to sustain them in their workplace.

The solution to this cyclic and systemic problem is often grazed upon. Although media representations of their narratives are well-documented and shared through films, news broadcasts, social media sites, and television series, the conversation is lacking in the space of theatre.

Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP) aims to offer treatises in filling this void. Their production in the works, Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan, was written and directed by Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature multi-awarded playwright and DUP Artistic Director, Arlo Deguzman. A returning alumni, not only does he head home and pay his services forward to his alma mater, but also picks up where he left in the country having been a migrant worker himself for almost two decades across fifty countries.

Written from a place of diasporic experience, the piece is a powerful and contemporary work that tackles the emotional landscape of and an ode to our OFWs. These stories, embodied in movement and lyric, aim to negotiate the melancholically veiled struggles of a migrant worker: a father’s frustration from unending remittances, a mother seeking to make the sacrifice worthwhile, a sister negotiating the promise of separation, and a son bearing the silence of a deafening burden. DUP invites us to contemplate on our origins and bids for connection and home.

Perhaps this allows you to ponder on life in the Philippines or abroad and would lead you to questions or answers sought after. You might even find comfort in knowing some of the cast and crew had been an OFW, had thought (or is thinking) of being one, or longs for a loved one abroad. Whether you are an OFW or not, a story relative to yours will be told live through theatre that will certainly evoke in you a sense of yearning.

With the increasing tensions around the globe, the safety of our OFWs is then at risk — it is Dulaang UP’s hope that fellow countrymen be home safe, live and labor in their homeland with dignity and justice. Ultimately, for that time where all Filipinos are happy at home, without needing to leave, could come.

The production will run from March 12, 2026 to March 29, 2026 at the IBG-KAL Theater, UP Diliman; Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30PM, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30PM and 7:30PM. Tickets are available via https://bit.ly/AngKaliitanNgKasalukuyan2026 with the following prices:

• Php 1,000 - Regular Price
• Php 800 - PWD / Senior Citizens / Non-UP Students
• Php 700 - OFWs—current and former, ticket is transferable; available via direct purchase
• Php 650 - UP Community (Students and Employees): Friday–Sunday shows; available via direct purchase
• Php 550 - UP Community (Students and Employees): Thursday shows; available via direct purchase

Please note that discounts/promos are not stackable on each other.

Follow and stay tuned to Dulaang UP's social media pages Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok.

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A Story That Came Home: The Heart Behind The Moon and the Bakunawa

When Arlene Abuid-Paderanga first watched The Moon and the Bakunawa during its run in Australia, she did not realize she was witnessing a story that closely reflected her own life.

Onstage was the story of Mamay and her son Benny (Tonyong)—a mother living with dementia and the son who has devoted eight years of his life to caring for her. Written by Nitoy Chan Jr., the play weaves together the emotional realities of dementia caregiving with the haunting beauty of Philippine folklore, particularly the legend of the Bakunawa, the mythical serpent believed to swallow the moon.

For Abuid-Paderanga, the experience was deeply personal. She had once been a caregiver to her own mother who battled dementia. She knew the repetition of stories, the quiet ache of watching memories fade, and the kind of love that stretches beyond exhaustion. The script’s honesty and restraint moved her profoundly—and in that moment, she made a promise to herself that the story had to come home.

That promise now finds its fulfillment as The Moon and the Bakunawa is staged at AIMS, where the institution has been steadily building its arts programs through its Bachelor of Arts in Theater and Bachelor in Dance. For Abuid-Paderanga, presenting the play at AIMS is more than a production decision; it is a meaningful alignment of art and advocacy. The staging places a powerful narrative about memory, identity, and caregiving within an academic environment dedicated to cultivating both artistic skill and empathy.

The production also brings together a cast whose own journeys echo the emotional depth of the story. Divina Cavestany reprises the role of Mamay after being part of the play’s original run in Australia. A longtime friend of the playwright, she returns to the character with renewed purpose, seeking to portray the emotional terrain of dementia with honesty and compassion for Filipino audiences.

Divina Cavestany

Phil Panganiban steps back onstage after years of observing and critiquing theatrical productions from the sidelines. His portrayal of Tonyong marks a personal return to storytelling—this time experiencing the weight of the narrative from within rather than as an observer.

