PRO-MARCOS BUT: Veteran actress Cherry Pie Picache doesn’t hide her admiration for the late President Ferdinand Marcos, but she didn’t think twice when offered a meaty role in a play that exposes the hazards of dictatorship and martial law.
The award-winning TV and movie actress shares the belief of her director, Andoy Ranay, and the men and women behind newly formed Sugid Productions, that today’s young people have to be made aware of the perils of dictatorship in society.
Cherry Pie plays The Asawa (Wife) in the restaging of Chris Millado’s “Buwan at Baril sa E♭Major.” She comes to identify the body of her husband, an NPA guerilla, then segues to a horrific narrative of capture and detention. She talks to his lifeless body, recalling their story of struggle and survival.
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ALL-STAR CAST: “Bala at Baril” is the first offering of Sugid in collaboration with Bantayog ng mga Bayani Foundation. It will run until Feb. 12 at the Ambassador Alfonso T. Yuchengco Auditorium, Bantayog ng mga Bayani Center along Quezon Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.
It boasts an all-star cast led by Cherry Pie, Jackie Lou Blanco (cast as The Socialite), Angeli Bayani (Babaing Itawas), and JC Santos (The Priest). JC is better known these days as gay man Ali from the just concluded “Till I Met You” teleserye on ABS-CBN.
Angeli Bayani is cast as the Babaeng Itawis. Angeli was once described by Hollywood director Ang Lee as a “Philippine treasure” (for her role as nanny in the film Iloilo, a Palm d’Or awardee in 2013 Cannes filmfest).
Jackie Lou, who plays The Socialite awakening to the harsh realities of martial rule, is another veteran actor who has honed her craft well.
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BASED ON TRUE STORIES: “Buwan at Baril sa E♭Major” collects the stories of various real-life characters whose lives, seemingly separate, intersect at a crucial juncture in Philippine contemporary history – the height of the anti-dictatorship struggle.
The schedule of performances are as follows:
February 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12 (3 p.m. and 8 p.m). A special Gala will be held on Feb. 3 at 8 p.m.
“Buwan at Baril sa E♭Major” was written by Chris Millado in 1985 and first staged by PETA at the Rajah Sulayman Theater in Fort Santiago.
Millado says that in writing the play, he was energized by the student and youth protest against the 1982 Education Act. Amidst the media censorship at this time, he, and fellow UP theater majors, offered the piece as alternative media, a ‘living newspaper’.
Sugid Productions, Inc. is composed of directors, actors, designers, and educators. (NESTOR CUARTERO)