"All the World's a Stage" with THEATER DOWN SOUTH's Summer Acting Workshop 2010

Summer's coming and that means it's Workshop time again! This year, Theater Down South [TDS] will be holding classes in De La Salle Zobel School, Academy One Music and Dance Center and Festival Supermall! Join us and have an unforgettable summer! To register, please fill out the online form available here. Or visit:

Academy One
293 Aguirre Avenue BF Homes, Paranaque
Tel: 8265182

TDS Booth at the Treasure Trove
Festival Supermall, Filinvest Alabang

Or contact us at:
Mobile: +639166436976
Globe Duo: 02 5056380
E-mail: info@theaterdownsouth.com
Website: http://www.theaterdownsouth.com/

So, follow your passion! Join the Theater Down South Summer Workshop 2010! Basic Musical Theater and Intermediate Acting classes taught by the TDS faculty under the supervision of theater veteran Michael Williams!



Thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Attend to me, all of thee...

Reposted from The Art of the Philippine Santo Group at Flickr

You are all Invited to Attend Administrator Dennis Gungon's and Moderator Niki de los Reyes-Torres' Lecture

Mr. Gungon will be giving a lecture on "Religious Hagiography" and Iconography while Mr de los Reyes-Torres will be giving a lecture on"Headdress of Images Depicting Characters during the Time of Christ" on...

March 6 (Saturday; "Hermandad -TAPS Friendship Day" sponsored by FAMILIA DE LEON)
1:45 PM -- Welcome and Introduction of Guest Speakers
2:00 PM -- Lecture on "The Hagiography & Iconography of Lenten Images" by Prof. Dennis Gungon
3:00 PM -- Chaplet of Divine Mercy
4:00 PM -- Lecture on "Headdress of Images Depicting Characters during the Time of Christ" by Mr. Vincent Jordan Niklaus de los Reyes-Torres, PATDAT
5:00 PM -- OPEN FORUM
6:00 PM -- Stations of the Cross inside Clamshell I

The Hermandad exhibit runs from February 26 to March 14 at “WOW PHILIPPINES! CLAMSHELL I"



thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa

Apparently, ABS-CBN's Miracle Boy isn't being truthful to us...

I don't know if I've been out of the loop for that long or if this has been out there for a while but the rumor mill has churned out something of curious interest.

The other day, someone asked me if I knew that Zaijian Jaranilla a.k.a. Santino is not even Catholic -heck, not even Christian- but a full blooded Muslim.

And apparently, ABS-CBN kept it hush-hush after having cast him as the "Miracle Boy" that talks to Jesus. Funny how all this came out just after the finale of the hit evening drama... Mind you, a finale that was one of the most highest rated on Philippine primetime television wherein the broken Santino was raised by Christ from the dead [least they anger millions of viewers by killing him as was done on the Spanish film they based the drama series on]. Word on the street is that some people are feeling betrayed by the idea. Some have actually said that they could at least have gotten a Christian to play a role.

If there's any truth to this, there's going to be millions of disappointed "May Bukas Pa" fans out there. But who knows? Filipinos have learned to let some things be -too much lately, it seems.

Then again, and I don't want to go all preachy on this one, if Jesus Christ is indeed for everyone, I think Zaijian finally saw the light. *Snigger*


thus spake The Barefoot Baklesa

Light and Hope [on the feast of Candlemass]

I am a Marian devotee, give or take the jokes that some have been thrown my way about being gay and collecting images of Virgins… But I am one to laugh it off like the last one. It’s not their money anyway. Hahahahaha!!!

But seriously, February 2nd is the traditional date for the Feast of the Presentation of the Christ Child at the Temple in Jerusalem. If you recall that lyric from a popular Christmas carol, “Two turtledoves and a partridge…” this is that biblical event to which the lyrics refer to when Joseph and Mary brought the newborn baby Jesus to the temple mount to be dedicated to the God of Israel. There was an old man named Simeon who had been promised that he shall see the Messiah in his lifetime. And when Simeon held that child in his arms, he knew that the he held the hope of the world.

(a miracle in stone, this statue of the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, newly-restored under the hand of Tom Joven, has attracted the faithful for her miracle of healing. local legend and lore has it that the statue has grown; as she had been taken from her niche for her canonical coronation -done by the Pope John Paul II himself- for more than two decades now; and if they would return her, she would not fit anymore.)

In the Marian tradition of devotions, this same day celebrates the Feast of Mary as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria [Our Lady of the Candles] and the miracle of healing she bestows upon her devotees. And personally, I can claim that I am living proof of that miracle. It pains me that I may never be at Jaro Cathedral today, where the canonically crowned image of Our Lady of Candelaria resides. I would have wanted to see her newly restored visage and see for myself the sea of devotees coming to celebrate her. But Our Lady understands…


Thus I shall be lighting candles from our shrine at home.

A single flame, flickering on a candle’s wick, best represents hope in the Roman Catholic Symbolic tradition. Simeon’s Canticle best speaks of this hope. The world seems like it is no better than before when you tune in to CNN, but I believe that things will always turn out. So I leave you with Hangad’s musical rendition of Simeon’s Canticle.





Photo courtesy of mic_cal from Flickr.


Thus spake the Barefoot Baklesa