Cebuano Theater - Contemporary Theater

Contemporary Theater

Contemporary theater in Cebu ranged from street theater, balak-dula, expressionistic theater, and musical theater. The Cebuano's love for music brought on the staging of several Broadway plays performed by Cebuano talents leaving original Cebuano plays in the background. Several efforts from various organizations including the Arts Council of Cebu and LUDABI were made to bring back the love and respect for stage plays in Cebuano written by local artists. A good number of modern playwrights and directors emerged through the years to include Daisy Ba-ad, Al Evangelio, Raje Palanca and Allan Jayme Rabaya. Their original works have been staged by various schools and organizations.

One of the leading school-based theatre groups is the University of San Carlos Theatre guild, who have been successfully producing at least 2 theatre runs per year for the past two decades. Independent groups emerged such as Al Evangelio's Pasundayag Sugbo, Emmanuel Jones Mante's Young Thespians of Cebu, Daisy Baad's Out of the Box Theatre Co., Raymond Ordoño's Crystal Cavalier Productions, Jamna Gicole's Repertory for Young Professionals in Theatre, Hendri Go's Little Boy Productions, and Sonny Alquizola's Cre8tive Thespians Club, Incorporated.

Currently, Cebu Theatre runs up to 20 titles per year.