Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas is restaging the highly-acclaimed Kung Paano Nanalo sa Karera si Rosang Taba this April 19 to May 05 2024 in UP Diliman. Considered one of the Best Filipino Theatre of 2023, this reimagining of Dean Francis Alfar’s beloved children’s book by Maynard Manansala and Rody Vera showcases the power of storytelling to reclaim and celebrate one’s independence.
A race between Rosa and her oppressors in the fictional world of the Katao ensues with her family’s freedom at stake. Directed by José Estrella, Issa Manalo Lopez, and Mark Daniel Dalacat to fierce music and wit, the story of Rosang Taba is a story of how limitations can be overcome when one has the will to fight for their liberty. How does an ordinary Katao beat a menacing commandant in a race? Come and witness Rosa do it!
A play for all ages, Rosang Taba is envisioned to be the race that every Filipino can run.
Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas has long been at the forefront of producing premiere theatre productions since it was established in 1976 by National Artist for Theatre Tony Mabesa. This production continues Dulaang UP’s celebration of women in its 46th Season Sidhi’t Silakbo. The season envisions women liberating themselves through a series of performances of freedom, fury, wit, rage, love, and ruin.
Catch Kung Paano Nanalo sa Karera si Rosang Taba at the IBG-KAL Theater, University of the Philippines Diliman on the following dates:
April 19, 26, May 03 (7:30 pm)
April 20, 27, May 04 (3:30 pm & 7:30 pm)
April 21, 28, May 05 (10:30 am & 03:30 pm)
To celebrate Women’s Month, opening week tickets for April 19 to 21 shows are on sale for UP Students until March 15 at ₱550. Meanwhile, Non-UP Student tickets are at ₱750, PWD/Senior Citizens at ₱800, and Regular tickets at ₱1,000. Click here to purchase your tickets.
Regular, non-discounted tickets are available via Ticket2Me.
For inquiries on show buying, audience sponsorship, and bulk tickets, contact Kate Dayag-Nonay at du*********************@up.ph. Additional information will be posted on the Dulaang UP Facebook page.
*with contributions from Jonas Gabriel Garcia and the Rosang Taba dramaturgy team.
Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (Dulaang UP) is set to kickstart the launch of DUP STUDIO with Dolly de Leon entitled Auditioning for a Role and Landing It. The award-winning film and theatre actress Dolly de Leon will serve as a mentor to six participants for the first-ever Studio Work of the program. This will also be open to the sit-in participants to witness the session first-hand.
The DUP STUDIO aspires to become a mainstay in Philippine theatre education, especially catering to aspiring artists and artists-at-heart. Inspired by a series of colloquia organized by the UP Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts on its 60th founding anniversary in 2019, DUP Studio is set to become the extension arm of Dulaang UP in making theatre education accessible to a wider range of students, educators, and enthusiasts from the seasoned to the novice.
As an alumna of the pioneering batch of the Certificate in Theatre Arts program at the University of the Philippines, Dolly de Leon pays homage to her theatre training at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts by sharing her audition techniques. This is the trend DUP Studio seeks to sustain–welcoming back the talents it has honed over the past four decades to inspire a new breed of artists and enthusiasts.
DUP Studio Work will not be limited to stage acting, however, as the avenue recognizes the changing performance landscape. DUP Studio dramaturgs Olive Nieto, Tess Jamias and Issa Manalo Lopez aim to gather workshop facilitators from homegrown and international contemporary performance makers across the creative industries, both onstage and offstage, on-camera, and behind the scenes. The studio aims to create a space for deep and genuine connections to contextualize and respond to the current issues and trends in theatre, performance studies, and the creative industries.
The pilot Studio Work, “DUP STUDIO with Dolly de Leon: Auditioning for a Role and Landing It”, is open to those building their professional and creative portfolios. Workshop rates range from 5,000.00 pesos for the mentored participants and 1,200.00 pesos for the sit-in participants. This will be soon sold on the Ticket2Me platform. The workshop will be held at the newly-furnished IBGKAL Theatre, University of the Philippines Diliman, on 25 November 2023 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Dolly de Leon has recently co-starred with Kathryn Bernardo in the box-office hit “A Very Good Girl” and gained international acclaim for her role in the Palme d’Or-winning Triangle of Sadness. In June 2023, de Leon was invited to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the annual Oscars or Academy Awards.
Other prominent DUP Alumni include Eugene Domingo, Irma Adlawan, Neil Ryan Sese, Lani Sumalinog, Micah Pineda, and Martha Sta. Barbara, Shamaine Buencamino, and Sigrid Andrea Bernardo.
For inquiries and further information, contact or email du***********@up.ph. Bulk ticket orders for schools and student organizations may be addressed to Kate Dayag-Nonay at du*********************@up.ph. More registration details will be posted on the Dulaang UP Facebook page.
