Joyfully Yours

As a prelude to the forthcoming silver linings in the arts of multi-talented artist Banaue Miclat-Janssen next year, the stage is all set for her directorial debut for the UP Playwrights’ Theater production of Linda Faigao-Hall’s “The Female Heart."


The play shall open on July 1 and will run until July 10, 2016 at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, University of the Philippines Diliman.

The cast of The Female Heart is composed of Chase Salazar as Adelfa, Al Gatmaitan as Anghel, Peewee O’Hara as Rosario, Sheryll Ceasico as Rosario (alternate), Mark McKeownas as Roger, and Ina Azarcon–Bolivar as young Adelfa.


The Female Heart begins in the Smokey Mountains of Manila, a 170 acre garbage mound in which nearly 30,000 people scrape together a meager life. Anghel and his mother Rosario make ends meet by gathering and reselling scrap metal and other useful trash from the refuse that surrounds them. Anghel's sister, Adelfa, is one of the few teenagers in Smokey Mountain who is able to attend high school.

Upon hearing Adelfa's valedictory speech, Anghel convinces her to continue with her education in college. He tells her he will be able to pay for her tuition by taking a job as a D.I., or dance instructor, at a fancy hotel. In reality, he is actually earning the money for Adelfa's schooling by working as a "macho dancer" in Manila's red light district.

When Anghel falls ill as a result of the sex work, Adelfa must place a listing in a catalogue of mail order brides in an attempt to secure the money needed to pay for Anghel's medical care. She strikes up a correspondence with Roger, a real estate broker with anger management issues living in Brooklyn, and arranges to marry him on the condition that he sends $300 a month to Rosario and Anghel to pay for her brother's treatment in a private facility. Initially, Adelfa sees the trade as a fair one, but as she is confronted with Roger's anger and violence, the deal she made to save her brother turns sour.

Banaue has assembled a formidable artistic team for The Female Heart namely Jem Javier (translation) and Gio Potes (dramaturgy), Ina Azarcon–Bolivar (assistant direction), Io Balanon (set design); Carlo Pagunaling (costume design), JM Cabling (movement design), Ricardo Lorenzo (sound design), and Garrett Picardal (lights design).


Unlike all of the other productions staged at the Guerrero Theater, the set design and execution for “The Female Heart” shall be ‘theater-on-the round.’

Banaue finished B.A. in Theater Arts under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus, Tony Mabesa, at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting (MFA in Acting, a terminal degree) at the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (Brooklyn College-CUNY).

Banaue won the 1995 Aliw Award for Best Performance for a New Concept Production for “Ginugunita Kita, a Best Actress Award for the Metropolitan Opera Getty Awards for Supernumeraries for “Salome” in 2009, and a Best Actress citation for NYU’s First Run Film Festival for Clarissa de los Reyes’ “Giving Care.” Banaue has also released “Ginugunita Kita,” the album with Jesse Lucas on iTunes and Spotify.

She has also done plays in various languages—English, Filipino, Spanish, Japanese, and some Filipino dialects. She has performed in different countries including Germany, Japan, and has done performances off-Broadway and at the acclaimed Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center in New York. Some of the films she has acted in have been shown in international film festivals in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, and many more.

As a director, Banaue has worked with UP’s Dulaang Laboratoryo, Musical Theater Philippines, and most recently, for the first Fringe Manila in 2015, Joshua Lim So’s Palanca Award winning play, “Tungkol kay Angela” under Destiyero Theater Commune.

She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, College of Arts and Letters in UP Diliman.

Indeed, Banaue Miclat-Janssen has been connecting her heart, mind and soul into a wholistic process as part of her time capsule in order to become a much more meaningful artist through this directorial project of “The Female Heart.”

"The Female Heart" is produced by special arrangement with the Playwright and Elaine Devlin Literary, Inc., 411 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003.

For tickets, sponsorships, and show buying inquiries call Samanta Clarin (09277406124) or Camille Guevara (09178239531). You may also contact Dulaang UP Office at 926-1349, 433-7840, 981-8500 local 2449 or email dulaangupmarketing@gmail.com.

Note: The complete schedule of The Female Heart are as follows:

July 1, 2016 / Friday* - *Gala Performance 7:00 p.m.

July 2, 2016 / Saturday - 3:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.

July 3 and 10, 2016 / Sunday – 10 a.m.: 3:00 p.m.

July 6, 2016 / Wednesday - 3:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.

July 7, 2016 / Thursday - 3:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.

July 8, 2016 / Friday - 3:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.

July 9, 2016 / Saturday - 3:00 p.m.; 7:00 p.m.

July 10, 2016 / Sunday - 10 a.m.: 3:00 p.m.

Ticket Price

Php 500.00 Regular Ticket Price

Php 200.00 UP Student, Faculty, and Admin Employees

*Discounts are available for bulk purchases and senior citizens

Zafira and Orosman. Photo by: Johan Sy of Studiyo.

