*414. Drama in Candaba: TRAVELING THEATRICAL COMPANIES

TAKING CENTER STAGE. Compania Crispelita actors and singers set the mood for their performance with a rousing song number for the barrio audience of Lanang, Candaba. 1957.

Candaba, one of Pampanga’s ancient towns, represent the lowest point of Central Luzon. It is also a good distance away from the capital and commercial cities of San Fernando and Angeles, and from the 1930s to as recent as the 1950s, the town remained far removed from other Pampanga communities. Trips to Candaba were compounded by its marshy terrain, floods and the presence of Huk lairs in the area which made travelling difficult and hazardous.

 Candabaweños, despite this isolation, looked to the occasional fiestas for entertainment, as movies could only be watched in distant urban towns. In some places, the only tenuous link which they have with the stage is the obsolete moro-moro and the dying zarzuela. On this account, artistic and enterprising locals started putting up dramatic troupes, beginning in in the 1920s and which flourished till the post-war years.

 These theatrical groups or companies, went from barrio to barrio to show off their wares, a motley group of actors, musicians, directors, designers and technicians, to stage plays on makeshift stages before enraptured village crowds.

 One of the earliest groups, was the Compania Ocampo, organized in 1923 by Isaac C. Gomez and Doña Concepcion Ocampo y Limjuco of Candaba. Gomez, a prolific poet who even competed against Crissot, wrote his 5-act opus, “Sampagang Asahar”which dealt with the prevailing tenancy problems of the province. He became the resident playwright and director of the company for five years, and the group succeeded in restoring public interest in drama.

Compania Ocampo remained active in the mid 1950s, mounting regular shows often in the town plaza with komedyas and contemporary zarzuelas. Members then included Pons Amurao, Esting Tungol, Curing Mallari, Andres Balagtas, Flor Garcia, and the Manapuls. Providing healthy competition was Compania Paz, a zarzuela company founded by Judge Florentino Torres in the early 1920s.

 In 1961, the eminent writer Jose Gallardo of barrio Gulap, Candaba with Andres Balagtas revived the Compania Ocampo. After the demise of Reyes in 1967, Gallardo reorganized the theatrical group again under his own name. The Martial Law curfew imposed in 1972 made it difficult to stage evening performances, so the group was disbanded.

 In the mid 1950s, the artists of barrio Lanang, led by the noted Candaba poet Jose Pelayo, orangized themselves into a dramatic troupe known as Compania Crispelita. It soon became a village institution, with its travelling shows all around the province.

In December 1957, the company gave a command performance of their play entitled “Calbario ning Ulila” (Calvary of an orphan). The story touched the heart strings of Lanang’s drama fans, as the story was something they have seen in the group’s rehearsals, and, in many ways, actually lived—the tyranny of rich landlords, the oppression of peasants , and the final triumph of good versus evil.

 The show, directed by Agripino Suba and assisted by apuntador (prompter) Jose Pelayo, and Hugo Ocampo, drew crowds from neighboring barrios. Before an enthusiastic audience, the thespians could not, but give an inspired performance. Providing the musical background was a live band of musicians who also got their share of audience appreciation.

 “Our severest critics”, Director Suba said, “are in our own village and if we got their nod, that means we will be welcomed anywhere.

 The era of traveling theater companies is long gone, but the people of Candaba can take pride in the fact that, for a few decades, Candaba’s peripatetic theater groups broke barriers of distance and access to bring their art to their fellow Kapampangans. The era of companias may be long gone, but the legacy of performances of these Candaba artists, playwrights, poets, directors, musicians and stage hands, will always be remembered.

 Sources: 
Drama in Candaba, The Sunday Times Magazine, 29 Dec. 1957,pp. 15-19. 

Cabusao, Romeo C. Candaba, Balayan ning Leguan. pp. 344-345. 

Zapanta-Manlapaz, Edna. Kapampangan Literarture: A Historical Survey and Anthology. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, Manila. 1981.pp. 25-26 

Lacson, Evangelina. Kapampangan Writing: A Select Compendium and Critique. 1984

*370. TEATRO SABINA: Where Zarzuelistas Take Centerstage

LIFE STAGES. The venerable Teatro Sabina of Bacolor, is the venue for the play, "Reina Malaya", produced and performed by students of Pampanga Trade School. Note the figure of Uncle Sam on the left, which would suggest that this play had a patriotic theme like many plays of the period. Ca. 1927.

In early 20^th c. Pampanga, Bacolor’s first and premiere theatre – Teatro Sabina – was where Kapampangan actors and singers, playwrights and composers,  congregated to give vent to their new, artistic pursuits before an adoring town audience.

One such novel art form was the ‘zarzuela’, a play that was both sung and acted by performers,with dialogues and song lyrics in Kapampangan. The Kapampangan ‘zarzuela’ was a product of a brainstorm by the 3 leading poets and dramatists of their time: Proceso Pabalan (Byron) , Juan Crisostomo Soto (Crissot) and Felix Galura (Flauxgialer), who thought of combining declamations and songs in one stage play, sometime in 1900.

Previous to this, staged drama consisted of moro-moros and kumidyas, which only had straight and long dialogues that caused many an audience to sleep in the middle of a play. The group enrolled the services of composer Amado Gutierrez David to create song melodies, and soon, the first zarzuelas emerged from their prolific pens. Pabalan wrote his zarzuelas (Ing Managpe and Magparigaldigal) and Soto his ‘Paninap ng San Roque’.

The rehearsals for the ‘zarzuelas’ were held in the spacious residence of  Mateo Gutierrez-David, father of composer Amado and another zarzuelista—Jose Gutierrez-David, the future justice of the Supreme Court. The Gutierrez-David house is thus considered as the birthplace of Pampanga zarzuelas.

But a permanent venue was needed to accommodate the large repertory of actors, musicians and backstage hands – not to mention the audience. Luckily, Indang Sabina Joven, the unmarried sister of Pampanga’s governor, Don Ceferino Joven, had an idle plot of land in downtown Bacolor. With the help of her family, a theater was constructed that was to bear her name—Teatro Sabina. To further honor her, the performing troop called itself Compania Sabina, which toured all over Pampanga, Tarlac and even Manila.

Many zarzuelas—now considered classic—had their gala performances at Teatro Sabina, which was praised for its excellent acoustics, courtesy of water wells dug in strategic parts of the theater grounds. Pabalan had the privilege of having his zarzuela, “Ing Managpe” (The Patcher) staged first at the renowned theater on 13 September 1900, followed by Crissot’s ‘’Ing Paninap ng San Roque” (1901) and “Alang Dios” (1902).

Hundreds of zarzuelas were written and produced afterward, with many becoming word-of-mouth hits like “Ing Sultana”, “Mascota”, “Sigalut”, and “La Independencia”. Teatro Sabina became a popular venue for staging plays produced not only by professional theatre groups but also by drama guilds of nearby schools.

In 1909, the Teatro Sabina was reconstructed and remodelled. When inaugurated anew, a commemorative board was placed above the frontage of the stage, on the proscenium arch. It contained the names of Pampango dramatists and composers who played major roles in promoting the Kapampangan zarzuela: Proceso Pabalan, Juan Crisostomo Soto, Felix Galura, Pascual Gozun, Pablo Palma, Jose Prado, Amado Gutierrez-David and Jose Gutierrez-David.

The zarzuela era flourished for about 3 decades, thanks to Teatro Sabina.  The support from the Joven family continued until financial difficulties set in. The legendary theater ceased operations in the late ‘20s, ending the golden era of Kapampangan theater.