The Xavier Stage promotes Modern Theater in new shows

EXPERIENCE Modern Theater with The Xavier Stage.

One of Xavier University’s theater companies, The Xavier Stage (TXS) embarks on the promotion of Modern Theater in its second Theater Season starting this September.

Modern Theater in the late 19th century played a significant role in influencing the currents of the 20th and the 21st centuries with the introduction of various intellectual, religious and moral challenges and ideologies, like Marx’s Das Kapital, Darwin’s The Origin of Species, Frued’s Interpretation of Dreams and Einstein’s Theory of relativity.

Plays of this period are presented in Realism, a form of theater that has branched out into many theater movements such as naturalism, antirealism, futurism, dada, surrealism, epic theater, expressionism, symbolism, theater of cruelty, theater of the absurd and other experimental theater.

Among the plays included in TXS’s second Theater Season include Ranindranath Tagore’s “The Post Office,” Paul Dumol’s “Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio” and Bertolt Brecht’s epic theater play “A Respectable Wedding.”

“The Post Office” is a play that proves the profound wisdom and humanity of Tagore, the Nobel Prize winning author.

As a modernist, Tagore, in the play, presents spiritual journey in a timeless and universal scope through the lens of the innocent Abel who comes to terms with man’s exit, Death.

“The Post Office” is adapted by Rody Vera. It would be shown on September 19 to 22 at the XU Little Theater.

“Paglilitis ni Mang Serapio” is a socio-political comment on the variety of unjust realities in the Philippines brought about by government, governance and people.

This modern satire is timeless for its depiction of the truth of injustices resonates with the country’s current realities and possibly, its futurity unless corruption is refuted and eradicated.

“Paglilitis” is a tragicomedy and a satire rendered through absurdity and cruelty.

The play is a collaborative adaptation by Bart Savior, Efren Mercado and Kristen Senajon.

This will also be the first laboratory work of the TXS choreographer’s pool. It would be shown on December 5 to 8, at the XU Little Theater.

“A Respectable Wedding” is the last play of the season. Brecht’s plays create an intellectual climate for social change and provide an adequate presentation of reality. He called this the re-functioning of theater through epic theater, which aims to assimilate education with entertainment.

In TXS’s version, “A Respectable Wedding” is a farce about the upper-class Filipino family slapped by imperfection, sentimentality and morality.

The play is the company’s salute to the world icon Bertolt Brecht, Philippine Theater and Movie icon Boni Ilagan and the image of the Filipino Family as a cultural icon. It is TXS’s contribution to the National Arts Month in February. It would be shown in February 2013. (Hobart P. Savior)