'a tale told by a fool, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' [and that's not me]

my better judgement as a jesuit educated theater artist kind of held me back from reacting to the Philstage slash Tililing Fiasco; that is by no simple terms a Pandora's Box of sorts in this little circle of theater practitioners and lovers alike. however, i am compelled to speak but a few truths as i was taught not to offend people with style but rather offend them with substance.

there is such a thing as integrity in writing. you may be at a loss with grammar and sentence construction but if you do have a grasp of what you are saying, you will be understood by any simpleton or any intellectual for that matter. the first taking it as authoritative or truthful while the latter forgiving you for your handicap. yet the tragedy of the simpleton is that he can often take some things as truth and the intellectual need not be bothered.

plead me your rights to free speech and i shall remind you of your responsibiltiy to your writing. [this is for you, mister tililing] having read your review, i could not make heads or tails of it. a beloved mentor of mine who saw it fit to point out its lack of worth saying thus, "what a horribly written review! with one eye on wikipedia and another on his crotch. don't waste your time with this..." -i need not drop the name for i am sure of the sick pleasure some people have when it comes to doing so.

for one, sit down before you hang yourself. if indeed you are knowledgeable of the craft, you make your comparisons as that of a tangled chain; the links of which though deceptively connected never really is. i won't wax on what shakespeare and the greeks have to do with children's theater for i see no point in it. to use knowledge in borrowed gloss to prove a point -obviously irrelevant- yet coming out incoherent is a mark of ignorance.

and in your review you ask: “Isn’t that theater is a shared artistry? How come we did not experience it?” -at first, i tried to get over the fact that the question in itself is flawed. but let me explain what theater people are guilty of: and that is, watching another's production and looking for the mistakes and whatever bad thing is there to critique and laugh at. my displeasure ensues with reading this diss-list of the worst theater productions of the year in which you show such delight in collating, making assumptions on one musical theater you are yet to see, of for that matter your blindness to all the valid points you obviously have read as a reaction to what has transpired [but i fear, you never understood]

notice that no one picked a direct fight with you? because there is a bigger picture here, and i think most of those who have read the blogs left and right fail to realize that. what does scare me is that we fight an "educated fight" -i could not say enlightened for that is a state of being that in my years i'm not yet entitled to being-

going through the proper channels, consulting certain colleagues in the industry, making sure that our point was valid was the path we took. we got over the fact that we are "might be the victims here" or that we run the risk of losing future audiences at the expense of this review.

but as we have learned, taking the high road is not enough, some people fight the -pardon the word- "palengkera fight" which in plain terms goes, "bakit ka defensive? uy, guilty..."

and so i must go through these, and i quote you:

"PERO, ISUMBAT PA ANG FREE TICKET...SANDALI LANG...THIS IS MAKING US CHEAP. CHEAP AT THAT!"
-tell me, how many so-called Philstage Jurors have come to some other production dragging what the FOH people in my day call "pets" without philstage IDs and were given free tickets? as is the case, if this happened to us in our little corner of the south, how much more the accessible productions in the metro? and reading the context to the tickets once again, did that not have a valid point?

"In fairness, ilan sa mga kasali sa musical na WEST SIDE STORY na aking kakilala ay hindi pa nag-iimbita. Ano kaya ang nakapaloob dito sa produksiyong ito? Ito kaya ang tanghaling WORST THEATER PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR? naku...aabangan ko na..."
-now, tell me, who in this particular situation looked cheap?

"IF YOU WANT REAL MONEY, I ASSUME THAT YOU KNOW THAT THERE IS NO MONEY IN THEATER HONEY. I HAVE EXPERIENCED IT MYSELF. AT THE SAME TIME, WE ARE NOT GOD AFTER ALL AND WE DO NOT SOLELY OWN THEATER. WE ARE JUST PART OF A BIGGER WHOLE."
-we know that, but nonetheless every production has fiscal obligations to the many aspects of a production and obligations to the company. an empty seat at value is much better than an occupied seat which we will earn none from -and in this case...oh, i had better stop myself here...hay que barbaridad...

I WAS JUST HANDPICKED BY THE PHILSTAGE BOARD BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT I WOULD BE OF HELP TO THEM - WITHOUT "PAY", IT IS ALL "GRATIS" BUT THEY DID NOT HEAR A SINGLE WORD FROM ME. TRAVELING TO AND FRO WATCHING ALL OF THESE PRODUCTIONS WITHOUT GAS, FOOD ALLOWANCE IS EVEN A CHALLENGING TASK AS COMPARED TO DIRECTING A CHILDREN'S MUSICAL. BUT I HAVE WATCHED EVERY SINGLE PLAY
-please don't insult my intelligence...we did not require you to watch, not to be jury to our work. if you begrudge us for your commute, then please send me your bank account and i will gladly reimburse your cost. and perhaps we may treat you to lunch -how many teaspoons of arsenic do you want in your stew?

LET US EDUCATE THE KIDS WITH TRUTH, NOT FALSITY AND PRETENSE. THIS IS FOISTING GOODWILL.
-why sir, question you our goodwill? if what i have seen thus far from you is any indication of your education and the education you share, then i pity those students you claimed to have touched for they may have been touched in the inappropriate places and their exposure to the theater gone awry.

MAYABANG AKO TULAD NIYO PERO HINDI AKO MATAPOBRE.
-oh good god, typical of the "palengkera fight" to assert that which is less of thy personage and to begrudge those who are born into a different life...on the other hand, Matapobre, where did you get that? that is beside the point, this is not an argument of social class here...typical...kasalanan ba namin ang nakagisnan naming buhay?

i shall spare the readers the rest...

what is also tragic here is that people who pick "palengkera fights", no matter how you fight back with reason and substance will only be affected if you fight them in their own style...too bad...