Monday, November 11, 2024

5:48 PM | Things Take Time

Things take time. Just came from my fiction workshop, where we tackled the second draft of their first short story required in class. Call me satisfied! Admittedly, my rhythm for teaching workshop was kinda off when I came back to teaching last year, because I had to relearn everything again, especially the process, after three pandemic years of not doing it. But it does come back, slowly. Today I’m satisfied.

Labels: education, fiction, life, school, teaching, workshops

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Wednesday, August 10, 2022

3:02 PM | Salsalan ug Mugna

This is the zine of my literature workshop for the CCP Arts Academy. It compiles their final output: a balak, siday, or binalaybay about a heritage item relevant to their hometown. The participants were junior and senior high school creative writing teachers, but this is the first time most of them have written something creative in their own language. Link to download here.

Labels: cultural center of the philippines, poetry, workshops, writing

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Friday, August 05, 2022

5:58 AM | An Arts Academy for the Nation’s Teachers

One of the most dynamic, and humbling, things I do in my vocation as both writer and cultural worker has been moderating writing workshops for teachers. I cannot recall when this exactly began for me, but it has been a while. And my general takeaway has always been that of supreme fulfilment, a matter of giving back, so to speak.

In one of the most recent workshops I’ve given, I was asked by a participant how I knew I was a writer. My answer was immediately forthcoming: I had no idea I could write well until my teachers told me I could, paving the way to a career devoted mostly to creative writing.

In grade school, I remember enjoying doing the themed compositions my teacher, Ms. Bennie Vic Concepcion, made us do on an annual rotation—and missives devoted to “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” or “My Best Friend” became ripe ground to explore, in a creative manner, my childhood rumination on those themes. Ms. Concepcion, who was my English teacher from Grade III to Grade IV, also equipped me with the fundamentals of the English language, making my facility in it adept enough to be able to tell stories well. I was later appointed to become editor-in-chief of the school organ, The Western Star, although I had no idea I could do journalism as well. The same thing happened in high school, with teachers like Ms. Tessie Sedigo, Ms. Gina Fontejon, and Prof. Alejandra Bañas validating my writing, that I could also be tasked with editing the school paper. In college, Prof. Ceres Pioquinto took me under her wings, and under her I learned the nuances of literary criticism. When I was a freshman, Prof. Timothy Montes approached me after his BC 11 class one day, and essentially “ordered” me to apply for The Weekly Sillimanian [which I did, and years later, I would become its editor-in-chief]. It was also Tim who “ordered” me to apply for the Silliman University National Writers Workshop in 2020, where I rubbed elbows for the first time with many of the luminaries in Philippine literary circles. That essentially began my writing career.

My teachers were the ones who recognized something in me I did not even see in myself. They inspired me, they goaded me, they made me believe in a talent I never even knew I had. Thus, in giving these writing workshops for teachers, I am only coming full circle. These workshops have been a privilege and a pleasure.

The Arts Academy of the Cultural Center of the Philippines has been an annual tour-of-duty for me—vacated only by the pandemic in recent years. In past editions of this academic outreach by the CCP, I’ve taught regular writing workshops in poetry and fiction, but when I was invited to teach again in 2022, I decided that I wanted to pursue something I’ve been an advocate of in recent years: writing in Binisaya—in other words, mamugnaong katitikan sa Binisaya.

I felt it was necessary. I felt I could make a difference if I use Binisaya as the lens with which to do a workshop in creative writing, and succeed not only introducing obscure texts to a new audience of teachers [who might go on to teach these very works to their classes] but also in rekindling in them the often-ignored truth that when you write in your own mother tongue, you will discover a different kind of depth you can never really fathom when you use a borrowed language.

And frankly speaking, it also helps jumpstart a curiosity in learning the grammar and orthography of the native tongue—something we don’t learn at all in school. I always find it heartening when people who have been speaking Binasaya most of their lives eventually find out that there is actually a difference between “og” and “ug,” between “putli” and “ulay,” or between “ni” and “kang”; that you are actually using a Tagalog-corrupted lexicon when you say “nilugaw” [correct usage: “linugaw”] or “nilabhan” [correct usage: “linabhan”], “niluto” [correct usage: “linuto”], or “nilung-ag” [correct usage: “linung-ag”]; or you’re basically entertaining bad grammar when you say “taga-i” [correct usage: “hatagi”], or “tuho-i” [correct usage: “tuohi”], or “palikero” [correct usage: “palakero”], or “dalunggan” [correct usage: “dulunggan”]. What accounts for the mistakes we regularly make of our own language is the fact that for most of us, it has remained largely oral—thus, when we mishear something, we automatically use the spelling of that misheard word—and we are not used to reading the words or the “pulong” on the page. It’s about time we take seriously our own language, which also means using it correctly as much as possible.

