GENERAL SANTOS CITY, March 16 – Around 3,000 spectators witnessed the performances of fourteen Mindanao theater groups during the celebration of the Mindanao-leg of a nationwide theater festival held in General Santos from March 14-16.
Hosted by MSU-General Santos and National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the 18th Tanghal Mindanao Festival featured 23 performances from artistic groups hailing from Dapitan, Ozamiz, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Koronadal, Maguindanao, and General Santos.
The shows were held in MSU-Gensan School of Graduate Studies, Lagao National High School, Ireneo Santiago National High School of Metro Dadiangas, Ameliyah’s Place, MSU Regional Science Research Center, and Notre Dame of Marbel University-IBED in Koronadal.
Ted Nudgent Tac-an, Secretary of the NCCA – National Committee on Dramatic Arts (CDA), described Tanghal as an exchange of theater practices.
“We have different forms, different styles, diversity. And with diversity, this gathering is now a kind of celebration and learning,” he said.
NCCA-CDA Vice Head, Dr. Hobart P. Savior said that the festival is like a harvest of all of the efforts of various groups whether they may be university-based or community-based.
“It’s a university theater festival at first but last year it started to expand into a community theater festival,” he explained.
According to Savior, the festival is not just about showcasing but also about leveraging, benchmarking, and at the being able to learn from one another and network.
Savior also emphasized that despite having different forms, they are bound and connected to each other by one point–the Mindanao narrative.
“Whatever diverse forms we have, mahimo siyang itsura sa whole Mindanao. Like tapestry, we are weaving,” he said.
When asked about the challenges they faced while preparing for the event, Dr. Norman Ralph Isla, NCCA-CDA Director and Festival Head said that the main struggle was choosing performances worthy of the Tanghal.
“You have to consider the inclusivity, yung variety, diversity of the performances. Yung budget siguro second yun siya na problema namin. But as long as nagtutulungan, more connections lang, kakayanin lang,” he said.
Tac-an, however, said that because theater is a solution-oriented industry, problems are nothing for them because they always find solutions.
According to Savior, the first five Tanghal festivals used to be held in one place, but expanded into four legs – National Capital Region (NCR), Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao during Tanghal's sixth year.
The festival was previously held in General Santos in 2013 and 2019.
The next festival will be held in Dipolog City next year.
The featured groups include the MSU-Gensan Kabpapagariya Ensemble, Apat sa Taglamig, Inc., Beyond Fortress Collective, Oro Teatro Bulawanon, MSU Maguindanao Sining Kandidilimudan, Xavier University - The Xavier Stage, BIDA General Santos/MSU SHS, RMMC BPeA, RMMC BCAEd, JRMSU Teatro Dasuliman, RMMC Teatro Ambahanon, Kalimudan Culture and Arts Center, and ArtHome Theater Collective.
The festival is the flagship project of NCCA-CDA aimed at celebrating National Arts Month.
The CDA, under the Subcommission on the Arts (SCA) functions as a coordinating body of the theater networks all over the country that consciously strive to sustain the broad range of theater activities especially the community theater and cultural action works in the region.
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