‘Theater Olympics’

All eyes were on the Philippines this week, as it held for the first time the Theatre Olympics of the Nations, a component of the 31st United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-International Theatre Institute (Unesco-ITI) World Congress. The event was highlighted by close to 30 different performances by well-known local and international theater groups from Asia, Africa, the Arab states, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Europe.
       An opening show, entitled Mabuhay: World’s Arts, One Heart, welcomed the delegates last Tuesday at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Directed by Frank Rivera, it featured excerpts of the plays that were shown throughout the just-concluded Theatre Olympics.
       Despite its Olympics title, the event was by no means a competition; instead it offered a veritable showcase that introduced the theater groups themselves, reflecting a common objective of utilizing the arts to make the world a better place—as expressed in this year’s Unesco-ITI World Congress theme: “Ancestral Roots to New Artistic Routes of Expression: Mobilizing Cultural Diversity to Achieve the UN Development Goals.”
       Koïchiro Matsuura, director general of Unesco, personally joined the participants to emphasize the significance of theater in the overall work of education through various forms of media and cultural forms. This theme resonated in his speech at the event: “Theater is a powerful means of expressing cultural diversity. It can help view the sense of great cultural understanding.”
       He also said that “in the spirit of Unesco’s work regarding the protection and promotion of cultural diversity, which underscores the equal dignity of and respect for all cultures, I believe that theater can play a useful role in the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals, especially the goal of eradicating extreme poverty.”
       A tall order, indeed, for an art form that is often taken for granted. Perhaps it should be remembered then that people are nourished not by bread alone; equally important is the food that nurtures the mind and the spirit. With a report from M. Madolid