While creative writing in both English and Tagalog continue to flourish—and helped by the fact that these are taught in schools and published widely—regional language literature always seem to be neglected in the larger scheme of things. Our writings in Binisaya, Bikolano, Waray, Hiligayon, Kiniray-a, Akeanon, Ilocano, Chavacano, and others are certainly not dead—of late, they have actually seen a resurgence [if limited] in popularity and in scholarship. But the fact remains that in terms of development it has lagged behind English and Tagalog. I’ve written in English most of my life, and I’ll probably continue doing so, since this is the language that I am most comfortable with—but I’ve become cognizant of this sense of responsibility of becoming an advocate of the literature of my own language because, to borrow the wisdom of two my mentors, this specific kind of literature is a valid building block in our continuing effort to build, and understand, the nation, which we should do city by city, province by province, language by language [something I learned from Tim Montes]; and learning the language as part of the culture of the place where we’re from helps us distance away from using outside models [e.g., Manila culture, Western culture] to understand ourselves [something I learned from Rosario Cruz Lucero].

In the past five days, I’ve been immersed in learning the nuances of Binisaya, and in crafting the balak, the siday, the binalaybay—all contemporary forms of poetry in Binisaya, Waray, and Hiligaynon—with an assortment of teachers from all over the Philippines, counting among them Bernardino P. Magno Jr. [Digos City], Beverly L. Deque [Bais City], Edwin Garcia [Baybay, Leyte], Eloisa Jane Ramos [Las Piñas City], Guia May D. Flordemarlin [Tagum City], Jeepee Magallanes [Bonifacio CIty, Misamis Occidental], Joseph O. Montajes [Baybay City, Leyte], Katybeth P. Sumalinab [Caraga, Davao Oriental], Kezia Keren L. Cagalawan [Tudela, Misamis Occidental], Leizel C. Quiatchon [Bacolod City], Marliel P. Castillejos [Pasig City], Maryjean T. Susaya [Jaro, Leyte], May D. Castino [Catbalogan City, Samar], Narciso Ogaya Jr. [Pasig City], Niña Rose D. Inoferio [Dumaguete City], Ninfa Jael Hopilos [Iloilo City], Patricia Villanueva [Iligan City], Rene Puson [Baybay City, Leyte], Rey D. Calo [Valencia City, Bukidnon], Rolinda Judith Carlobos [Butuan City], Roma Medina [Masbate City], Shelamar C. Garrucha [Bais City], and Tess Sedigo-Bernal [Siquijor], who was actually my freshman English teacher in Silliman High School way back in the early 1990s.

They are only a part of a bigger contingent of teachers [about 180 of them] who have been in Dumaguete the past few days, and here to sharpen more their classroom know-how in the teaching of Theatre Arts [under Dessa Quesada-Palm], dance and dance production [under Ronnie Mirabuena, Cheenee Limuaco, Angelo Sayson, and Aiken Quipot], film [under Elvert Bañares], band conducting and music production [under Joseph Albert Basa and Juni Jay Tinambacan], and visual arts [under W Don Flores and AK Ocol]. I’m sure I’m not the only one among the mentors who are gratified in the heartening response of our participants—I love my workshoppers’ hunger to learn, and I love their capacity for absorption and reflection, for their humor even in challenging activities, and for their willingness to also teach me in things that I lack.

A confession: I teach because I want to know. This springs from the adage: “If you want to learn something, read about it. If you want to understand something, write about it. If you want to master something, teach it.” Hopefully, in doing a creative writing workshop in Binisaya, I am on the way to that last of lofty goals.

Labels: cultural center of the philippines, literature, philippine literature, silliman, teaching, workshops

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Tuesday, August 02, 2022

7:00 PM | Teaching Binisaya Literature for the CCP Arts Academy

From Day 2 of the CCP Arts Academy, where I'm teaching a workshop on Binisaya literature, using regional language as the lens to teach creative writing. [I think it's needed.]





