SHOWCASES OF TALENTS

Last Friday, March 09, 2007, UP high school celebrated its 32^nd Drama Fest. It has been a tradition of the university to have the 4^th year students their drama fest as a requirement in their Filipino subject and is celebrated every February or March. Last Friday was the time for our batch to show to everyone our talent not only in acting but also in producing a big production. Everyone has his or her own part from technicals: lights and sounds to props and set design and of course acting.

There were two productions namely: Tanikala Productions from section Tan produced by Razel Paldo and directed by Artsron Sumabong and the Quivedo Productions from section Gonzalez produced by Euvic Ferrer and directed by Jann Krystel del Mar. The two sections were competing for 16 awards: 8 came from the technicals division and 8 from acting division. The stories of the two sections were some kind of similar because the stories were all about family and the conflicts were both father and son.

We were given about two months to practice and perfect every scene of the play. Each one was assigned to different committees. It was not easy to come up with a good production. Everyone must do his/her part from memorizing each one’s lines to delivering it perfectly with emotions and from setting up the stage and making the props to the coordination of the lights and sounds in the scenes of the play.

The show started late at around 6:30 in the evening. The audience started to become thick. Pressure started to build up on the actors and the different committees. When the show started, there was a random selection by picking paper on who will go first. Unfortunately, my section, which is section Tan picked number one and performed first. The two sections then prayed independently asking for our Lord’s guidance.

After the stage and the technicals were all set, the theme song of our play, which was entitled “Bulag” played that signaled the beginning of the play. Since from the start of the play, we experienced technical problems because the main switch of the lights was busted which was out of our jurisdiction. It was on the part of the school, not on our production. I then asked myself “Why? Why of all the practices, we had not encountered this problem? Why did the switch get busted on the very evening of the play?” “We have been practicing and perfecting this play for how many tiring nights and a busted switch would just only destroy the whole play? No way!” I said to myself! Our section repeated the whole play from the top to be fair with the next group.

Our lead characters were John Paul Catubig who played the role of a son and Joseph Esteban who was the father. My role was only a policeman but I gave my best performance even though I am only a minor character.

When our play ended, section Gonzalez set-up the stage. Their play was entitled “Sa Ngalan ng Ama” and it was a very touching play. A playwright wrote their script while ours was only from an ordinary student. So from the start, I supposed that they have an advantage and would win the best production.

Their lead characters were Nico Eñego and Paul Gutib. The play was really nice but there was something wrong, the lines they speak could not be heard clearly by the judges because their background music would overlap with their voices.

When the play was done, it was time for the awarding. Our section won the playbill and I was very happy because my girlfriend spent sleepless nights over those playbills. In the technical division, our section only won one out of 8 awards which was the playbill. Some of my classmates were discouraged and lost hope in winning the major awards. When the judges announced the winners for the next 8 awards, which belong to the performing category, all my classmates were starting to shout and jump. We had a winning streak of seven out of eight major awards that includes the best actors and actresses and the best direction and production! I was very happy and jumped of joy! We really did not expect that the best production would go to our section.

After the awarding, the wonderful show ended and we cleaned all the mess on the floor. I went home at around 11 pm in the evening and I brought with me a poster and a playbill of our production. I brought also with me unforgettable memories I had in that exciting and victorious evening.

I LOVE THIS GAME

Basketball: the most popular sport in our country today. Every time I travel or go to different places in our country, the Philippines, one common infrastructure that is never absent in every town besides the church of Inglesia ni Kristo is the basketball court. This only shows the evidence that this sport knows no mountain could not be reach. People of different ages know how to play this sport. Kids with ages 3 years and above already know a few rules and even babies who are still months old are already being taught by their fathers. Teenagers and adults are mostly playing this sport. This is because they have stronger stamina compared to younger or aged persons.

Here are a lot of reasons why people love this sport. Based on my experiences, here are some good reasons why people love playing basketball.

First, it is because the moment the ball gets into the hole of the ring, the feeling you can get is unexplainable. It is very fulfilling to score a basket in a game. It improves your self-esteem. It earns you respect from the other players and you can be famous for making spectacular or “crazy” shots in the game. The more baskets or scores you make, the better man you are in the court. When you can hear the sound of the net splashing when the ball gets in the ring, you would be eager to score another basket again because it just really feels good to hear that sound.

Another reason is that you will learn the value of teamwork because no single person could split 5 defenders and score a basket. Everyone must do his or her role to set a play to attack the opponents’ ring and win a game.

You can also gain many friends especially during tournaments. For other people, there are millions of reasons why they love basketball. Maybe it’s the ball that they love to dribble or the jersey they like to wear that made them addicted to basketball.

When I am bored in our house, I just get my ball and dribble it. I love to do fancy dribbles. We have a small ring outside our house and every time I am not in the mood or I am angry, I just dunk the ball into the ring and after a few minutes, I feel much better and at peace. The ball is like an outlet of my emotions. I can express my anger in the ball and it keeps me healthy. I even have a small ring attached in the wall of my bedroom in front of my bed. If I am bored at night and I can’t go to sleep, I just lay down in my bed and shoot a small ball in the ring.

I love collecting basketballs and as of now, I have 5 official size and 2 junior size balls. I want to have millions of basketballs someday. I also love watching NBA and my favorite player is Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat because he is very good in making fancy shots and very versatile which means he can play at any positions.

I also join in basketball leagues sponsored by the SKs. I have already joined 3 times but my team never became champions. It doesn’t matter anyway because what matters is that I am enjoying playing basketball.

What has been my outlet of emotions yesterday has become my passion today. Basketball has become my passion and I will play it as long as I still can.