Today is the last day of our Germany-Czech tour before returning to Frankfurt for our flight to Manila. It’s the 31st of October. Commonly, on this day, the Philippines is really busy – cleaning the nitso, the puntod, and the mausoleum of dead loved ones. The next day is All Saints’ Day, and on 2…
Category: Lakwacha
Dramaturgical Notes: Pumpon ng mga Gunita/Bouquet of Reminiscences
Pumpon ng mga Gunita: A Reminiscence Theatre and a Documentary Theatre Staged at various locations in Wilhelmsfeld on 27 October 2024, Pumpon ng mga Gunita / Bouquet of Reminiscences is a performance of memory, retracing Jose Rizal’s reminiscences of, in, and with Germany. We think of the Pumpon ng mga Gunita as an experiential-learning performance about Jose Rizal’s…
Once upon a time, there was an “Artist Playground,” somewhere in Germany
They call it a colony, a space where people with a shared interest live together. The interest: German modernist art, particularly art nouveau. It was my second time in Frankfurt—for the same reason: to participate in the Frankfurter Buchmesse. I was here in 2017 to launch a book at the Philippine stand (there was not…
Ayutthaya: The Interplay of Hindu and Buddhist Creativity
Ayutthaya is located in central Thailand, about 90 km north of Bangkok, the gateway to this popular SEA destination. The city, also known as the Historic City of Ayutthaya, is home to magnificent temples and other structures that are important both historically and architecturally. As one of the world’s largest cities of its time and…
Corregidor Island: Performance, Cultural Memory, and Heritage (Part 2 of 2)
Quoting American poet, orator and Catholic priest Abram Joseph Ryan, our tour guide pointed the significance of Corregidor as an “island-striving-in-ruins.“ He proclaimed in jest “a land without ruins is a land without memories – a land without memories is a land without history.” In relation to the quote, the tour guide also explained that…
Tallinn: From Russian Nobility to Baltic Cultural Identity to a Fairy Tale Wonderland (Part 2 of 2)
If there is another interesting historical moment in Tallinn that I learned from our trip there, it would be the Baltic Way Revolution, a peaceful political demonstration which took place on 23 August 1989. An approximately two million people joined their hands forming a 600 km long human chain throughout the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia,…
Suomenlinna Fortress: in a Kingdom by the Sea
Eh kumusta naman ang iyong trip sa Helsinki? asked by a colleague. It took me a long time to respond. A part of me would like to say it was traumatic. I wanted to tell her that a group of pickpockets took my wallet and I lost all of my money for the trip, including…
Tallinn: From Russian Nobility to Baltic Cultural Identity to a Fairy Tale Wonderland (Part 1 of 2)
In 2022, while preparing my Reykjavik trip for the International Federation for Theatre Research Annual Conference, one lay-over consideration was Helsinki in Finland. The reason: to cross the Baltic Sea and visit Tallinn in Estonia. Why would I want to visit Estonia’s capital city? Because, why not? The historical centre (Old Town) of Tallinn is…
First Day Experience in Helsinki: Escaped the Ordinary?!
Since December 2023, I anticipated the trip to Helsinki. Was I excited? Excited was an understatement. I was super, really super excited. In fact, I was tagged as the trip leader – officially, and a position that I only assume because, why not, I love to travel. Well, technically speaking, I was the official trip…
Corregidor Island: Performance, Cultural Memory, and Heritage (Part 1)
Early this year, I saw an announcement on social media that the Corregidor Island and the other surrounding fortifications along Manila Bay are collectively identified as a potential World Heritage Site (WHS): Corregidor Island and Historic Fortifications of Manila Bay. Interestingly, a few years back, I was wondering why Corregidor was not even considered as…
Tanghal Kultura 