Awit ni Pulau 2016: A Tale of Revival
by Migo Santiago
“It’s not about the destination, it’s the journey.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
28 young individuals.
An 18-strong artistic team. 8 musicians.
One national artist.
One Palanca awardee. One magnum opus.
It was the 29th of April 2015. For most of us, it was just another summer camp in Batangas, but little did we know, it was the start of something special.
Before every summer camp, Tita Len would give us a “things-to-bring” checklist. One of the staples in that checklist was our clear book where we would keep the new pieces we needed to learn and perform for the year. But at the summer camp of 2015, no clear books would be required. In a meeting before the summer camp, Tita Len distributed copies of a thin masterpiece entitled “Awit ni Pulau” that had not been performed for a long time and asked us to have it bound. She knew that it was time to revive this material because 1) it was the silver anniversary of its first performance, 2) it was the 45th anniversary of the UPCS, and 3) the issue of environmental conservation and remediation continue to be pressing concerns of the time.
Awit ni Pulau is based on a children’s book of Edgardo Maranan titled “The Song of Pulaw”. It takes on a different approach to the creation story that we are all told as children. In the story the god, Igaddu creates all of nature, including his beloved river, Pulau. However, a time comes when Igaddu pines for the love of a goddess, Mumtas, and so he leaves the world he created to court her, putting his newest creation, “man” in charge in his absence, with disastrous consequences.
Learning to perform this piece was a very different experience for us and a new journey that we had to embark on. We were used to performing in front of audiences, either standing still or presenting songs with simple choreography. But performing a theater piece was an entirely different creature.
After countless months of learning the music for the entire piece, which sometimes had to be paused because of concerts, caroling, and some unforeseen circumstances like the fire that burned down our rehearsal hall at the top of the UP Faculty Center, it was time to direct and choreograph the entire thing. The experience was enjoyable but tiring at the same time. Each of us was given a character to portray, and it was the responsibility of an actor to give life to the role. Some rehearsals were allotted to certain characters only because they carried a huge weight of the narrative of the story, and all eyes of the audience would be on them.
There were a lot of struggles and hardships that we had to face throughout the entire year, as individuals and as a group. These struggles and hardships however, made us stronger, taught us to be more disciplined, and helped us to create better versions of ourselves. It helped us to forge stronger bonds with our fellow castmates, making us more a family than a mere performing group. It was then that I learned that this is what theatre in general and the UPCS in particular believes and stands for: making meaningful and lasting relationships with one another.
15th of July 2016. It was finally time to raise the curtains.
Mixed emotions filled us performers. Some were nervous, some were excited, some wanted to stop time to enjoy the moment, and some chose to just live in the moment. All our hard work over the past year had finally come to fruition. As we said the last lyric of this masterpiece: "Saka na!", we immediately broke out in applause and screams. It was a satisfying moment for all of us because all of our sacrifice and hard work had paid off, all the risks that we took made the difference, and all of our different journeys, unified, had brought “Awit ni Pulau” and its call for environmental responsibility and rehabilitation back to life for a new generation.
(Photos by Pol Torrente)