My workshop is being held at the Silliman Library, and I have about 30 participants — all teachers from all over the Philippines, from Davao to Iligan, from Bacolod to Baybay, Leyte, from the NCR to Masbate, from Bais to Iloilo. This is most interesting, and I'm also learning along the way.





Yesterday, I lectured on a sense of place in literature, and today we touched on Binisaya orthography and the various literary forms [from traditional to contemporary] in Katitikang Binisaya. This afternoon, we began our writing workshop, where I asked them to write a balak/siday/binalaybay. We also did an exercise on crafting the sambingay [metaphor]. Can't wait for Friday, where we will see the fruition of all these efforts.



With some of the resource speakers for the workshops on the various arts ranging from theatre to dance, visual arts to film, music to literature.

[Photos by Renz Torres]

Labels: art and culture, cultural center of the philippines, literature, philippine literature, teaching, workshops, writing

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Monday, September 30, 2019

6:17 PM | Call for Manuscripts to the 59th Silliman University National Writers Workshop

The Silliman University National Writers Workshop is now accepting applications for the 59th Silliman University National Writers Workshop to be held from 27 April to 8 May 2020 at the Silliman University Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village and the Silliman University campus.

This Writers Workshop is offering ten fellowships to promising writers in the Philippines who want to have a chance to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be provided housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of their transportation.

To be considered, applicants should submit manuscripts on or before 6 December 2019. (Extension to the deadline will not be made.) All manuscripts should comply with the instructions stated below. (Failure to do so will automatically eliminate their entries).

Applicants for Fiction and Creative Nonfiction fellowships should submit three to four (3-4) entries. Applicants for Poetry fellowships should submit a suite of seven to ten (7-10) poems. Applicants for Drama fellowships should submit at least one (1) One-Act Play. Each fiction, creative nonfiction, or drama manuscript should not be more than 20 pages, double-spaced. We encourage you to stay well below the 20 pages. Aside from manuscripts in Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Drama that should be written in English, the Workshop will also be accepting manuscripts for Balak (poetry in Binisaya) and Sugilanon [short story in Binisaya]. Applicants should submit a suite of seven to ten (7-10) balak entries with their English translations, or three to four (3-4) sugilanon entries with their English translations.

Manuscripts should be submitted in five (5) hard copies. They should be computerized in MS Word, double-spaced, on 8.5 x 11 inches bond paper, with approximately one-inch margin on all sides. Please indicate the category (FICTION, CREATIVE NONFICTION, POETRY, ONE-ACT DRAMA, BALAK, or SUGILANON) immediately under the title. The page number must be typed consecutively (e.g., 1 of 30, 2 of 30, and so on) at the center of the bottom margin of each page. The font should be Book Antiqua or Palatino, and the font size should be 12.

The applicant’s real name and address must appear only in the official application form and the certification of originality of works, and must not appear on the manuscripts. Manuscripts should be accompanied by the official application form, a notarized certification of originality of works, and at least one letter of recommendation from a literature professor or an established writer. All requirements must be complete at the time of submission.

Send all applications or requests for information to the Department of English and Literature, attention Dr. Warlito Caturay Jr., Workshop Coordinator, 1/F Katipunan Hall, Silliman University, 6200 Dumaguete City. For inquiries, email us at nww@su.edu.ph or call 035-422-6002 loc. 350.


DOWNLOADABLE FILES:

Application Form
Certification of Originality
Recommendation Form

Labels: city of literature, dumaguete writers workshop, literature, silliman, workshops, writers, writing

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Sunday, October 22, 2017

4:41 PM | Call for Manuscripts to the 2018 Cebu Young Writers’ Studio

The Libulan Queer Collective, a writers’ bloc of queer poets, essayists, fictionists, and playwrights from the southern Philippines, in partnership with Kagis Bisaya and YOUTeacH Philippines-Central Visayas, is now accepting applications to the 2018 Cebu Young Writers’ Studio to be held in January 2018 at the University of Cebu-Banilad at Gov. M. Cuenco Ave., Cebu City.

The Cebu Young Writers’ Studio, an adaptation of the Cagayan de Oro Young Writers’ Studio, is an annual creative writing fellowship for 14 of the most promising emerging poets, fictionists, and essayists born and/or based in Central Visayas — Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor. Fellowships are available per genre — poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. (Applicants may apply for more than one genre.)



