Dulaang Sibol’s Sinta! celebrates her golden anniversary this 2025

Dr Onofre Pagsanghan (Mr Pagsi) opened every performance of his musical, Sinta!, with a speech—about the whys, the hows, and the what-nots of the country’s longest-running musical. Since 1975, Sinta! has played nearly every Valentine’s season at the Ateneo de Manila High School.

At 97, Mr Pagsi—Sinta! writer-composer-director and Sibol's founder—can no longer give that speech at every show. But on February 5, he graced Dulaang Sibol’s Tanghalang Pagsanghan, his namesake theater, with his presence. Joining him were his family and Sibol alumni, including his daughter, Stella Pagsanghan-Deriquito—who played Sinta from 1976 to the early 1990s—and Atty Jimmy Hofileña, the original Narding from 1975.

Some of those present were concerned that at his age, Mr Pagsi would only be able to stay for a few scenes. But energized, he sat through the entire almost 3-hour run, including the extended jokes and ad libs. He even lingered after, to share his joy and excitement with the cast in time for the play’s golden anniversary season.

During a 1973 study trip to New York, Mr Pagsi caught The Fantasticks, even then, already one of the world’s longest-running musicals. Inspired, he attempted to translate it, and realized after the first song that a translation would not suffice. And so, Mr Pagsi wrote Sinta!, giving her a heart and a voice that is thoroughly thoroughly Filipino, so much so that National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera has written that Sinta! has since "evolved into an original creation,” becoming something entirely her own.

On 7 February 1975, Sinta! debuted—well, half of her did. Jimmy Hofileña, Sinta's original Narding, who played the role from 1975-1990, shares:

Sinta! was half-born as only its Unang Yugto in 1975. It was first staged on 7 February 1975 (in time for Valentine’s day!) at the old Dulaang Sibol theater fashioned out of a lecture room (approximately the size of one-and-a-half classrooms) adjacent to the then-Chemistry lab, right next to the football fields.

The very first Sinta was Cathy Melendrez, daughter of then-popular actor Jimmy Melendrez, and the very first Matang Lawin was Ariosto (Nonong) Reyes, Jr. But it was I, being the first—and, most likely, the gangliest—Narding, who was the luckiest and most privileged Sibolista of all! What did I, all of only 14 years old then and incongruously spouting the line “maglalabingwalong taon na ako,” do to deserve sharing the entablado with the nationally-renowned stage and film child (by then, teen) actor Nonong Reyes and incredibly-talented Cathy, in a play authored by Filipino theater great Onofre Pagsanghan?

The crafting of Ikalawang Yugto followed, and, in an effort to reach a wider audience, the movie version, Sinta! Ang Bituing Bagong Gising, as shown sometime in 1976. But Dulaang Sibol is intimate theater, and the two-act stage version was not to be denied.

The full two-act play was eventually first staged on 14 August 1976 at a new theater which was sectioned off from the cafeteria, and which has become second home to generations of Sibolistas ever since. The role of Sinta began to be essayed by Stella Pagsanghan who, contrary to the then-conventional view that the play was written for her, was born for the role.

Home is what Sinta! has always been. She calls us home, even as she help us build a home for Dulaang Sibol, as the theater was arguably made possible because of Sinta's popularity and influence.

Generations of Dulaang Sibol alumni have been part of the production, and many return year after year, along with audiences, old and new, to witness what Lumbera calls "a play about the maturing of young love as told in verse and song that shimmer with nostalgia for the lost simple ways of earlier times."

During his Wednesday visit, Mr Pagsi kept saying, “This is my last play.” It may have sounded strange to some, but it is true—Sinta! is, in fact, the last play Mr Pagsi wrote entirely on his own. It is a reminder of his great accomplishment as a teacher: letting go.

At the height of his career—as artistic director of the CCP Folk Arts Theater, as a member of the Ateneo de Manila Board of Trustees, and right as the theater that would bear his name was built—he let go, and from then on he let the children play.

That has always been the story of Sinta! and the story of Dulaang Sibol—this is theater forever young, always the work of many new hands and hearts. Sinta is rooted in a 1973 visit to New York and in the Hagonoy, Bulacan of Mr Pagsi’s childhood, but also in the Ateneo of 1975 and 2025. It is a little strange, a little playful, always bending time and space. Some call it anachronism; some call it breaking the fourth wall. But in truth, Sinta! has no fourth wall. It has always been a conversation—between the actors, the audience, and the entire Sibol family. And that is what makes her so alive

Those who have seen the play time and time again know this. But Sibol is always happy to welcome those who see Sinta! for the first time. And Sibol is most especially happy to have the  aspirants and members of Dulaang Sibol witness the rehearsals and shows—because for the students in Dulaang Sibol, Sinta! is more than a production. It is a glimpse of what comes after Sibol, of what the world is like, what life is like, and proof that no matter how far you go, you can always come home.

Sinta! opens Dulaang Sibol’s jubilee season with Sibol alumni who represent at least 3 of Sinta’s 5 decades.

2025 sees the return of Ara Rioflorido (Sibol & ASHS 2023), who began playing Sinta when she was in Grade 12. Three new performers also join the Sinta! family.

First, we have a second generation Sinta cast member, the child of Joji Quintos, one of the fathers of Sinta from the 1970s. Joaquin Quintos ( Sibol & ASHS 2020)  is Pader.

Next is Mikkel Valencia (Sibol & ASHS 2022) who is our only Narding for this specific run.

Last, our newest Matang Lawin is Austin Gonzales (Sibol & AHS 2016, BFA Theater Arts 2021), Dulaang Sibol’s current Managing Director and one of its moderators. Austin was cast as Matang Lawin by Mr. Pagsi in 2016. It took him nine years to say yes.

Other members of the cast for the 7-15 February 2025 run, all Sibol and Ateneo alumni, include Diego Alcudia, Dino Santos, Kent Alonzo, Justice Bacorro, Diego David, Joaquin Quintos, Kurt Rivera, Miggy Leyson, Emilio Policarpio, and Lance Espiritu.​​​​​​

So with Sinta, who is 15, going on 50, Dulaang Sibol invites you: remember with us, dream with us, fall in love with us, and choose love with us. And when the play is over, may you carry its stories with you—and share them, as we always have.

Sinta runs from 7-15 February 2025 in Dulaang Sibol. Tickets are available at go.ateneo.edu/sinta2025.