There is a scramble to set up. Panicked whispers and a rumble of nervous footsteps pierce through the heavy darkness. Suddenly the curtains are up, the lights go on and the timer starts. It’s time to KISS.
Short+Sweet (S+S) Manila is a creative festival and competition featuring works of theater, music and dance that only last a maximum of 10 minutes. Each participant’s goal is to “Keep It Short and Sweet” (KISS) before they hit the limit and the lights are curtly killed.
Originating from Australia over a decade ago, S+S is now the biggest short play festival in the world, with the promise of brevity offering a new way of experiencing theatrical endeavors.
To make things interesting, the festival is also a competition, with awards for Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Script to be selected by a jury on the last day. The Audience Poll awards are presented to two of the audience’s favorite plays—one for each week—which are voted on at the end of each day.
In its first year in the Philippines, the program was held from February 26 to March 9, 2014 in the University of the Philippines-Diliman, boasting a plethora of emerging Filipino directors—three of whom come from the Ateneo.
Competing in a line-up of over 28 plays, these young Atenean directors take center stage, hoping to make every single minute count.
Jay Caluag
Photo by Christie K. Lim
He’s typing away furiously, staring intently at the screen. The silence is broken by the irregular clacking of the computer keys. He takes a quick glance at the time to see if he can still add a line of code to his program, but he doesn’t think twice—he’s already packing up for his next engagement: Theater rehearsals.
Management information systems junior Jay Caluag has been immersed in the performing arts since his grade school days. Also currently taking up a minor in theater arts, the incoming Tanghalang Ateneo (TA) company manager is one of the directors in this year’s S+S festival.
His play “Blabbermouth,” written by Australian playwright Cerise De Gelder, captures an exchange between a prostitute and a client. Contrary to its title, Caluag reveals that each line of the play consists of just one word. “What I like about it is that the things they say are very different from the things they do,” explains the S+S Audience Poll award winner.
Still in the process of making a name for himself, Caluag values S+S as an avenue for emerging artists to hone their craft and showcase their skills. Moreover, the unorthodox format manages to challenge the standards of theater. “It gives you a new idea of how theater can be seen and how theater can be done,” he says.
This opportunity into a unique side of theater comes with a price, though. Caluag admits to the difficulties of balancing academics and TA duties with rehearsals for S+S. On top of all of this is the idea that his actors are already quite seasoned. “Siyempre, minsan nakakahiya kasi mas matanda sila (Of course, sometimes it’s embarrassing because they’re older than me).
He likewise brings up a personal concern of how audiences in the Ateneo fall short in appreciating thespian culture despite the efforts poured into making a production. “’Yun ‘yung masakit, ‘yung napipilitan lang sila [manood] kasi required (That’s what really hurts, how students feel forced [to watch] because it’s required),” he shares.
Still, Caluag maintains confidence in the appeal of 10-minute plays. “The hurriedness becomes a cool motif or concept inside the play,” he muses in a mix of English and Filipino. “The reason why we do theater is not just to show off, but actually to show a partial truth or a truth in our society… in a way, we’re trying to leave a message to the audience.”
Guelan Luarca
Photo by Alexis A. Casas
It is 7:30 PM and supersenior English literature major Guelan Luarca is behind the Rizal Mini Theater (RMT), seated at the end of a long line of vacant chairs. His face is illuminated by the glow of his laptop screen. Straight out of a meeting, he admits that he is exhausted, but the mere mention of the word “theater” gives him a surge of energy.
Luarca is no stranger to the stage. “I was exposed to [theater] even before I joined,” he says of growing up with a theater actor for a father. The Palanca-winning playwright began his theater career in high school and has since then thrived as a member of TA.
Surrounded by like-minded young directors, his peers invited him to direct for the S+S Manila theater festival. “It looked like a fun concept,” he says, exhilarated by the notion of directing a 10-minute play.
Luarca reveals that a few shortcuts can lead you down an entertaining path. “I actually cheated,” he quips. S+S gave directors over 40 scripts to choose from. However, he was busy directing a thesis production in the Ateneo at the time scripts were being selected, so he asked a fellow director to choose for him. The result was a comedy entitled “Here to Serve You” written by Barbara Lindsay.
The play revolves around three strangers who meet at an airport when an abandoned shoe becomes a security threat. “It’s ridiculous and it pokes fun at the security scare,” he laughs. He explains that directing a comedy rests on the immediacy of its punch line. “It has to be catchy immediately. The joke has to be both visual and verbal.”
Nevertheless, the time constraint remains to be a challenge even for a veteran such as Luarca. “The moment the lights turn on, [the audience] has to start caring.”
He notes that theater has been “booming” in the Philippines lately and hopes that S+S will potentially “over-stimulate” the audience and draw in a younger crowd. “Hopefully, Short and Sweet can be a gateway drug to different kinds of theater,” he says.
Exhaustion aside, his love for his craft keeps him going. “If you’re a practitioner it must mean you enjoy what you’re doing because, if not, you would have left ages ago,” he says, managing a smile.
He prepares for yet another meeting, but the sound of an ongoing play calls him into the RMT and delays his departure a little more.
Jay Crisostomo
Photo by Ryan Y. Racca
The winding streets of Marikina work well in concealing its novel spots from would-be visitors. But this isn’t the case with Dito: Bahay ng Sining, which is situated right beside a school. The mini theater and art space, which doubles as a café, stands erect and unsuspecting along J. Molina Street.
The place was the brainchild of Jay Crisostomo IV (BFA TA and CW ‘10), a Palanca awardee and a director of one of the plays in S+S. His piece, “Spaceman and Executioner,” revolves around an astronaut’s sexual escapades on a planet of Amazonian women. As the spaceman tries to escape, an executioner is sent to behead him. He adds an eccentric twist, however: “In the play, it’s his literal head. In my play, it’s the other head,” he shares.
Crisostomo’s love for the craft is evidenced by his joining the festival, but he remains practical by setting up his own business. Being its owner, after all, consists of a whole new set of challenges on his part. “In [the Ateneo,] there was help, there was a market. Now,I have to hire my own marketer, hire my own people,” he says in a mix of English and Filipino.
Having directed a number of plays for Tanghalang Ateneo during his time, Crisostomo identifies with both Caluag and Luarca on the difficulty of directing a short play. “You have to be to the point,” he stresses. “You have to be precise.”
Crisostomo is also an experienced playwright, though he admits that he prefers writing full-length plays to shorter ones. He compares the challenges of being a director to being a playwright: “I guess it’s more difficult for playwrights, because it’s difficult even to get someone to read your script nowadays.”
Likewise, he speculates on how the festival would turn out, given its rapid pacing: “I think as an audience member, I’ll get bored in the first five [plays]—but let’s see. Maybe they [the festival organizers] have something up their sleeves.”
Nonetheless, Crisostomo perseveres in spite of these struggles—of being a young business owner, director and playwright all at the same time—and maintains hope for the festival as a whole. “As of now, the monopoly is held by CCP… and once you say CCP, it’s all high art and highbrow. Short and Sweet [on the other hand], if you see the list of plays, there are a lot of fun, accessible and feasible pieces. I guess people will be more drawn to the theater because of Short and Sweet.”