To be eligible, an applicant must (1) be born and/or based in any of the provinces of Central Visayas and (2) not have attended any regional and national writers’ workshops organized by reputable creative writing centers and institutes.

Entries (original and unpublished works) in Binisaya and/or English shall be composed of any of the following:

• For a Poetry fellowship: 4 poems (not more than 60 lines each); or

• For a Fiction fellowship: 2 short stories (2000 to 5000 words each) of any genre; or 1 novel chapter (3000 to 6000 words each) with a synopsis; or 3 flash fiction (500 to 1500 words each); or

• For a Creative Nonfiction fellowship: 2 works of creative nonfiction (2000 to 5000 words each) such as nonfiction memoir, personal essays, travel writing, or other hybridized forms; or 3 micro-essays (500 to 1500 words each).

The general theme for works to be submitted this year is on ‘places and placelessness’—literary pieces that discuss homelands, neighborhoods, place-attachment/place-making, diaspora, displacement, and others—but is not confined only to these themes.

This creative writing fellowship will include critiquing sessions, craft lectures, and other parallel activities to be facilitated by writers from the Libulan Queer Collective — poet-fictionist Jessrel E Gilbuena, poet-essayist Adonis Enricuso, and essayist-editor Alton Melvar Dapanas, with fictionist and editor R Joseph Dazo as the workshop director. Other local writers will also serve as guest panelists.

The Cebu Young Writers’ Studio aims to initiate a creative writing culture of mentorship and critiquing in the region and institutionalize an open training platform for beginners of the creative writing craft. It is envisioned to complement with the annual Bathalad-Kagis Creative Writing Workshop.

Accepted fellows will be provided with a certificate, lunch, and snacks. (There is no registration fee but fellows, if accepted, will shoulder their own transportation and accommodation expenses to and from the venue during the whole duration of the workshop.)

Electronic copies, in MS Word format, Garamond font 12, of the manuscript may be emailed to libulanqueercollective [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject Genre_CYWS (example, CNF_CYWS). The author's name should not appear on the manuscript. On the email's body, kindly put your full name, address (within Central Visayas), institutional affiliation (workplace and/or school), mobile number, and a short bio note (150-300 words in the third person).

Deadline for the submission of manuscripts is on 15 December 2017. All inquiries must be addressed to the workshop director through the indicated email address.

Senior high school/college teachers of Literature/Panitikan and Creative Writing/Malikhaing Pagsulat courses who wish to observe the sessions may send a letter of intent to the workshop director through the email.

The Libulan Queer Collective is the writers’ bloc behind the forthcoming Libulan: Binisaya Anthology of Queer Literature and the soon-to-be launched online literary journal Payag Habagatan: New Writings from the South.

Labels: cebu, workshops, writers

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Monday, April 25, 2016

10:34 PM | Against Forgetting: The 7th Philippine International Literary Festival

I'll be in Manila later this week for the 7th Philippine International Literary Festival!



I'll be in the panel on "Workshopping Workshops," together with Renato Vibiesca, Ralph Semino Galan, Mitch Cerda, Michael M. Coroza, Butch Dalisay, and Vim Nadera. The two-day affair will be held on April 28-29 at QCX Museum, Quezon Memorial Circle. (Admission is free for all sessions. However, everyone is encouraged to bring book donations.)

The theme for the PILF this year is "Against Forgetting" -- and according to the good folks over at the National Book Development Board, it "underscores the role of creation as an individual’s attempt at breaking silence, as an act of bravery against seeming futility."

As in previous editions, the festival will feature a plenary session on the theme, a workshop on literary editing, and roundtable discussions on writing, publishing, rights trading, and readership. The PILF is a landmark project of the NBDB that celebrates literature and promotes best publishing practices through discourse on issues of authorship and readership shaping the local book industry. Since its inception in 2010, the festival has become a major gathering and focal point for authors, illustrators, publishers, and literature lovers in the Philippines and beyond.

For more information, please go to the PILF website.