Phil Panganiban

Joining him in the role is Remus Villanueva, whose participation marks a meaningful comeback to performance. His interpretation of Tonyong brings layered nuance to the portrayal of a queer son navigating love, responsibility, and emotional fatigue while caring for a parent.

Remus Villanueva

At its core, The Moon and the Bakunawa is a simple and intimate story: a mother, a son, and a home filled with memories that repeat and slowly fade. The production embraces minimalism, allowing the story’s emotional truth to take center stage. Through its use of folklore, memory loss becomes a poetic metaphor—like the moon swallowed by the Bakunawa, Mamay’s memories dim and reappear, altered but never entirely gone.

Despite its modest scale, the play carries a powerful message. Dementia remains one of the least understood and least discussed conditions within many Filipino families, and caregivers often carry their burdens quietly. By bringing this story to the stage, the production hopes to open conversations about memory, caregiving, and mental health.

For Abuid-Paderanga, producing the show is both tribute and responsibility—a way of honoring her mother and recognizing the countless caregivers who remain beside loved ones as memories slowly fade.

Arlene Abuid-Paderanga

The Moon and the Bakunawa ultimately reminds audiences that even when memory disappears, love endures—and that sometimes the most powerful stories are the quiet ones that stay with us long after the curtain falls.

The Moon and the Bakunawa runs on April 15–16 and April 25–26, 2026, with performances at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM, at the Jayne Offemaria-Abuid Auditorium, AIMS Tower, Pasay City. Tickets are available at https://ticket2me.net/event/22883.

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Dulaang UP’s Revival of UP Playwrights’ Theatre

Looking toward the company’s longevity in providing relevant and powerful theatre works to the people, more so as their 50th Theatre Season approaches, Dulaang UP’s invitation is a communal celebration of their students, alumni, and previous collaborators. Initiated in their recent run of DUP Classics’ Para Kay Tony: Tungo sa Ginintuang Alaala, A Tribute to our National Artist for Theatre Tony Mabesa, the first ever all student-led process and choice of plays tackling oppressive authorities were the message. The production was a display of how far Dulaang UP has transformed through its decades of ups and downs to become a space for sharp questioning and nurturing curiosity — as the late DUP Founding Artistic Director Sir Tony envisioned the program.

Dulaang UP’s 48th Theatre Season, “Paano umuwi nang may pagpapasya?” picks up on probing the question of intentionality in coming home through looking back at DUP’s humble beginnings. Sir Tony’s legacy lives on with the revival of UP Playwrights’ Theatre, renamed to DUP Playwrights now on its 29th Theatre Season, through the play, Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan, written and directed by Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature multi-awarded playwright and our Artistic Director, Arlo Deguzman.

Written from a place of diasporic experience, this piece is a powerful and contemporary work that tackles the emotional landscape of and an ode to our present day heroes, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs). These stories, embodied in movement and lyric, aim to negotiate the melancholically veiled struggles of an OFW: a father’s frustration from unending remittances, a mother seeking to make the sacrifice worthwhile, a sister negotiating the promise of separation, and a son bearing the silence of a deafening burden. DUP invites us to contemplate on our origins and bids for connection and home.

Perhaps this allows you to ponder on life in the Philippines or abroad and would lead you to questions or answers sought after. One might even find comfort in knowing some of the cast and crew had been an OFW, had thought (or is thinking) of being one, or longs for a loved one abroad. Whether an OFW or not, a story relative to yours will be told live through theatre that will certainly evoke in you a sense of yearning.

The production will run from March 12, 2026 to March 29, 2026 at the IBG-KAL Theater, UP Diliman; Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30PM, and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30PM and 7:30PM. Tickets are available via https://bit.ly/AngKaliitanNgKasalukuyan2026 with the following prices:

• 1,000 PHP Regular Price
• 800 PHP PWD / Senior Citizens / Non-UP Students
• 700 PHP for OFWs—current and former, ticket is transferable; available via direct purchase
• 650 PHP UP Community (Students and Employees): Friday–Sunday shows; available via direct purchase
• 550 PHP UP Community (Students and Employees): Thursday shows; available via direct purchase

Note that discounts/promos are not stackable on each other.

