Would You Care For Some Theater?

Find out why the stage could be the next in thing to enjoy in Pinoy Pop culture

- Chise Alcantara

Three years ago, the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA) debuted Rak of Aegis. Note: this was legitimate theater, not high-brow but still in the realm of the cultured, and yet the response from audiences practically equalled that of sineng pangmasa. “I think PETA’s musical theatre has opened the doors for that to bring in people from students, enthusiast, and professionals. I mean, people came from Davao, Cebu, and even Singapore just to watch Rak of Aegis,” says Maribel Legarda, Artistic Director of PETA.

Rak of Aegis is the story of a low-income community living in Barangay Venezia, a place still swamped with flood water due to a typhoon that hit the area two months ago. Several of the small businesses in the community are slowly dying out and all hope seems lost until a video of Aileen (FHM Babe, Aicelle Santos), the female protagonist, singing the popular Aegis song, “Basang-basa sa Ulan” in the rain (and flood) suddenly became viral. Suddenly, money comes into the community. In an absurdist twist, the community comes terms with the idea that they might actually need the flood that they hated for so long to be able to pull themselves out of poverty.

“Everytime people say na, ‘parang Broadway musical itong Rak.’ I’d always disagree. It’s Pinoy and it’s ours. Nobody in Broadway would have shown all the trash and hardship us Filipinos have to go through in our daily lives and that’s why I think it got that much attention from all types of audiences” says Legarda.