Labels: books, conferences, festivals, philippine literature, workshops, writers, writing

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Monday, June 29, 2009

12:01 AM | LitCritters Dumaguete Edition 3 No. 2

This week

Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
Time Share by Neil LaBute
Rice Wine by Wilfrido Nolledo
The Varieties of Romantic Experience: Graduate Work in Desire by Robert Cohen

Last week

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger
New England Primer by Donald Hall
We Won't Cry Over This by Socorro Villanueva

The LitCritters is a reading and writing group based in Manila (moderated by Dean Francis Alfar) and Dumaguete. Every week, we read and discuss several pieces of short fiction from various genres from different writers with the goal of expanding our reading horizons, improving our ability to critique, and learning how to write from the good texts. In addition to speculative fiction, we read Philippine literature in English, as well as world literature.

The Dumaguete Group meets every Sunday at 1 p.m. in Gabby's Bistro.

Labels: LitCritters, workshops, writing

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Friday, May 22, 2009

11:17 AM | The Literature of All Our Dumaguete Memories

[UPDATED]

It is a Thursday when I write these lines. And it is almost the end of the world.

Well, maybe not exactly; but I am sure that for fifteen young writers right now—Ynna Abuan, Jonathan Gonzales, Arkaye Keirulf, Petra Magno, Niño Manaog, Keith Bryan Cortez, Ana Margarita Stuart del Rosario, Monique Francisco, Stan Geronimo, Aleck Maramag, Gabriel Millado Bea Nakpil, Joy Rodriguez, Philip Kimpo Jr., and Marck Ronald Rimorin—it might as well be.











I speak in hyperbole, of course—but I can imagine all of them feeling something like this: that there is one more day left, and, almost without warning, a summer of stories and essays and poems, and literary duels (with panelists Myrna Peña-Reyes, Gémino Abad, César Ruìz Aquino, Susan Lara, J. Neil Garcia, Sarge Lacuesta, Rosario Cruz Lucero, Ernesto Superal Yee, Juaniyo Arcellana, and guest-writers Krip Yuson, Padmapani Perez, Tara FT Sering, Mookie Katigbak, and Carla Pacis), and forging new literary friendships will be over.



















It’s familiar territory. All of us have felt this gnawing acknowledgment of summer’s end—all of us who have been writing fellows in Asia’s longest-running creative writing workshop, founded by Edilberto Tiempo and National Artist for Literature Edith Lopez Tiempo in 1961. And there are hundreds of us, most comprising shining names in contemporary Philippine literature.



















Coming to Dumaguete has long been considered a veritable rite of passage for young writers in the country. And yet those of us who have been through the Tiempo tutelage know that it is also more than just that. Because what seems to separate it from other workshops of its kind in the Philippines is the way it commands such fierce loyalty to the memories of one summer. (That feeling, and that memory, will last a lifetime.) So many stories, so many poems, so many essays have tried to explain, over the years, exactly why this is so—and I can very well call this a veritable literature of memory. A memory of a place. A memory of a summer where things started one off with one as a writer with a deeper sense of the literary.











As I write this, I am on my third cup of coffee in Café Noriter—which is Korean for “playground”--and right outside the glass windows of the small café, things do come into a kind of play in a city sweltering in gentility and the humid sun: the traffic of Dumaguete’s tricycles grows by the minute; people of all color come and go in a babble of Korean, English, French, German, Cebuano, and Farsi; and daytime inevitably passes by like a dream.

Soon it will be night. And somewhere near Escaño Beach, the beginning strains of folk music will issue out of Hayahay—it is a Thursday night, after all; on Wednesdays, it will be the sound of bisaya reggae—and here, the poet Mickey Ybañez holds court like a loquacious jester with long hair. In Gabby’s Bistro or in Boston Café or in Jo’s, the diners are gearing up for a meal of chicken adobo or Tuscan pork chop or chicken inato. In the seaside Boulevard, the night joggers are marking out their territory as one by one, the harsh orange light of the streetlamps and the neon signs of the cafes and restaurants that dot the acacia-shaded stretch flicker into being. Daytime passes.

May-time passes, all too quickly.

And one easily realizes that summer days are incredibly short in Dumaguete—especially if you are a fellow in the National Writers Workshop: what once seemed like a promise of excruciating eternity in the very beginning is soon dispelled by the very real promise of a surprisingly quick end. It used to be a three-week creative writing workshop; but for 2009, in a two-week edition that may not make sense for many alumni, the end becomes even all the more quick.









