Locale for the passion play, Buenavista, Marinduque, PH

Ang Kristo: Pasyondula (Passion Play) behind the scene photos

More photos from Pasyondula Passion Play

Photos from Ang Kristo: Pasyondula Passion Play, Buenavista, Marinduque

Water is Life

Curtain call, Ang Kristo 2015 passion play. Marinduque.

Curtain call, April 3, 2015. Ang Kristo: Pasyondula. Buenavista, Marinduque, Philippines.

Video of Joseph Biggel of PBB-4 as Longhino in 2015 Passion Play

Shorter version, Biggel's role in 2015 Passion Play by Teatro Balangaw. Joseph Emil Biggel has not been seen in any television project almost immediately after the conclusion of Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) 4th Edition (PBB Unlimited), where he ended up as third big placer. 

This year he has accepted an invitation to take on the role of Longhino in a passion play staged by the community theater group, Teatro Balangaw of Marinduque. It will be recalled that three years ago in 2012 he did join the same theater group not as an actor but as a stage hand being responsible as propsman in the same passion play presented in the town of Boac. This year's passion play was presented in the scenic town of Buenavista before a jampacked crowd that came to watch.

Teatro Balangaw's 2015 Passion Play with Joseph Biggel as Longhino

Buenavista, Marinduque. Ang Kristo: Pasyondula is a 3-hour passion play first mounted in 2006 by Teatro Balangaw, a Marinduque community theater group. It has been presented since then in Buenavista, Gasan and Boac and this year 2015, returns to the original town where local artists and municipal officials hope to make it an annual Holy Week event in this scenic and laid-back locale at the foot of the mystical Malindig volcano. The 2015 version features Joseph Biggel of PBB as the blind centurion Longinus who regained his sight when blood and water poured from the body of the crucified Christ when he pierced 

His side with a spear.

Paco Cemetery, the 'killing fields' | ABS-CBN News

Paco Cemetery, the 'killing fields' | ABS-CBN News

Some things must be shared

Disclose.tv - Bases 5 Part 1 Mind Control with Rauni Kilde

Some things must be shared. Interview with Rauni Kilde on Mind Control and the Paranormal.

Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde is a Finnish physician who has been an author and lecturer on parapsychology, ufology and mind control since 1982. She now lives in Norway.

Two moons: From Teatro Balangaw myth to Science@NASA

Who wouldn't be intrigued? The earth had two moons? My original 1992 Mara Unduk story that our community theater group developed as a dance-drama depicted exactly that and how one of the two celestial bodies crashed onto the earth when a goddess was angered causing an end-of-days scenario. Few survivors were washed into an island that sprang from the sea, building a community there yet over time old mistakes were committed, spreading chaos and corruption, angering the gods once more and causing a new delubyo. Enlightenment ensued finally thereafter. Now NASA is investigating the two moon theory, part of its GRAIL Mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on September 10, 2013, watch video.

 
 Excerpts from NASA's video, Did earth have two moons?" recently posted on YouTube: "Did earth have two moons? Nothing stirs the soul of poets and lovers like the sight of a full moon rising on a warm autumn night. Nothing that is, except the sight of two moons rising… If a paper published recently in the journal "Nature" is right, two moons once graced the night skies of earth. The idea has not been proven but it is drawing the serious attention of researchers. “It’s an intriguing idea”, says David Smith of the Massachussets Institute of Technology and it would be a way to explain one of the great mysteries of the earth moon system.
 
"…the two moon theory introduced by planetary scientists Martin Jutzi and Erik Asphaug of the University of California at Santa Cruz is the latest attempt. NASA’s GRAIL Mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center on September 10 could help unravel the mystery. Smith is the deputy principal investigator for GRAIL which stands for Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory. GRAIL consists of two aircrafts that will orbit the moon in tandem precisely mapping the moon’s gravitational field and thus reveal how the moon’s interior is layered. Among other things, this could test the two moon theory. Most scientists believe that when a Mars sized object crashed into our planet about 4 1/2 billion years ago the resulting debris cloud coalesced to form the moon… the debris cloud actually formed two moons."

Lovers Baylana and Alon

Myths and legends are told, retold and re-interpreted. Events, characters and symbols intrinsic to such stories are said to contain certain truths, sparks from the subconscious, that find fufillment in time. This 1992 original material, MARA UNDUK (by Eli Obligacion) that was presented by the Teatro Balangaw group as a dance-drama from Marinduque villages to audiences at Nayong Pilipino and Fort Santiago appear to have come full circle now, as most of the episodes and characters in the story have, it seems, all rendezvoused with their own destiny in the real world. Others just refer to this seeming phenomenon as plain art imitating life again and again...or life imitating art: 

Mayana, the Goddess of the Lower Moon and Buwana, the Goddess of the Higher Moon
in Mara Unduk dance-drama by Teatro Balangaw
Photo by Mel Cortez (1997) published in BusinessWorld

THE STORY OF MARA UNDUK - by Eli J. Obligacion

In the days of Bathala, when two moons still sailed the sky the earth was inhabited by highly-gifted spirit-people who lived in harmony with all existence. Such incredibly immense powers they had, for they controlled the four elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth.