*with contributions from Issa Manalo Lopez and Eija Maxene Lozano
Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (Dulaang UP) puts women at the forefront to launch its 46th Theatre Season in Sidhi’t Silakbo. Dulaang UP Artistic Director Issa Manalo Lopez and Virgin Labfest Festival Director Tess Jamias direct this production, which weaves together a contemporary reimagining of the classics Medea, Antigone, Trojan Women, and The Suppliants.
Sidhi’t Silakbo opens the season in a celebration of the authenticity and validity of varying female realities. To its directors, “It is an awakening, a breaking of the cycle, breaking stereotypes, of women liberating themselves through a series of performances of freedom, fury, wit, rage, love and ruin.”
Featuring five powerful actors: Shamaine Buencamino, Uzziel Delamide, Chic San Agustin, Wenah Nagales, and Adrienne Vergara, the show is fueled by female ferocity and frenzy. These women reclaim female stories and create spaces where a woman can assert her decisions based on what is true, what makes her happy, and what is right for her.
Shamaine Buencamino is a masterful actor whose career spans three decades. She has brought us numerous meaningful and remarkable performances in theatre, film, and television in the Philippines and abroad and has dedicated herself to breaking the stigma about depression and mental health.
Joining her are fellow Dulaang UP alumnae Adrienne Vergara and Chic San Agustin. FAMAS award winner Vergara starred in the Jerrold Tarog movie Bliss. She has recently gone viral as “Ate Judit” in the Boy’s Love series Gaya sa Pelikula and has been an advocate for queer representation since then. Chic, with a theatre background rooted in Dulaang UP, has delved into a career as an advertising manager and events specialist.
Rising theatre and indie film actor Uzziel Delamide is a firecracker who joins in the mix. To complete this ensemble, Wenah Nagales, a familiar face in film and television, shares her talents as a seasoned actor and singer whose theatre background was honed by the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company.
Catch performances of these fiery women at the KAL-IBG Theatre, University of the Philippines Diliman, on the following dates:
Nov. 23, 24, 25 (7:30 pm)
Nov. 26 (2:30 pm & 7:30 pm)
Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 01 (7:30 pm)
Dec. 02, 03 (2:30 pm & 7:30 pm)
Tickets are available at Php 1,300 (regular rate) and Php 650 (discounted rate for UP students). This will be soon sold on the Ticket2Me platform. Sponsorship concerns such as show buying, audience sponsorship, and bulk tickets may be addressed to Kate Dayag-Nonay at du***********@up.ph. Additional information will be posted on the Dulaang UP Facebook page.
Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas has long been at the forefront of producing premiere theatre productions since it was established in 1976 by National Artist for Theatre Tony Mabesa. In its second season since the end of the pandemic, Dulaang UP continues to welcome back students, educators, and enthusiasts to the stage, where greater representation never fails to matter.
DUP rises again after weathering two years of the CoVid-19 pandemic. To forge the path forward, the event, entitled “Pagtutuloy/Pagtutulay” starts with honoring its founding artistic director – National Artist for Theatre Antonio O. Mabesa. These ushers in the reopening of DUP’s doors to the public as it presents two new exciting and thought-provoking works in its 45th Theatre Season.
Pagtutuloy/Pagtutulay
Parangal kay Antonio O. Mabesa, Pambansang Alagad ng Sining para sa Teatro at Paglulunsad ng 45th Theatre Season ng Dulaang UP
Pagtutuloy/Pagtutulay expresses a tone of gratitude in its heartfelt remembering of a captain and founder, a celebration of his fruitful past, his innovations in theatre-making, and a rekindling of the commitment to serve Sir Tony’s vision of excellence in the practice of Theatre.
It offers a personal and intimate commemoration of “Sir Tony” through the eyes of his students, colleagues, friends, and family. It shares how his mentorship and legacy live on in the lives and practices of the people he has inspired.
And to preserve the wealth of knowledge carried on by the Dulaang UP community, DUP now launches its 45th Theatre Season “BALIKWAS: Tanaw. Tugon. Tindig”, amidst the pandemic, as an agile response to the current conditions of theatre practice and the Filipino society in this “next” normal.
National Artist for Theater Tony Mabesa established Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP) in 1976. Through his leadership and inspiration, DUP established a reputation for innovation and excellence in theatre while offering a training ground for young talent via the mentorship of the veterans. DUP has also served as a venue for staging published and new works making it an evident source of new talent for local and international theatre, cinema, television, advertising, and other creative industries.
In Pagtutuloy/Pagtutulay, DUP traces the legacy of NA Tony Mabesa from the personal accounts of his colleagues, students, and friends in the local theatre community. Among them are renowned names in the field of theater, film, and television: Edna Mae Landicho, Monino Duque, Josefina Estrella, Anton Juan, Jr., Shamaine Buencamino, Dennis Marasigan, Karen Gaerlan, Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete, Frances Makil-Ignacio, Eric Pineda, Banaue Miclat-Janssen, Ross Pesigan, and Adriana Agcaoili to name a few.