Last Friday, February 4, 2011, I chose to watch the press preview of "Orosman at Zafira" over Janet Jackson's expensive concert. I know that I will not regret watching "Orosman at Zafira" after seeing some scenes during their press conference. Honestly, upto this moment, my mind keeps recalling some songs, lines and dance moves from the show. I also keep telling friends and my relatives about it.

Gulnara and Muhamud. Photo by: Johan Sy of Studiyo.

The show started with the three tribes being presented - Marruecos, Tedenst and Duquela - narrated by Zelima (Ben-Asar's daughter). Each tribe were dancing their own dances happily while Zelima introduces the characters and their relationship to one another.

At the Garden of Houris in the land of the Marruecos, Aldervesin (Sultan Muhamud's adopted son) and Orosman (Boulasem's son) were strolling around when Gulnara (Sultan Muhamud's wife) showed up. A steamy exchange of dialogue between Aldervesin and Gulnara were shown which introduces their affair. They were caught by Sultan Muhamud who throws Aldervesin into jail and sentences him to death. After everyone left the garden, it is in this the same place and time that Orosman and Zafira meet. This marks the beginning of all conflicts that is to come.

Aldervesin and Gulnara


Muhamud scolds Aldervesin.


Aldervesin will be put to jail and punished. Photo by: Johan Sy of Studiyo.

The message I got from "Orosman at Zafira": Love can be good. Love can be destructive. Love can be a curse. Whatever form love can be, it's still love that a lot of people choose to feel.

Gulnara tries to persuade Muhamud. Photo by: Johan Sy of Studiyo.

Aside from the story, what makes me love this show are the killer dance moves, specially by the Duquela Tribe. The choreography was fantastic! Despite all the jumps, catapults and cart wheels of the huge group, they were able to do their stunts without hitting the one beside them. My eyes were wide open during the three wars because of all the stunts happening at the same time! My jaws dropped when Zelim (played by Acey Bryle Aguilar) was jumping from one stand to the other stand! I also like how the Duquela Tribe came down from the top of the stage on a rope while dancing and singing. All the action and passion can be felt by their dance moves!

Sample of Duquela Tribe's killer dance moves taken during the presscon.

Kudos also to the voices of all the actors! Their voices are terrific and each song wowed me. The voice of Zelima (played by Tao Aves) made the hairs behind my neck stand up like there's a ghost from the past that passed by! Maybe Balagtas was there enjoying the show? Gulnara (Jean Judith Javier) made different pitches that showed the flexibility of her voice. In a chorus, the voice of Boulasem (Nazer Salcedo) stood out and gave shivers that signals something bad in the next scene will happen.

After watching the show, I feel so proud that the Filipinos are good singers, good dancers, good actors, good musicians and are very creative with stage and lighting design. This show proves that Filipinos can give a world class original Filipino play. I really hope that a lot of Filipinos will go watch this or they'll be missing a lot!

Toots Tolentino welcomes the press.

Congratulations to Dexter Santos, Carol Bello, Darwin Mariano, Carlo Miguel Francia, Alex Cortez, Toots Tolentino, the casts and crew of "Orosman at Zafira" for a worldclass original Filipino play!

The first time Orosman and Zafira meets.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the name Francisco "Balagtas" Baltazar is his work "Florante at Laura" which tortured me when I was studying about it during high school. Studying it is one of the requirements in high school. I remember trying to memorize and understand the lines whose words are no longer being used this day so upon hearing that Dulaang UP is going to stage "Orosman at Zafira" which is another Balagtas's work in Centerstage, SM Mall of Asia on February, I begin to wonder if I'll be able to understand the lines of the play.

During their press conference last week, I met the producers, director and composer of the play who explained about the upcoming show. They do feel the same way that I feel about the lines in a Balagtas work. Apparently, they changed some of the lines to fit modern day language and even the songs were changed into a mix of pop, world music and rock so that the modern generation will be able to relate to this play.

Darwin Mariano - Executive Producer

Why "Orosman at Zafira" and not "Florante at Laura"? Well, since "Florante at Laura" is already being tackled in high schools and "Orosman at Zafira" which is also one of the best written works of Balagtas but is not discussed because of lack of time for the given high school curriculum, I think Dulaang UP chose this play to make us be aware that Balagtas has other works of art that makes him a genius during his time. He is a genius not only because there's "Florante at Laura" but he has other works as well to prove this.

Aside from this, Executive Producer Darwin Mariano has a personal cause for choosing this show. Mariano is actually a lawyer who fell in love with the theater and he came from the same province where Balagtas came from.

According to Mariano, he saw this play back when he was studying in UP and was amazed by the story and production. He said that he felt the production must be staged at a bigger stage to show to a wider audience because it is really a masterpiece. He also told us another reason is that he is crazy. We'll see if he is because to my opinion, he is doing this for a good cause. Lately, the theater has been growing here in our country and most of the plays are in English. I think it is time for us to have something our own Filipino play being staged commercially.