Over time, however, they became too proud to the point that "Mayana", the Goddess of the Lower Moon, was angered, smashing her lunar abode onto the Earth. This was known as the First Upheaval - that which caused an island to spring from the sea. The few survivors named it "Mara Unduk", sea mountain.

The Earth was left under the care of the gentle Goddess of the Higher moon, "Buwana". A new order was established under the rule of the sorcerer, "Katalona", who dominated the people's lives. But the survivors who have learned to hunt for food have forgotten who they were or where they came from. They had no notion of their destiny.

Strange dreams haunted the people for a long time and, to understand them, a ritual was held one day. The young maiden, "Baylana" was bathed in incense and flower extracts and was put to sleep. In a trance, she spoke with the voice of the spirit protector, "Marindik"...

Alon, a hunter who served as Katalona's apprentice falls in love with the prettiest maiden, Baylana. The relationship ended in a tragedy for the maiden and for Katalona, he who believed that Alon's mission to chart his people's destiny was loftier that Alon's love for Baylana. 

Chaos

Such lawlessness and disorder descended upon the village that the people lost their sense of hope and direction. Marindik was so displeased that she caused her dwelling on the mountaintop to emit burning rocks, and the heaven to weep.

Deluge 

The villages were submerged in mud and sand, bringing havoc and destruction once again. In the midst of it all, Alon finds union with his primeval past, and emerged in harmony with the elemental spirits and with all existence.

Mystical island of Mara Unduk.

The enlightened Alon becomes whole again as the new Tao -
 he who will lead his people to their rightful and glorious place under the sun.

Volunteerism and Community Theater

Sa isang pag-aaral, “Pista. Pamayanan. Tradisyong Orál: Mga Konsepto sa Pag-aaral ng mga Teatro sa Asya” na sinulat ni Bryan L. Viray (Asian Theater: Final Paper 2008) ay nabanggit niya ang ganito:

“Sa paglalarawan sa “teatro” ni Eli Obligacion, artistic director ng Teatro Balangaw, isang community theater sa isang bayan sa Marinduque, “Teatro came forth in the spirit of volunteerism, especially among the young and the young at heart.” Binigyang pansin ko ang salitang volunteerism dahil sa gayon din ang unang lumalabas kapag pinag-uusapan ang komunidad lalo sa mga samahang panteatro sa isang komunidad. Hindi din nalalayo ang karanasan ng mga taga-Vietnam sa karanasang ito.“The Vietnamese theatre has always had the support of the common people…” (Ban1960).

Palagian din namang umuutlaw ang nosyon ng aydentidad o pagkakakilanlan kung pag-uusapan ang komunidad. Hindi maiiwasan ang tendensiyang magkaroon ng paglalahat sa paglalarawan ng mga tao sa isang komunidad. Halimbawa, ang mga ilonggo ay sinasabi nilang malambing. Ang mga waray naman ay palaban. Gayundin,may kinalaman ang lokasyon sa pagtutukoy ng isang lugar o pamayanan. Ang Baguio bilang Summer Capital of the Philippines, ang Marinduque bilang Heart of the Philippines, ang Hapon bilang Land of the Rising Sun at marami pang iba. Pakahulugan nga ng Wikipedia, “community is a social group sharing an environment with shared interest affecting the identity of the participants.”

Ref: http://www.scribd.com/doc/76742976/Asian-Theater-Final-Paper

PIPPIN Montage

Why Pippin is an astounding experience.

"Corner of the Sky" and the songs of "Pippin"

Return of the incredibly fantastic Broadway musical "Pippin" in 2013, Tony Award Winner for Best Musical Revival this year. Thirty years ago it was premiered in Manila at the PICC with Tony Espejo as director and Tony Fabella as choreographer. I was one of the players/chorus dancers in that local version that starred Maricris Bermont, Tommy Abuel, Dodo Crisol, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio, Michael Uytengsu, Audie Gemora and others. "Corner of the Sky" is one inspiring song I kept singing years later in Bahaghari.

So there was really a Lemuria in the Pacific

Leonid and Zodiacal Light from Stephane Vetter on Vimeo.

The night sky that us, humans, have wondered about since time immemorial. Relevant in these days of the end of a world age and the beginning of a new one. It's 2012. From Stephane Vetter: Leonid and Zodiacal Light.

Salubong at Sayaw ng Bati in Mogpog

Salubong, (meeting), dramatizes the meeting between the Blessed Mother and her Ressurected Son, staged very early during Easter mornings through two processions meeting in a designated area where Sayaw ng Bati is then performed. A re-staging of these Holy Week rituals was held in Mogpog as the town's contribution to the Viva Marinduque project, part of the annual celebration of Philippine Arts Festival in February of every year.

Bulong scenes

. Engkanto and Asuang confront Salve in a scene from Bulong. Bulong in Marinduque is the collective name of spirits that unknowingly take their victims or subjects to another realm, supposedly experienced by some inhabitants of Marinduque.

Burial scene after a tragic fight between the natives and foreign intruders on the island.

After her ordeal in the spiritual realm, Salve returns and meets the old woman who was the last person she saw before being brought to the other world.

some marinduque cultural symbols

Old Boac Cathedral

Reconstructed Boac Cathedral

The Boac River, destroyed in 1996 mine spill

Nature's design? Moriones watching Teatro Balangaw's Mara Unduk play on the environment