A Full Theatre Experience Outside of the Theater
Dulaang UP’s young platforms, DUP Social1 and DUP Studio2 have more in store for patrons and art enthusiasts in this offering — all free admission! Listed below are some programs to look out for:

DUP Social

1. PeliDula: Theater & Migration Series – an initiative to bring pro-shot recordings of previous DUP productions from the archives to the screen. Three plays aligning with the theme of migration will be featured prior to Ang Kaliitan ng Kasalukuyan’s showdates, to be announced soon.
2. Arts Market – DUP’s community of artist-makers and entrepreneurs is blossoming and their space widens to accommodate more concessionaires! Events such as Lirika’t Lahok, where invited performers share their talent to audiences before the show, continue through the Arts Market space. Interested merchants can sign up or inquire through Dulaang UP’s social media pages.

DUP Studio

1. Networking Night – a cross-college networking event for UP Diliman’s many art and design majors. If you major in music, dance, fine arts, art studies, clothing technology, or literature, you are more than welcome to participate and meet like-minded creatives!
2. Contemporary Plays from Around the World: Staged Reading Series – a platform where participants are exposed to contemporary plays and interpret the pieces from different lenses.
3. Backstage Tours — done every Sunday during the show weeks. Gives an opportunity for audience members to explore the inner workings beyond the stage. They get to explore the stage and meet backstage crew and their designated work areas.
4. Critical Platform Writing Workshop — a writing workshop and competition for aspiring student writers to be welcomed in a space that boosts their knowledge, expertise and craft for critical writing. The participants will be asked to participate in a one-day workshop wherein they will be taught and given activities to test and practice their critiquing skills.

Stay tuned to their social media pages for announcements and ticket promo updates on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok

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Anne Hathaway’s eerie pop thriller ‘Mother Mary’ arrives in Philippine cinemas this April

Anne Hathaway's pop psychological thriller Mother Mary, will hit Philippine cinemas on April 22, 2026, exclusively distributed by CreaZion Studios.The announcement comes alongside the release of its official Philippine trailer and poster.

Hathaway (Interstellar, The Devil Wears Prada) stuns as the titular global pop icon in this new, ambitious film produced by A24. The full synopsis goes: “Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer Sam Anselm (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Michaela Coel) on the eve of her comeback performance.” The film makes the viewers curious - how much of your soul are you willing to lose for fame and vanity?

Mother Mary is written and directed by David Lowery (The Green Knight, A Ghost Story). The filmmaker takes viewers to a musical journey in the backdrop of an unlikely reunion between former friends, while exploring the haunting effect of long-lost formidable connections. The movie features original music by Charli XCX, Jack Antonoff, and FKA Twigs, who also acts in “Mother Mary”.

The singles “Burial”, performed by Hathaway; and “My Mouth is Lonely For You” by Twigs, will be released in March. Meanwhile, the film’s digital soundtrack, featuring seven songs, will drop on Hathaway’s music streaming accounts in April. Mother Mary also showcases an impressive cast that includes Hunter Schafer (Euphoria, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Kaia Gerber (Babylon, Shell) and FKA Twigs.

 

Mother Mary is the second A24 title CreaZion Studios is bringing to Filipino audiences this year. It has recently announced BACKROOMS with a Philippine release date on June 3. The acquisition of these highly-anticipated films is part of the company’s #KwentoMoTo mission to make “Human Stories and Human Experiences” accessible to Filipino and Southeast Asian audiences.

“Whether you are a fan of elevated genres or you simply want to have a good time watching a movie, CreaZion Studios got you covered with an exciting lineup of film offerings that can be enjoyed on the best screen and great surround sound possible, in cinemas near you,” said RJ San Agustin, President and CEO of CreaZion Studios.

“By bringing in the most disruptive and talked-about films to the country and Southeast Asian (SEA) region, CreaZion Studios hopes to bridge human stories and experiences to this side of the world,” he added.

Last year, CreaZion Studios successfully brought to the domestic and SEA markets the critically-acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan Wook’s No Other Choice and A24 fantasy adventure film The Legend of Ochi; and in 2024, the award-winning body horror film The Substance.

For more updates, follow CreaZion Studios on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube and visit creazionstudios.com.

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