Works of celebrated Dumaguete writer, playwright to be staged at Silliman

When Dumaguete writer Bobby Flores Villasis passed on last May 2, he left behind a great array of literary works and books that defined a life dedicated to creative writing.

He was also a persevering cultural worker, having spent most of his working life as the cultural officer of the Negros Oriental Provincial Tourism Office, but it is his poems and his short stories and his plays—which chronicle the storied lives of Oriental Negrenses from Bayawan to Bais—that would come to be the foundation of his legacy.

In his 1998 book Demigod and Other Selections, Villasis first gathered together a sampling of his oeuvre, anthologizing plays, poems, and short stories that showed his unique worldview, crafted with obvious mentorship from teachers like Edith Tiempo, Edilberto Tiempo, and Albert Faurot.

In his 2001 short story collection, Suite Bergamasque, he embarked on an even more ambitious literary project: gathering interlinked short stories that told, as a whole, the dazzling and devastating lives of the denizens of Dumaguete’s Rizal Boulevard, particularly the families of local sugar barons whose mansions—colloquially called the Sugar Houses—line the seafront. The book became Dumaguete’s answer to James Joyce’s Dubliners or Carlos Ojeda Aureus’ Nagueños.

Of particular interest, however, are his plays, for which he won an impressive number of Palanca Awards; seven in all, which include Vigil [first prize for one-act play, 1978], Demigod [second prize for one-act play, 1979], Fiesta [first prize for one-act play, 1987], Salcedo [first prize for one-act play, 1988], Brisbane [second prize for one-act play, 1989], Eidolon [honorable mention for full-length Play, 1990], and Caves [third prize for one-act play, 1994]. They are a mix of historical and domestic dramas, but all of them invariably dramatize the secret lives and public sorrows of privileged Oriental Negrense families. These plays were acclaimed in their time, but they have never been staged, even during Villasis’ lifetime.

For the first time ever, four of these Palanca-winning plays will be performed in Dumaguete City, in an event titled The Secret Lives of Oriental Negrenses: A Festival of Plays by Bobby Flores Villasis, with the first playdate scheduled on November 8. All the plays will be presented at the Woodward Blackbox Theater in Silliman University.

The festival celebrates Villasis’ memory and his works. The plays are directed by senior theatre students of the Speech and Theatre Department of the Silliman University College of Performing and Visual Arts and are produced in cooperation with Artista Sillimaniana, the Silliman University Culture And Arts Council, Youth Advocates Through Theatre Arts, Buglas Writers Guild, and the Dumaguete City Tourism Office. The event is also one of the highlights of the 75th Charter Anniversary of Dumaguete City going into its Diamond Jubilee Year.

The roster of plays includes the following titles and show dates--Vigil (Nov 8, 7 p.m.), Demigod (Nov. 11, 8 p.m.), Salcedo (Nov. 15, 7 p.m.), and Fiesta (Nov. 18, 7 p.m.)

Tickets are available at P100 at the venue before the show starts. (PR)