Legazpi City hosts Tanghal 2013 for theater group convergence

By Marlon A. Loterte

LEGAZPI CITY, Feb. 16 (PIA) -- This city played host to the region-based theater organizations and university drama groups in Luzon on this year’s 7th Tanghal Theater Festival held February 9-13 showcasing rich legacy of Philippine theater emphasizing the major icons in the field of drama in the country.

This year’s Tanghal evolved on the theme “imadyinICON: Mga Imahen ng Harayang Filipino.”

Workshops on creative teaching, acting for children and teens, community immersion of the Tanghal delegates and theater performances were among the main events of the five-day confab of the different regional theater groups from Luzon.

Albay's pride Cagsawa Community Theatre Guild, Burabod of Bicol University, ABKAT of Tabaco City, Sining Banwa Actors Company joined the annual celebration; while Legazpi City and Iriga City Singing Ambassadors also joined the event.

Tanghal Theater Festival is an annual celebration of Philippine theatre held every February as part of the National Arts Month along with other activities of NCCA’S sub-commission on Arts.

Other areas for the staging of Tanghal in the country were at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro from February 13 to 16. On February 18 to 20, Tanghal will be witnessed in the National Capital Region and will then tour various sites in the province of Bohol from February 26 to 27.

Tanghal combines the emerging new community theater groups with the constantly active student theater organizations in a celebration of Filipino drama icons.

This project is a region-focused theater festival in celebration of the Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) as part of the National Arts Month (NAM) every February.

At least 1,200 participants are joining this year’s festival.

This flagship project of the NCDA is done to get a wider audience know Philippine theater, improve the skills and talents of young Filipinos from other the countries in the field of the dramatic arts.

The festival will also be a venue for interaction among regional and university-based theater organizations. This is also done as part of NCCA’s commitment to the preservation and the education of Filipino culture and arts.

The NCCA, the country’s prime agency for the arts and culture, has been spearheading the celebration, initially with activities. (MAL-PIA5, Albay)