After "Viva Marinduque" Teatro Balangaw mounted "ANG KRISTO: PASYON-DULA" in the municipality of Gasan with top-caliber stage and movie actor JOHN ARCILLA portraying "Kristo". The three-hour play received a standing ovation from the critical Gasan audience.

Days before the showing flyers were distributed by not exactly unknown entities questioning the use of a professional actor! Ay sus!

The municipal government now wants "ANG KRISTO" presented annually every HOLY THURSDAY at the town's Guingona Park. It must be noted, however, that the Passion Play could not have been mounted without the participation of the former actors from Buenavista who joined the 1996 premiere presentation in said town. We had intended to make it an annual Buenavista Balangaw project but, but... I would say the play sana should be viewed in Buenavista yearly (J.E. SISON, the actor was with the original cast). We'll see.

I have started posting videos of some of our projects at http://marinduquegov.blogspot.com/ before I lose everything. At the height of "Ang Kristo" rehearsals, I lost my handycam and all the pictures of our projects from January to March mysterously disappeared from my laptop. The few photos I posted on this blog are what remains now, although the footages of the 6 performances in the municipalities of Boac, Buenavista, Gasan, Mogpog, Torrijos and Sta. Cruz remain intact on mini-VDs. It will take time to get them on the pc. Life goes on...

(Above photo: Was in Bagtingon one day in January. That's one of the few places in Marinduque which still mirrors life on this island about fifty years ago. That's Pastores hill in the background, where the only catalogued Tagalog anito was found by Frenchman Alfred Marche in 1881, in a cave there keeping watch over the pre-colonial dead. I thought finding a rainbow between me and the cave at 4:00 pm was some sign... whatever.)