How do lovers of the martyred turn their grief to songs for justice? Where do parents of the disappeared find strength as everyday they painstakingly wait and search? What hope can people hold as they are bombarded by a seemingly structural crisis after crisis? And where are the youth who will vibrantly stand and optimistically rock our world?
Ang Mga Lorena is a story of revelation, a journey of unconditional sacrifice yet worth the dawning of a culture that unites the aggrieved and powerless. It is a Documentary Play based on testimonies of families, friends, lovers, journalists and the common tao as among those who came to know them, Lorenas of our time.
As SINAGBAYAN's contribution to the UP Centennial Foundation commemoration and the 60th Anniversary of the International Declaration to the Respect to Human Rights, it is a tribute to women leaders of the premier university such as Sherlyn Cadapan, Karen Empeño and poet-beloved martyr Ma. Lorena Barros.
Lorena Barros is an AB Anthropology Magna Cum Laude UP student and instructor who stepped up in the 70s and became one of leading icons for women empowerment, people's poetry and collective action for development. Sherlyn Cadapan is a tri-athlete and sprint champion who also served as College Representative of the College of Human Kinetics. Karen Empeño on the other hand is a musician and was working on her thesis for her Sociology course, a research on the songs of the peasantry which led her to Central Luzon being the rice basket of the country and home of many originally composed songs of the peasantry. Barros died in 1976 while fighting for the people's cause. Cadapan and Empeño were reported missing since 2006.
The Lorenas share their simple lives, laughter and tears through songs, poems, dances and monologues from secret detention cells, burning chambers and monumental graves where they were last found. In the tradition of dramatists/writers Bertolt Brech and Agusto Boal, the play then brings the challenge to the audience to fulfill the call of the Universityâs Oblation, a symbol of freedom and relentless service to the people, where Rizal's message can also be found: Nasaan ang mga kabataang mag-aalay ng kanilang kasibulang buhay, ng kanilang adhikain at sagisag sa kabutihan ng bansa?
* Ang mga Lorena will be staged on December 9 (10am) and December 11(2pm and 7pm) at the UP Film Institute
For ticket reservations contacts:
0906.5895381 and 0920.7216759