I write of the things above because all these will have become part of the fellows’ collective memory of Dumaguete. It will be the only tangible thing they will share together. (Perhaps they will also share fervent promises: to come back soon, very soon, to relive it all.) These will be fodder for their conversations to come: what one did in the dark hallways of Harold’s Mansion; what the other did in the bright witchcraft of a sunshine in Siquijor; what one did in the swimming pool of LaLiMar after a deadly bus ride through “Mexico”; what the other did in the cramped dancing space in Hayahay; what one did aboard Annabelle Lee as it cruised the blue waters of Tambobo Bay; and what the other did at the end of a katay session in Katipunan Hall. And how they all drank, and laughed, and camwhored each other’s precious minutes! Of course, they will also certainly remember how two short weeks taught them how to be better writers, and even more so, as good readers.

As a Dumaguete native, I am privileged to be, through sheer accident of geography, an eternal balik-fellow. And I will always find it interesting to read what others take away from my hometown and its famed workshop. I have been in many editions of the workshop in this decade, and each batch is always different from the others: some are more interesting in peculiar ways; some are wilder; some are surprisingly sedate; and some are simply astounding for the sheer collective power of their talent. The Class of 2009 is one I will certainly be watching out for in the coming months and years

Labels: dumaguete, dumaguete writers workshop, philippine literature, silliman, workshops, writing

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

10:01 AM | Creative Writing with Lawrence Ypil

Calling all creative writing enthusiasts! This summer, Little Boy Productions will be offering a workshop to be led by Palanca award-winning writer Lawrence Ypil. This workshop is designed to introduce students and interested professionals to the art of creative writing. Through writing exercises, mini-lecture seminars, and on-site writing projects, the workshop aims to dispel the notion that writing is a difficult, serious endeavor, and to approach writing in a fun and imaginative way.

The workshop leads the participants through the different stages in creative writing: from the elusive art of finding a topic, to the challenge of choosing an appropriate literary form, to undergoing the delicate process of revision and publication. It hopes to also introduce participants to the primary literary genres: poetry, fiction, and the essay. While it is encouraged that participants have experience in creative writing, this workshop encourages beginning writers and interested students who have had no previous experience. In fact, it is especially open to those who have always wanted to write a poem or a story but has not had the chance to do so.

Patterned after the popular workshops for painting and drawing, the workshop for creative writing is built on the premise that the art of writing is a skill that can be discovered, developed, and mastered. We usually like to think that the gift of writing is reserved for those special few--that one is either born a writer or one is not. The writing workshop, however, runs on the belief that the writer is made, not born. That writing, especially imaginative writing, is a skill that we all have, and that all that we need to do is develop and nurture this hidden skill.

The writing workshop will be led by poet and essayist Lawrence Ypil. A First Prize Winner in the Poetry Category of the 2006 Palanca Awards, his poems and essays have been published in various publications both here and abroad. He teaches creative writing at the Ateneo de Manila University and is a regular panelist in many notable writing workshops. He keeps a regular column at Sun Star Weekend called "Dog-ears in the Wrong Notebook," and his first book, The Highest Hiding Place, will be published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press later this year.

The Creative Writing Workshop will run for two weeks from April 27 to May 8, 2009. The class will meet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2 to 5 pm at the old campus of Sacred Heart School - Jesuit on Mango Avenue. Students, aspiring writers, young professionals, 13 years old and above, are encouraged to join. Workshop fee is 2,500 pesos. For more information, please call 254-9320, 233-0452 or 0922-820-8298 or visit Little Boy Productions at Exams Advantage, 3rd Floor Manros Plaza, across Fooda, on Mango Avenue.

Labels: essay, fiction, poetry, workshops, writers

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Saturday, March 28, 2009

7:01 PM | Kwento

A good friend, the film director and Palanca-winning screenplay writer Jun Lana, has a screenplay-writing clinic with a kick-ass incentive. Read all about it in his blog.

Labels: contests, directors, film, screenplay, workshops

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

9:01 AM | Little Boy Productions' Summer Theater Workshops for Kids and Teens

Little Boy Productions brings back its Summer Theater Workshops for Kids and Teens to be held at the Old Campus of Sacred Heart School–Jesuit on Mango Avenue, Cebu City, from April 14 to May 2.

