THE La Sallian actors are officially back on stage. 

As the world bounces back to pre-pandemic normalcy, industries that have switched to digital are now reverting from the virtual back to the physical. Theater, for one, has been actively making stage debuts all over the world and fans could not be more thrilled. 

At the De La Salle University (DLSU), the Harlequin Theater Guild (HTG), its premiere theater organization has made its official stage comeback via “DuLa Salle 2k22 Campus Santo: Lasallian Urban Legends” after three years of online productions. 

The annual DuLa Salle is an overall showcase of artistic talents and managerial capabilities of new recruits into the organization as they shape discipline and perseverance in crafting stories on stage. 

The stories

For this season, the DLSU HTG featured four one-act plays based on popular horror stories and folklores unique to certain locations within the school. The university, having hosted some of the bloodiest events in Philippine history, has long been famous for spooky sightings and eerie feels that have eventually become part of its culture through the years. 

And so instead of letting new generations of La Sallians be nurtured with blind fear, the HTG tried to shed light into the stories of these “ghosts” who, at one point in time, lived and set foot in DLSU. 

Each play that ran for 25 minutes told of urban legends that lingered within particular areas inside the DLSU Manila campus; “Laboratory: Burnout,” “Elevator: In Loving Memory,” “Chapel: Stained Ghosts” and “Classroom: Devil’s Coin.”

“Laboratory: Burnout” is about a student author eager to win an article-writing contest whose theme was horrors that surrounded the St. Joseph Hall. More than the ones pitched to her, she was particularly interested in the story about fire that blazed on the 6th floor of the building which housed its chemical laboratories. 

“Elevator: In Loving Memory” on the other hand is about the story of a janitor named Valentino Belarmino who committed suicide within the campus whose restless ghost continuously show up to students, faculties and personnel of the building. 

“Chapel: Stained Ghosts” meanwhile showcases the urban tales that continue to haunt the students and faculties about the events that happened during the DLSU massacre at the height of the Battle of Manila. 

Lastly, “Classroom: Devil’s coin” is about a group of friends graduating from the university who will encounter a problem in the future with their discovery of their real identities. 

Director’s cut 

As a rightful comeback, Raffy Tejada, Artistic Director for the DLSU HTG saw it only fitting to take theater out of the confines of the indoors to an open-wide outdoor stage since historically, plays as well as ethnic rituals were done similarly. 

For the showcase of La Salle Urban Legends, the production was staged at the Amphitheater, De La Salle University, Manila Campus. It was also streamed live via Ticket2Me to cater to online audiences. 

Tejada himself believes in-campus horror stories should be contextualized rather than be sensationalized. As a director, he wants to illustrate through theater acting that all entities in this universe share spatial coexistence which should be respected and understood rather than feared. 

“Napakarami kasing ano eh, kwento sa lahat ng mga space hindi lamang sa La Salle o kahit saan ‘mang lugar,” Tejada told republicasia.  

May mga nag eexist na supernatural o anumang kababalaghan na kwento. Dito sa La Salle napakaraming ganon, nais naming gawing makahulugan yun para sa mga estudyante na hindi ito maging isang katatakutan, kung hindi ito’y isang pag tanaw na tayo ay mayroong, tayo ay co-existence dito sa space, na kung saan  kung saan tayo naro-ruon lahat,”

Raffy Tejada

Online theater

As all industries did, theater too had to migrate to digital at the onset of the pandemic. All staple elements of theater like stage, co-actors and audience were replaced by cameras, laptops, cellphones and just yourself. To many, the feel was no longer theater but film. 

But because performing had to continue, adjustments were made that still fruited effective expressions even despite a totally different set-up. 

“Okay dun muna sa nag transition kami from physical to digital,” he said. 

“At first, dahil trainor nga ako ng guild, I created a module I called it “Find Your Space Theater.” 

“It’s a workshop from home na you’re cope dun sa situation, sa space mo, sa loob ng bahay, kwarto, o kung saan mang space. You’ll cope and you adapt and then you create,” he said. 

Nagbibigay ako ng mga ready exercise na ang tawag natin flip learning. So yung mga exercise pinapadala mo sa kanila and then babasahin at aaralin nila yon. Pwede nila gawin yon on their own. And then magkikita kita yung tawag don synchronous. And then magpapakitaan kung ano yung nalearn mo doon sa exercise na yon,”

Raffy Tejada

Tejada believed the module paved the way for more effective acting since performers were still given the chance to do theater even in isolation. 

It also boosted the performers’ mental health because of the meditation exercises included that calmed the students’ minds especially during very uncertain times.