Oro Teatro Bulawanon (OTB) is a theater group I established along with friends back in 2016. While we’ve been doing productions since 2013, we only formally named our group that year, in time for our staging of my mom’s Palanca Awards-winning play Reyna Elena.
Christy Aboniawan plays the role of Annika in Oro Teatro Bulawanon’s Ang Paglaya. Zilpha Ibañez is Barbara.
Over the years, OTB has been focused on advocacy theater, organizing and staging Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues every year. We’ve also worked with friends dedicated to the campaign on HIV and AIDS awareness. Some of our talents, including yours truly, helped stage Lima: HIV Monologues, which has had two installments.
It is also the group’s advocacy to help aspiring young performers find their place in the theater scene in Cagayan de Oro. So this year, OTB took in several senior high school students as performers for The Vagina Monologues, which had performances at Superstar KTV, USTP, and in Balingasag, Misamis Oriental.
This month, our group is taking on a new challenge as we prepare to stage an original play at Kampo Juan in Manolo Fortich. OTB is one of the groups that have been invited to showcase their talents and skills to a select group of guests. We’re quite excited about this because this is the first time we’re performing in Manolo Fortich, a place that’s close to my heart; and it’s also the first time we’ve been invited to become a part of a movement (or event) –Tanghalan sa Kampo Juan – that intends to encourage community members, families, individuals (both artists and non-artists) to embrace local culture and the arts.
We are also excited to perform in a place I consider as one of the best in this part of the world – Kampo Juan. With its breathtakingly beautiful heritage house and all the trees and natural splendor of nature surrounding us, it’s the perfect venue for our play. Ang Paglaya is a story about a father and daughter caught in a battle of emotions. It’s a very simple story that also touches on an issue that a lot of the young ones are struggling with nowadays – the dilemma of choosing their passion for their craft or following the wishes of their parents.
Ang Paglaya is also OTB’s first step into a journey that will bring the group a little bit closer to its goal of putting the spotlight on local (CDO) theater talents. Hopefully, this journey will open more doors for us so we can find more opportunities for our advocacies, and for our artists – all brave and passionate Kagay-anons – to grow and share their talents to the people.
More details on Tanghalan sa Kampo Juan soon.
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