The Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG), flagship cultural company of the MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), has continued to captivate audiences everywhere wherever the Guild lends its artistic presence. Enhanced by years honed by an established system of training, and experienced by thousands worldwide, IPAG’s powerful brand of theatre has embraced more advocates.
From August 31 to September 6, IPAG proudly bannered the country, this time among major universities in the UNESCO – International Theatre Institute (ITI) affiliate Asia Pacific Bureau Drama Schools Festival at the Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan. With the Ateneo de Manila’s Tanghalang Ateneo, the IPAG led by its Artistic Director and Founder Steven Patrick C. Fernandez made Philippine Theatre proud, and in style.
Well-received was “Crossing Poetry,” poems performed in multi-media “transcreating“ text to the stage. Writes Dr. Ricardo Abad of Ateneo: IPAG presented “…a strong front for Philippine university-based theater … accomplished in style. IPAG’s production of performance poetry was marvelous and meticulously crafted – polished and professional, inventive and illuminating. A fine piece of ensemble performance. Philippine theater stood tall.”
Foreign directors were similarly generous in their praises conceding that the IPAG had the best performed piece in the festival. After glowing feedback, the Guild has been assured of a slot in next year’s event in Vietnam and a member’s spot in the UNESCO-ITI APB.
In the Directors Forum, Fernandez, one of five presentors, delivered a paper on the IPAG training pedagogy impressing the body on the substance and process of the pedagogy. The paper was basis for a workshop that realized and shared the pedagogy among member artists of the universities.
IPAG epitomizes the strength of Philippine Theatre, in world festivals, road shows, and local runs. Little do the world’s audiences realize that this home-grown group of region-based artists that started with nothing except guts and a lot of passion have strengthened Theatre to keep the head of Philippine Theatre high above among the rest in World Theatre.
Also joining the festival were choreographers and workshop facilitators Leilani Fernandez and Melvin Pascubillo, performers Kenn Erwin Velasquez, Blessy Cece, Kassandra Suazo, JV Espenido, and Designer Vicmar Paloma.
The trip was made possible by a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Assistance was also provided by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the MSU-IIT, including the generation of resources from the IPAG.