Now on its fourth year, the workshops offer three classes: Theater for Kids (4 to 6 years old), Children’s Musical Theater (7 to 10 years old), and Musical Theater for Teens (11 years old and up.) Participants will be exposed to 15 sessions of theater training, culminating in a Broadway musical showcase to be held at the Cenewof Theater.

Among those that will be teaching in Cebu this summer are Jill Pena, BFA Theater Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila University and recipient of a Loyola Schools Award for the Arts in 2007. She also recently performed the lead role in Disney’s “Mulan” for Repertory Philippines.

Joining her will be Reb Atadero, another accomplished actor who played Juan in the hit off-Broadway musical “Altar Boyz” also for Repertory Philippines. His first major role in theater was playing Zeke in the Asian premiere of Disney’s “High School Musical” in 2007.

Completing the team is actor-commercial model Acey Aguilar, who has performed for various theater groups at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, De La Salle University’s College of Saint Benilde, and Dulaang Sipat Lawin at the Philippine High School for the Arts in Makiling.

“We are proud and excited to bring experienced teachers and actors from Manila to teach the summer workshops here in Cebu,” says Hendri Go of Little Boy Productions. “They have years of experience acting, directing, choreographing—and teaching others these skills.”

The workshop fee is P4,500, inclusive of miscellaneous and recital fees, souvenir t-shirt, and tickets to the culminating show.

For more information, call 2549320, 2330452 or 0922-820-8298, or visit Little Boy Productions at Exams Advantage, 3rd Floor Manros Plaza, across Fooda, on Mango Avenue.


Sometimes, when I look back at my childhood and note what I could have done differently, I tell myself I could have risen above the sloth of Dumaguete days -- especially during those old Dumaguete days when lazy summers meant really lazy summers -- and join workshops like these. I wonder where it could have taken me, because things like this actually build so much self-confidence for the unformed child -- plus give him an avenue to explore what ounce of creativity he has, something he will definitely need when he grows up and becomes whatever he wants to become.

Now, as an adult, I could only look back and regret some things -- I should have learned the piano, I should have taken tap dancing, I should have been in that poetry workshop, I should have taken my swimming classes seriously -- which are things I never really wanted to do as a kid (heck, I just wanted to sleep all summer days away and play tayokok). Boy, I wish now that I knew better then.

The workshop above is Hendri's current advocacy, to help out local kids explore their potential, and to bring the best of local theater to somewhere nearer to us in the Visayas. (Because why go to Manila when you can just go to Cebu?) I do hope this becomes a success in every sense of that word. Break a leg, Hends!

Labels: cebu, theater, workshops

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Friday, August 29, 2008

10:27 AM | Mookie and Sarge Move Their Workshop Schedules

The workshops slated for this week at A Different Bookstore have been postponed. Angelo Rodriguez Lacuesta's fiction workshop, "Telling the Untold," will be moved to September 18 and 25 (Thursdays) at 5pm to 7pm. Mookie Katigbak's poetry workshop, "Lightning in the Mind," will be moved to September 19 and 26 (Fridays) at 5pm to 7pm. Workshoppers are requested to reconfirm their attendance by sending a short email to sargelacuesta(at)gmail(dot)com.

Labels: friends, philippine literature, workshops, writers

[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

8:13 PM | Mookie and Sarge Do a Workshop

This is your chance to learn from local litdom's power couple, the poet Mookie Katigbak and the fictionist Sarge Lacuesta. Multi-awarded writers, brilliant friends. Now go sign up.

From Mookie:

A Different Bookstore in Serendra will be hosting two workshops by Mookie Katigbak and Angelo R. Lacuesta.

"Lightning In The Mind" with Mookie Katigbak on August 30, 2008, Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. A two-part poetry workshop highlighting image and meaning in poetry. All author's proceeds to go to World Vision. August 30 and September 5. Registration fee of P750 to cover resource book, snacks and workshop materials. Participants also receive a permanent 12% discount card from A Different Bookstore.

"Telling The Untold" with Angelo R. Lacuesta on August 28, 2008, Thursday, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. A two-part writing workshop highlighting the art and the craft of fiction. All author's proceeds to go to World Vision. August 28 and September 4. Registration fee of P750 to cover resource book, snacks and workshop materials. Participants also receive a permanent 12% discount card from A Different Bookstore.

Please take note that the dates on the posters are not final. Refer to the block quote above instead.

Labels: philippine literature, workshops, writers

[0] This is Where You Bite the Sandwich

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