Memory does not always disappear in one clean break. Sometimes the room is familiar but the year is wrong. A face may be recognized, then placed in another part of a life. Families often respond by correcting the details. Stay a Little Longer asks what happens when correction stops helping. 2TinCans Philippines stages the full-length drama at The Kabilin Center in Cebu City on August 29 and 30, 2026. Sarah Mae Enclona-Henderson wrote the play and leads the cast as HER, with Shifrah Bouchikhi-Enclona directing. HER moves between several stages of her life without experiencing them as distant memories. She is a child mourning her brother, a young woman who wants to be chosen, a wife, a mother, a physician, and an older woman trying to understand why she is in a hospice room. Sarah Mae Enclona-Henderson as HER in Stay a Little Longer . To the people around her, these moments belong to different years. HER experiences them as something happe...

Photo by Saul de Jesus / Unsaulicited The 16th Gawad Buhay Awards had a clear center of gravity: Tanghalang Pilipino’s Kisapmata . The production took 11 of the 28 competitive awards, including the four play acting categories, ensemble, play, direction, translation or adaptation, set, lighting, and sound. The next six awards went to Shrek the Musical . Gregoria Lakambini: A Pinay Pop Musical took four. Side Show and Come From Away received two each, while Nobody Is Home , We Aren’t Kids Anymore , and Via Dolorosa took one apiece. Kisapmata leads the night The spread of the awards makes Kisapmata more than the night’s most decorated production. It won across the full architecture of a play, from translation and direction to set, lighting, sound, ensemble, production, and performance. Jonathan Tadioan, Lhorvie Nuevo-Tadioan, Toni Go-Yadao, and Marco Viaña also took the four individual play acting awards. The ceremony slide for Outstanding Ensemble Perf...

On August 29, 1956, audiences at the Far Eastern University Auditorium heard Georges Bizet’s Carmen in Tagalog. Not a Filipino-inspired retelling. Not a few translated songs placed inside a variety show. Bizet’s opera, performed in Tagalog, with a young Conchita “Conching” H. Rosal singing the title role. Seventy years later, the Manila Symphony Orchestra is returning to FEU on the same date. Opera at Kundiman: The Legacy of Maestra Conching Rosal will be presented on August 29, 2026, at 7:00 PM at the FEU Auditorium in Manila. It is the fourth concert in the MSO Centennial Season and also marks Rosal’s 100th birth anniversary. Manila Symphony Orchestra. Photo courtesy of the MSO. How Carmen reached Manila in Tagalog The 1956 production was conducted by Herbert Zipper, who had succeeded MSO founder Alexander Lippay as musical director. Trudl Dubsky-Zipper staged the opera. Instead of using the original French libretto, the production used a...

Nico Antonio in Silenced Nights . Image courtesy of the film’s production. Filipino films have made their way to the Toronto International Film Festival before. What makes Silenced Nights different is where it landed. Lawrence “Law” Fajardo’s new sociopolitical drama has been selected for Platform, TIFF’s only juried competitive section, where it will have its world premiere in September 2026. It is not simply going to Toronto to be screened. It is going there to compete. Silenced Nights at TIFF 2026 Film: Silenced Nights Director: Lawrence “Law” Fajardo Writer: Troy Espiritu Lead actor: Nico Antonio Festival: Toronto International Film Festival 2026 Section: Platform competition TIFF dates: September 10 to 20, 2026 Philippine release: September 16, 2026 MTRCB rating: R-16 Director Lawrence “Law” Fajardo at the FDCP Cinematheque Director Series. Image courtesy of the film’s production. Why the Platfor...

Official promotional artwork for Rizal 3000 . Image courtesy of PhilStagers Theatre Foundation. The most interesting thing about Rizal 3000 is not simply that it places José Rizal inside a science fiction story. It imagines a future where remembering him has become illegal. PhilStagers Theatre Foundation opens its new original Filipino musical on August 8 and 9, 2026 at St. Cecilia's Hall, St. Scholastica's College Manila. Written and directed by Vincent M. Tañada, the production sends Rizal's ideas into a fictional Philippines almost a thousand years into the future. RIZAL 3000: QUICK FACTS August 8, 2026 at 6:00 PM August 9, 2026 at 5:00 PM St. Cecilia's Hall St. Scholastica's College Manila Written and directed by Vincent M. Tañada Music by Pipo Cifra Presented by PhilStagers Theatre Foundation A Philippines where history is forbidden Rizal 3000 is set in a co...

Four films by Benilde faculty members and alumni are competing at Cinemalaya 2026: The River Flows in Different Places , A.ni.mál , Status: Rejected , and Elenita Elena Elaine . Composite image by Unsaulicited using posters courtesy of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde. Benilde will not be represented by just one film at Cinemalaya this August. Four works by members of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde faculty and alumni community are in competition, and they could hardly be more different from one another. One follows two Filipino-Palestinian mothers rebuilding their idea of home after fleeing Gaza. Another turns political complicity inside a provincial family into black comedy. The other two follow an older woman looking for love after another visa rejection and three women moving through a Manila where people can no longer dream. Quick facts Festival: Cinemalaya 22: Reel Reflections Dates: August 6...

At a glance: On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan is entering the final stretch of its Manila run at the Proscenium Theater in Rockwell Center, Makati. Presented by Rockwell and 9 Works Theatrical, the production stars Kayla Rivera and Molly Langley, alternating as Gloria Estefan, opposite Cuban-American actor Jason Canela as Emilio Estefan. The Manila production of On Your Feet! brings the music, movement, and story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan to the Proscenium Theater. Photo courtesy of Rockwell. If a production is selling Gloria Estefan, it has to look like it can move. The Manila staging does. On Your Feet! arrives with bright lights, a full ensemble, bodies constantly in motion, and stage pictures that seem to come with their own rhythm. It pushes toward the edges of the Proscenium Theater stage without losing the people at the center of the music. That movement is part of what makes the production work. Audiences arr...

Manila is getting its own Yule Ball this September, and this one invites Harry Potter fans to become part of the celebration rather than simply watch it happen. Harry Potter: A Yule Ball Celebration opens on September 3, 2026 at The Space at Solaire in Parañaque City. The Manila run now continues through December 13, 2026. The approximately two-hour experience gives guests room to dress for the occasion, support a Hogwarts house, dance, join the evening’s activities, take photos, and explore the ballroom at their own pace. The Manila engagement follows previous editions in Milan, Montreal, Sydney, and Mexico City. It is presented by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and Fever in collaboration with GMG Productions . Public ticket sales begin through TicketWorld on July 21. Fans can also join the waitlist through the official Harry Potter Yule Ball Manila website . Harry Potter Yule Ball Manila: Quick Facts Opening date: September 3, 2...