the sarswela was first staged in UPV-iloilo campus last year (around july or august, i think). it was a series of several excerpts of different sarswelas, depicting the evolution of ilonggo sarswela, to be exact. the whole show was directed and made possible by the creative juices of tito fred diaz (the over-all director), tito joseph albania (the artistic director) and all UP theater performers (students, faculty, alumni and w.h.y.’s, both former and current members of teatro amakan and tagupci). each of the performers have their own career, their own profession but it was indeed undeniable that they were all stars in their own right. as they took their rightful places on stage, they knew it and they exuded the aura of a true-blue, red-blooded artista. they are not just iskolars ng bayan, but more so, they are artistas ng bayan.

i must admit that i’m so proud of my mom. she was one of the main characters in one of the excerpts in the sarswela. she played dory (as in dorotea! hahaha!) in ‘pinustahan nga gugma’ (pinustahang pag-ibig). dory was a middle-aged (single) lady who placed a bet on her finding a boyfriend in the person of resty (as in restituto! hahahaha!), played by tito ruben, an uber jologs engineer. for the rest of the synopsis, please do search for it in the net, please. ahehehehe.

apart from being cute and very entertaining, i admired my mother for being talented. of course i know that she can sing and dance and act but i’ve never seen her like that before. i have known her in more ways than one for the past 20 years of my life but i havent seen her as a performer. the experience of watching her strut her stuff on stage was indeed something new and something to be pround of. no wonder i have the same passion for theater. Goodness, she knows how much i envied her on stage!

by the time the show ended, i was in tears. i really missed theater so much. i miss practising, singing, dancing, acting… everything. the lights, the sound, the hype, the people and… yeah! the sermons! the late night conversations and the 10-minute breaks. those things seemed to be things of the past. it was four or five years since i poured my heart out in west visaysas state university theater for lolek. had i been given the chance, i would have auditioned for dulaang UP. but then again, the opportunity hadnt come. my studies had to go first. no regrets but there’s a lot of longing… =)

indeed, UP has its own way of making its students fall in love with it deeply and passionately. four years in UP is enough for you to remember it for a lifetime and indeed, you would always want to go back into her arms when she calls you from the journey you have chosen to pursue.

modifying sisa’s words (mga anak ni sisa, tita grace as sisa), ang akon gugma (para sa teatro kag para sa UP) indi matunaw kay ini nasulod sa sako nga puno sang upa… [ang pagmamahal ko sa teatro at sa UP ay hindi kailanman matutunaw dahil ito'y parang yelo na nasa loob ng isang sako na puno ng ipa.] the passion will never die and it will always be… theater and UP…

and by the way, i liked tatoy’s suggestion (manong ompoy!): kon ako mangita sang akon palamanhon, pwede na ang sarswelista nga artistahon… hahahaha!

kudos to UPV sarswela… my mom, the cast, the crew… UP, i love you…