The Gawad Buhay Awards: Excellence in a revenge theater year
It was a rare occasion—getting all the stars of Philippine theater under one roof, rooting for one another and enjoying precious moments of honoring excellence in their respective fields. It’s a close-knit family, after all, and this couldn’t have been more evident than at the recent 14th Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards at the PETA Theater, where palpable excitement reigned in a spirit of camaraderie and shared pride for achievements during the past year when the performing arts returned with a vengeance.
“2023 was the busiest year for theater and takot sila lahat sa Hamilton,” related Philstage president Audie Gemora, together with vice president Toff De Venecia, during the opening remarks that looked back at how Philippine theater productions slew it at the box office despite the competition from the most awaited foreign production.
It’s a testament to how the local industry has leveled up to world-class standards from the time Philstage (Philippine Legitimate Stage Artists Group) was started in 1997 with leading theater and dance companies to propagate, protect and unite the professional performing arts industry.
In 2008, it established the Gawad Buhay Awards as an annual set of industry awards honoring outstanding productions of member companies, gaining a reputation as the local counterpart of Broadway’s Tony Awards or the West End’s Olivier Awards.
The performance of highlights from the year’s musicals showed why audiences were trooping back and keeping theaters full. It also validated the nominations and winners that evening.
Reb Atadero and Jef Flores showed how Jonathan Larson’s musical Tick, Tick. . . Boom! became a favorite from 9Works Theatrical, winning Reb a Gawad Buhay for Male Featured Performance for his role as Michael, who together with BFF Jon (Jef), struggle to find meaning in NY.
A sister company, The Sandbox Collective, also garnered a win with Justine Peña for Female Lead Performance in a Play, Lungs, where she was the smart if overthinking W to M, grappling with questions of relationships and parenthood in a deteriorating planet.
With the performance of the cast of Walang Aray, it was no surprise that PETA took eight awards, including Outstanding Musical (Original or Translation/Adaptation) and Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Rody Vera’s fresh and modern adaptation of the 1898 sarswela Walang Sugat got him Outstanding Book and his team-up with Vince Lim for a score that mixed funk and pop took Outstanding Original Score. Ian Segarra’s deft staging won Outstanding Stage Direction, complemented by Gio Gahol’s Outstanding Choreography. Shaira Opsimar as the sarswela star Julia did her mother company proud by winning Female Lead Performance. Company mainstay Neomi Gonzales brought cheers with her Female Featured Performance award for her role as Julia’s mother, Doña Juana.
Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years from Barefoot Theatre Collaborative was also a big winner for musicals. The impeccable staging by Topper Fabregas of a couple’s romantic journey captivated audiences to win Outstanding Musical for Existing Material, Outstanding Stage Design for Joey Mendoza’s minimalist set that moved through time and memories, Outstanding Musical Direction by Rony Fortich, and Male Lead Performance by Myke Salomon, who had his first win after many nominations since 2011, thanking the jurors while taking a jab: “Thank you, ang hirap niyong i-please!”
Barefoot also got accolades for Laro by Floy Quintos, which won Outstanding Direction for a Play as staged by John Mark Yap, Male Featured Performance by Phi Palmos and Outstanding Ensemble Performance for a play, where the different queer characters’ narratives came alive individually and as a community.
Sandosenang Sapatos, the original musical from Tanghalang Pilipino, directed by Jonathan Tadioan, won Outstanding Production for Children for its heartwarming story of Susie, a disabled child who wishes to fulfill her shoemaker father’s dream. Alternating as Susie, Felicity Kyle Napuli and Wincess Jem Yana delighted the crowd during the excerpt performance. Marco Viaña and Paw Castillo delivered the Outstanding Costume Design prize for their inventive wardrobe pieces.
Another TP production, Nekropolis, directed by Charles Yee, was conferred Outstanding Play—Original or Translation/Adaptation and Outstanding Original Script by Guelan Luarca, who created a bleak, dystopian Manila with characters like the lesbian drug pusher Karina, essayed by Mitzi Comia, who won for Female Featured Performance. The bleak atmosphere evoked by Arvy Dimaculangan got him Outstanding Sound Design.
For Outstanding Production of Existing Material for a Play, the Necessary Theatre’s staging of John Logan’s Red with direction by Bart Guingona got the Gawad nod, as did JC Santos for Male Lead Performance for his role as Ken, the assistant, matching the intensity of Bart’s Mark Rothko as they clash over art and ideas in a studio that had a life of its own, thanks to changes in mood created by Gabo Tolentino, who was presented the Outstanding Lighting Design award.
Floy Quintos, who passed away last April, was honored with the Gawad Lifetime Achievement Award and a tribute excerpt from one of his plays, Atang, featuring Shamaine Buencamino as the older Atang and Anya Evangelista as the young Gia, in a moving scene where the former begs the latter to junk her planned Atang film since people have already admired her past accomplishments. She encourages Gia to just create her own obra and give the world something new and inspiring.
It could almost be Floy, who always moved forward and “stayed humble despite the accolades and, in fact, wouldn’t have accepted this award,” according to Joji Quintos, who received the Gawad on his brother’s behalf. He just kept on working on the next play even until his death and mentored aspiring creatives. “Ito ang mundong minahal niya, minahal niya kayong lahat,” Joji added. And the theater world loved him back, with countless tributes on how he touched so many lives with his genius, his generosity and his humanity.
Floy would also have been proud, that evening, of how far Philippine theater has gone, from the classics of National Artists to new works like TP’s Pingkian directed by Jenny Jamora, written by Juan Ekis with music by Ejay Yatco, performed by Vic Robinson and Gabby Pangilinan; Barefoot’s Bar Boys with book by Pat Valera and music by Myke Salomon, performed by Benedix Ramos, who co-emceed the evening with Kakki Teodoro; and Noel Comia, who gave us a teaser of the coming Jepoy and the Magic Circle of Repertory. Watching them and seeing all the other past and current shows presented, we can be assured that the future of Philippine theater is bright, indeed.
