By Rey Anthony Chiu

A young teacher cast of Bohol’s official entry to the 4th National Theater Festival (NTF) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines brings glory to Bohol theater networks when she was hailed among the best featured musical actress and stars in the theater circuit in 2012. At the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Bravo, Best of the Theater 2012 Awards, singer chanter Geraldine Pancho, who is now teaching in Legazpi City was cited among the honorable mentions for Honorable Mentions Best Featured Actress in Musicals, 2012. The young Boholana from Maribojoc performed chilling chants for Bohol 1700: Duha ka Alimpo sa Habagat, the province’s official entry to the 2012 NTF. For her feat she now sits with Cherie Gil (“Nine”); Cris Villonco (“Jekyll and Hyde”); Aiza Seguerra (“Rock of Ages”); Angelina Kanapi and Mae Paner (“Stageshow”); Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Carla Guevara-Laforteza (“Nine”); Apple Chiu (“The King and I”) and Sheila Francisco (“Rivalry: Ateneo-La Salle, The Musical”) Pancho, who also does the chilling historical narratives through chanting in the play Tawag sa Bantayan, has been cited as among the more brilliant hopes for the theater scene in the country that has slowly been unceremoniously sidled out of the way for the silver screen.

This year’s NTF tackled issues on the evident dwindling of stage play patrons. Reasons quoted were the often that students, who may have been forced to patronize plays as supplementary learning, were out on vacations at the time of the staging, the perceived in-suitability of the material to audiences which results in the narrowing of the possible breadth of creative interpretations by play creative teams and still several inane reasons, bared Rody Vera of the Inquirer. But despite the beak scenario and the raging issues in the theater circuits which the NTF attempted to take, the new works which came from regional theater companies during the festival were glints of hope. Vera called these new exciting works ones which should ignite inspiring energy among theater workers as he has been inspired by the new works. “Ironically, it is in this bleak perspective that I gather the inspiring energy to do more for the theater I so love. We are compelled to take the optimistic, some say quixotic, stance, for not to do so would be to cease creating, he wrote. For Pancho’s feat too, Lutgardo Labad, Bohol theater networks artistic director said [Pancho] and other theater awardees make theater networks proud.