Part of remembering Sir Tony Mabesa is an interpretation of his biographical essay, Life in the Theater, which adds an intimate layer of commemorating his presence and contribution to professional theater and the Theater Arts Program of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Memorializing Sir Tony would not be complete without a poignant testimony from one of his closest friends and colleagues in the industry, award-winning film & TV director Joel Lamangan. Lastly, a rendition of a song from Joi Barrios’ Gabriela: Isang Oratorio, directed by Sir Tony himself in 2006 complements a longing yet hopeful tone of honoring Dulaang UP’s beloved father.
Dulaang UP’s Lineage
Dulaang UP Artistic Director, Issa Lopez
Dulaang UP Managing Director Nicodemus Varona
Since its founding year, Dulaang UP has been a vehicle for articulating perspectives and assertions through the vision of its artistic directors.
For more than four decades, DUP thrived under the artistic directorship of catalysts of change and innovation in the theatre and performance scene such as Tony Mabesa, Behn Cervantes, Anton Juan Jr., Jose Estrella, Alexander Cortez, Amiel Leonardia, Ogie Juliano, Edna Mae Landicho, Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete, Dexter M. Santos, and Banaue Miclat-Janssen.
As Dulaang UP decides to open its doors after two years of hiatus, it also extends its pathway beyond the stage and onto the challenges of hybrid and new forms of performances, while making sure to stand for its core values through its new artistic director, Issa Manalo Lopez.
Under the new artistic directorship, DUP strives to hold onto its reputation and address issues worth taking.
New Productions
Two stellar productions are lined up in this year’s 45th theatre season; The Reconciliation Dinner, a new one-act play by Floy Quintos, directed by Dexter Santos, showing this November 18-20, 2022; and Kung Paano Nanalo sa Karera si Rosang Taba, original story by Dean Alfar, a stage adaptation by Maynard Manansala and Rody Vera, directed by José Estrella, to be staged by March 2023. For tickets, show buying, and sponsorships, you may contact Dulaang UP at dulaangup.upd@up.edu.ph.
I count myself as one of the lucky ones who had the privilege to attend Pagtutuloy, Pagtutulay: A Tribute to Tony Mabesa. The name Antonio “Tony” Mabesa is a name that brings love, happiness, respect, and admiration to every person he has ever encountered. His career in theater, film, television, and the academe span about 70 years.
While he has done so much for the entertainment industry, his biggest contribution, in my opinion, has been as an educator and founder of the Dulaang UP and other theater groups. His passion infected the people around him and made all his students and mentees strive to be better than they thought they could be.
Watching testimonial after testimonial from former students and individuals (some of whom are renowned personalities in theater, TV, and film) he has worked with was very heartwarming and tear-inducing. It made me regret that I never had the opportunity to work with him.
Joel Lamangan – director, mentee, and friend
Joel Lamangan shares his experiences with Tony Mabesa
The most memorable part of the evening for me was when Dir. Joel Lamangan came onstage to share stories and anecdotes about learning and working with Tony Mabesa. I smiled and laughed with everyone in the crowd when he talked about how Tony could not act like a poor man, which is why as an actor, he was always cast as the businessman, the priest, and the don.
As Joel relates more of his anecdotes he segues into how Tony Mabesa is the reason why Philippine university theater exists. It is because of him that Dulaang UP exists.
Balikwas by Dulaang UP
This media event kicks off the new season of Dulaang UP called “Balikwas” which begins with a one-act play by Floy Quintos under the direction Dexter Santos called The Reconciliation Dinner. It will be performed live from November 18 to 20 at the UP Theater Main Hall.
The DUP STUDIO aspires to become a mainstay in Philippine theatre education, especially catering to aspiring artists and artists-at-heart. Inspired by a series of colloquia organized by the UP Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts on its 60th founding anniversary in 2019, DUP Studio is set to become the extension arm of Dulaang UP in making theatre education accessible to a wider range of students, educators, and enthusiasts from the seasoned to the novice.
Pagtutuloy/Pagtutulay expresses a tone of gratitude in its heartfelt remembering of a captain and founder, a celebration of his fruitful past, his innovations in theatre-making, and a rekindling of the commitment to serve Sir Tony’s vision of excellence in the practice of Theatre.
Two stellar productions are lined up in this year’s 45th theatre season; The Reconciliation Dinner, a new one-act play by Floy Quintos, directed by Dexter Santos, showing this November 18-20, 2022; and Kung Paano Nanalo sa Karera si Rosang Taba, original story by Dean Alfar, a stage adaptation by Maynard Manansala and Rody Vera, directed by José Estrella, to be staged by March 2023. For tickets, show buying, and sponsorships, you may contact Dulaang UP at 
You must be logged in to post a comment.