BACOLOD City – Twelve years ago, theater practitioner, educator and cultural organizer Tanya P. Lopez said yes to hosting a dramaturgy lecture in partnership with August Melody Andong and Ma. Theresa Belleza of WPI Women Playwrights International – Philippines.
The event quickly evolved into a Bacolod theatre festival two years later with the collaboration of prominent theater company artistic directors Rudy Reveche and Ismael Java sharing to the foreign (and Manileño) resource speakers the culture and tradition of Negrense and Visayan theatre.
In 2014, they founded the Kuris Theatre Festival. “Kuris” is a Hiligaynon word which could mean “spontaneous scribbling”, but may also mean a permanent mark, or a doodle, a scratch.
Conceived over coffee talks and built over elevator pitches (which in Negros reality are likely “parking lot deals” pulled off by the zealous and enterprising Tanya), Kuris’ main objectives are collaboration, networking, and knowledge exchange not only in the theatre community, but also with other creatives, and sectors like education, youth, local government units, business, and funding agencies.
A decade later, the goal is ever stronger to train more people, and equip the new generation with the passion and skills to utilize theatre, and the community it creates, to “make the world a better place”.
After two years of online editions due to the pandemic, the 10th Kuris Theatre Festival went face-to-face with workshops, performances, and lecture series. (Thanks again to Tanya’s vision as festival director, and the support of Performance Lab’s Noel Pahayupan.)
At the Peque Gallaga Theatre in the University of St. La Salle – Bacolod, lectures were given by such theatre and literature luminaries as Chris Millado, Rene Hinojales, Elsa Coscolluela, and Dennis Marasigan from March 15 to 18; and workshops were conducted by Glenn Mas (playwriting), Bamboo Tonogbanua (stage design), Rene Hinojales (movement for stage), and John Arcelon and Nonilon Torpez (theatre improvisations)./PN
