Press Release
May 21, 2011

PHILIPPINE KOMEDYA: A LASTING CULTURAL LEGACY

As part of the upcoming Philippine-Spanish Friendship day celebrations, Senator Edgardo J. Angara is spearheading a project to study and ultimately revive Philippine komedya.

The Philippine-Spanish Friendship day is commemorated every 30th of June, featuring programs and initiatives which foster Amistad Duradera or "enduring friendship" between the two countries.

This project involves details the art and technique of staging the Philippine *komedya*, one of the most enduring cultural legacies left behind from the Spanish Colonial Period.

A book entitled "Komedya de Baler: A Celebration of Filipino-Hispano Culture" is being written by National Artist Virgilio S. Almario, featuring interviews with surviving members of the original theater group from Baler, Aurora and its gradual evolution into a local community theater.

The book also traces the rich history of theater in the Philippines, from the introduction of comedia de capa y espada as a method of teaching Christianity, its adaptation into purely religious presentations such as the senakulo and panuluyan, and finally the indigenization of the Spanish comedia into the Filipino komedya.

Finally, the book explores the possibility of reviving the komedya as a traditional National Theater, as a throwback to the centuries of shared culture between Spain and the Philippines.

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