Seminarians as stage actors?

Yes and they're going places. The Lingganay Theater Group of the Sacred Heart Seminary School of Philosophy with their production, Ribok Gikan sa Tagiposoon, which is inspired by Fr. Niall O'Brien's books, Revolution from the Heart, Island of Tears , Island of Hope and Seeds of Injustice.

The group will represent Visayas in Tanghal 2, The Second National Universities Theater Festival which will be held in Zamboanga City third week of February. It will be one of the four groups scheduled to present major performances in the national festival.

The three others are the theater groups from Miriam College , representing Metro Manila, Bulacan State University representing Luzon and MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology, representing Mindanao .

The play, directed by Rudy Reveche, revolves around the story of two priests intheir pursuit of justice and peace amid the social landscape of martial law. The script was collaboratively written by Fr. Jerry Alminaza, Tanya Lopez. And Rudy Reveche.

Reveche said that performances are being staged this month in preparation for the national staging.

The performances, earlier held Jan 17 and 18, will also be held Jan. 23-25 at 6:30 p.m. with matinees at 2 p.m. These are held with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts with the cooperation of the Columban Missionaries – Philippines . A

As part of the promotional efforts for the production, the Niall O'Brien Center for Peace sponsored a talk on Jan. 19 on “Insights of Prisoner 30855 – Negros Nine Revisited” by Fr. Brian Gore at the Sacred Heart Seminary Parlor. Fr. Gore was co-inmate of the late Fr. O'Brien who was jailed on trumped up murder charge with seven others in the

Negros Nine case. They were later acquitted following marathon hearings conducted after international pressures were mounted on the government for justice for the accused.

Also providing production support are Fr. Gore, Vision Keepers, Hernando Abaya, Katapo sang Kristianong Kailingban sang Inapoy, Tabugon and Dacongcogon, Teatrokon – West Visayas Tehatre Netrorl, Kalingaw, the Hiligaynon theater of West Negros College, Kanlaon Theatre Guild of CSA-B, USLS' Maskara Tehatre Ensemble, the Perfromance Laboratory, Negros Museum, Niall O”Brien Peace Center and Pax Christi Pilipinas.

The cast is composed of Carlo Navarete, Mark David Bastida, Ritchel Tabanyag, Jimmy Abdon, Cyril Dave Lenia, Jan Michael Estrañero, Arnel Pabalate, Deo De Los Retes, Mark tnhony Ison and Ian Castillo.

The production crew is composed of Paolo Fortaleza (production design and art direction), Rogelio Bellocillo (lighting and technical direction), Noel Morales (make-up and style), RJ Baldonado and Banjo Hinolan (documentation), Ismale Java (music consultant and theme song composer), Ivan de Ramos (graphics), Tanya Lopez )project coordinator and production management), Syralyn Melliza(assistant to production management) and Lovelle Bellocillo (stage management and assistant director).