[New from the Press] Nicanor Tiongson's Collected Plays Volume I and II

Nicanor Tiongson's Collected Plays Volume I and II breathe life into Philippine history and theater traditions.

Anyone nowadays can read about a historical event or a historical figure with one click of a button or one tap on a screen. But still, what is read is seen as a relic of the past, distant and buried by time. How does one bring the past back to life? In Nicanor Tiongson’s Collected Plays, tradition, and history take center stage—detailing performances both larger-than-life yet also soul-stirring in their intimacy. 

Tiongson’s extensive career in theater and the academe is demonstrated in this collection, each play meticulously researched and crafted with care, befitting the gravity of their historical and cultural contents. Alongside the playtexts are notes from key artistic and production members showcasing the labor behind the theater magic. In Collected Plays I: Revitalizing Tradition, Tiongson reimagines ancient forms and old texts to amplify their continuing relevance in the present. Pilipinas Circa 1907 is as entertaining as it is politically charged. The love story within this reimagined sarswela is a representation of the Filipino nationalist struggle against American colonialism. 

Collected Plays II: Resurrecting History dramatizes and humanizes certain Philippine historical figures, plucking them from pedestals and the margins, and placing them at the eye level of audiences. Basilia ng Malolos delves into the story of the Women of Malolos as they battle against the iron fists of patriarchy and colonialism. He emphasizes the necessity of pro-Filipino theatrical forms, such that they evolve “according to the needs and the issues of our time and be imbued with the new gospel of true liberation for the greater majority of the Filipino people.”

CB Garrucho, veteran actor and president of the Philippine Educational Theater Association, praises Tiongson for his storytelling prowess, in that “younger generations of Filipinos can access and use [his works] to understand the issues that continue to plague our society today.”  The Collected Plays are then a testament to “the power of theater to unsettle audiences and, hopefully, move them to action,” says multi-awarded playwright Glenn Sevilla Mas in his review. 

History is alive because it is performed in the present. Though theater scholars and professionals will surely enjoy these books, there is immense value in it for anyone who yearns to learn more about our country’s past. It is for those who are willing to cry and laugh with the real/represented characters. At its heart, the Collected Plays passionately argue that the ills of the past must not be our everlasting tradition, but the irrepressible spirit of yesterday's Filipinos.

Collected Plays Volume I: Revitalizing Tradition in Three Full-length Plays by Nicanor G. Tiongson is published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press. The book retails at PHP 695 and is available at the Ateneo University Press Bookshop in Bellarmine Hall, and the Press’s official Lazada and Shopee stores.

Category: Drama
Language: English
Price: P695.00
Get your copy in paperback: website | Lazada and Shopee stores

Collected Plays Volume II: Resurrecting History in Three Full-length Musicals by Nicanor G. Tiongson is published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press. The book retails at PHP 750 and is available at unipress.ateneo.edu and the Press’s official Lazada and Shopee stores.

Category: Drama
Language: English
Price: P750.00
Get your copy in paperback: website | Lazada and Shopee stores

About the Author 

Nicanor Tiongson is a multi-awarded leading figure in the fields of theater, multidisciplinary criticism, and the academe. He has a Bachelor of Humanities degree from the Ateneo de Manila University, as well as an M.A. and Ph. D in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines. He is a founding member of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, co-founder of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, and is currently professor emeritus at the UP Film Institute of the College of Mass Communication (CMC), University of the Philippines Diliman.