Teatro Tomasino: Four decades of exceeding expectations

Teatro Tomasino welcomed its 40th year with the staging of Ekis, anchored under the all-season theme: Banaag at Sikat, meaning "from early dawn to full light."

Recognized as one of the oldest organization in the University of Santo Tomas, Teatro Tomasino would celebrate its 40th anniversary starting Sept. 5 with their new production titled Ekis.

Ekis is a series of eight plays divided into four sets, where each set consists of two different plays.

[endif]--This season would be focusing on the concept of sunsets and sunrise, with the idea that "this marks the end of a good day and signals the start of a better tomorrow."

"Preparation[s] for the current season are actually big. Since this [marks] the fourth decade of the organization, we dare to challenge ourselves to bring out the best within our organization and explore the opportunities set for Teatro," Elijah Francois Correa, Teatro Tomasino's artistic director, told The Spiral Journal in an online interview.

Despite of its inactive members and only less than two months to prepare, the members of Teatro still managed to embody the essentiality of being in a theatre organization.

Despite the challenges they had encountered, a huge part of Teatro's alumni served as the organization’s backbone, and trained them on how to preserve and maintain the two-decade worth of legacy and reputation.

"The alumni members of the organization are always by our side in any season and in any production [produced by] Teatro Tomasino," Correa said.

The organization is known for producing actors who are now in the field of theatre arts and television industry like John Lapus, Piolo Pascual and more.

"It is actually one of the strengths of the organization; we have these people who come back to visit and teach us theatre despite the absence of a specific program in the university that is anchored in theatre practice," he said.

Correa also mentioned that with their reputation, 40 years of theatre practice puts down pressure to the incumbent members of the organization; which is why they are motivated, now more than ever, to put their best foot forward.

Since 1977, Teatro Tomasino has been serving Thomasians numerous entertaining plays, which allowed the students to explore their passion in acting on stage.

"I believe the Thomasians should continue supporting Teatro Tomasino as we continue producing quality plays that are rooted from Filipino efforts,” Correa said.