By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Fides Ignacio, right, and James Luna-Hill
star in the one-act play "Veronidia."
Meet the Others
By Burl Burlingame
Star-BulletinFilipino theater alliance presents the work of Hawaii's 'others'
SOME people, when handed a lemon, make a sour face. Others make lemonade. Facing what they deem as political suppression of Filipino drama, and discovering that they enjoy working together, a group of mostly Filipino actors have formed TAHO, or Theatre Alliance of Hawaii's Others.
Their first venture occurs this month at the Philippine Consulate and at the University of Hawaii, a double bill of early-1900 one-acts, "What a Heap of Garbage" and "Veronidia." The plays are translated and directed by Boots Y. Pascual.
TAHO President Adeline Carlos said the group came together last summer while performing a Katipunan play at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "There were about 30 people in the cast, and we had a really good time," said Carlos. "Then in November, we came together again to do a small play for the Filipino Association of Women, and it was fun again."
They decided to make it formal, "because we didn't want to lose contact," said Carlos, who studies nursing in the real world. "There was no organization to produce Filipino plays or plays that Filipinos can act in, so we decided to do it ourself."
The new productions are a drama and a comedy, from scripts hand-carried from the Philip-pines. They plan to tour high schools, and have another pair of productions in the works for August. One idea is to present plays alternating nights in English and Tagalog.
Other small theater groups of Filipinos have come and gone in Hawaii. Will TAHO succeed where others have not?
"There are different visions out there among the different theater groups of what's best for (Hawaii) productions, and it's very hard for Filipinos to become involved," said Carlos.
"And they say that Filipino kids are not interested in theater. We have lots of Filipino kids interested. There are so many talents out there -- the opportunities for Filipinos are so rare that we NEED to be there."
Theatre Alliance of
Hawaii's OthersOn stage: "What a Heap of Garbage" and "Veronidia"
