BACOLOD City –Around 20 male inmates underwent a five-day integrated theater arts workshop as part of their preparation to form a theater guild.
Metro Bacolod District Jail warden Norberto Miciano has been supportive for the creation of the theater organization for the Male Dormitory Annex inmates in Barangay Handumanan.
“The theater training under the HANAS: Scholarship Program in Culture and the Arts initiated by the West Visayas Museum Association Inc. and the Colegio San Agustin aims to guide inmates on how to reconcile with their past, heal their broken lives, and rediscover their identities,” said HANAS executive and workshop pedagogy director Rudy Reveche.
Reveche said they have already finished the first phase of the training.
Theater actor Denise Aguilar conducted the Voice for Theater Workshop for the inmates through a series of theater games, exercises, role playing, and group dynamics.
Reveche said the inmates will also learn skills on mask-making, creative writing and technical theater and production design through the workshop.
“The long-term goal is to organize a mask theater guild in jail, because when they perform in public, they have to protect their identities” he said.
Reveche said after the workshop, they will continue with the rehearsals for a play, which will be opened to a public audience in June.
“Our target is to hold weekend performances, that people will go there to watch them and support their livelihood,” he added. (With a report from PNA/PN)
