PETA Brings Back ‘Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang’
PETA’s Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang at iba pa… is back at the PETA Theater Center in Quezon City from September 21 to 30, 2026, bringing together two stories by Severino Reyes, a new story by J-mee Katanyag, and a refreshed production aimed at children growing up in a very different media landscape. Very limited public tickets range from ₱1,000 to ₱1,800, with a longer run already planned for February 2027.
Lola Basyang has been around long enough to outlive several ways of telling a story. She began in the pages of Liwayway, then moved through film, comics, radio, television, books, ballet, animation, and theater. PETA first staged Christine Bellen’s theatrical adaptation in 2005. Twenty-one years later, the company is opening the book again without pretending that the children listening today live in the same world.
Old stories, new questions
Two Severino Reyes stories anchor the production. Ang Prinsipeng Mahaba ang Ilong follows a prince whose story pushes against judgments based on appearance, while Ang Binibining Tumalo sa Hari puts intelligence and courage up against power and prejudice.
The genuinely new piece is Ang Bantay ng Huling Buwan, written by PETA Artistic Director J-mee Katanyag. Uriel, its central character, is a young girl with a phone, plenty of questions, and a world shaped by vlogs, science, myths, and a constant stream of information.
PETA’s official materials describe the story as one that puts folklore in conversation with critical thinking, misinformation, fear, and collective action. It is not difficult to see why Uriel belongs in this particular revival. Children meeting Lola Basyang in 2026 already know what it means to scroll through more information than they can possibly process. Figuring out which parts deserve their trust is now part of childhood, too.
Katanyag approaches Lola Basyang and Uriel as two generations meeting rather than one simply teaching the other. Lola brings memory and the stories handed down to her. Uriel brings another way of looking at them. The production leaves room for both.
There is no reason an old story has to remain untouched to prove that it matters. Sometimes keeping it alive means letting another generation question it, argue with it, laugh at it, and decide what it wants to carry forward.
Live theater in the age of TikTok and AI
Phil Noble returns to direct the full-length production, with Gio Gahol as associate director and choreographer. Noble is very aware of the obvious challenge: children can now create, watch, skip, replay, and replace entire worlds from a screen in their hands.
His director’s notes explicitly name vlogging, AI, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram as part of the world surrounding today’s audience. PETA’s answer is not to make the stage behave like another app. The production instead makes use of the thing live theater has that a feed does not: people in the same room responding to one another in real time.
Lola Basyang speaks to the children, asks questions, listens to their answers, and invites them to help the characters through their problems. The children get to respond, play, and participate instead of sitting through a story that only talks at them.
Noble wants an audience used to building worlds through screens to discover the very different pleasure of a world being built in front of them, with actors, music, movement, and an audience that can actually answer back.
Who is in PETA’s Lola Basyang cast?
Kiki Baento and CB Garrucho alternate as Lola Basyang in the full-length production. The cast also features Yhuan Gatbunton as Prinsipeng Mahaba ang Ilong, Belle Mendoza as Gracia, Leo Lapitan as Bungal and Pido, Thor Ganchero as Duling, Nyla Festejo as Sharay, Roi Calilong as Datu, Ayla Garcia as Bebang, Mico Esquivel as Lamukot, and JC Sunto as Uriel.
Behind the production are playwrights Christine Bellen and J-mee Katanyag, set and property designer Julio Garcia, costume designer Carlo Pagunaling, musical director and arranger Kabaitan Bautista, composer Noel Cabangon, and lighting designer Satya Edilo.
PETA also has an excerpt version directed by Maribel Legarda. Yhuan Gatbunton plays Prinsipeng Mahaba ang Ilong, with Ericka Peralejo as Gracia and Bebang, Carlon Matobato as Hari, Duling, and Pido, James Pe Lim as Bungal and Lamukot, and Icee Po as Reyna, Kawal, and Sharay. Boni Juan handles production design, Siglo designs the puppets, and Ian Torqueza handles lighting.
Legarda sees children’s theater as a place where younger audiences can encounter choices, conflict, courage, and consequences through play. Her point about reviving a classic is simple: bringing something back does not mean reproducing it exactly as it was.
Lola Basyang beyond the PETA Theater Center
Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang at iba pa… is also available for school and community touring in full-length and excerpt versions. PETA has previously taken versions of Lola Basyang around the Philippines and abroad, with performances in Filipino, English, Japanese, and Korean.
Bellen’s adaptation has been part of PETA’s repertory since 2005, but the company has never treated Lola Basyang as belonging to only one language, one cast, or one staging. The format makes room for the storyteller to travel and change depending on who is sitting in front of her.
Bellen’s 2026 notes bring the two Severino Reyes stories together with Katanyag’s new work as a way of connecting past and present. The aim is not only to leave children with a lesson, but to give them something to think about after the story is over.
PETA Lola Basyang 2026 show dates and ticket prices
As of September 22, very limited tickets are available to the public for the remaining September performances at the PETA Theater Center:
- September 23, Wednesday: 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM
- September 24, Thursday: 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM
- September 25, Friday: 9:00 AM
- September 30, Wednesday: 9:00 AM
Ticket prices are ₱1,800 for VIP, ₱1,400 for Orchestra Center, ₱1,100 for Orchestra Side, ₱1,400 for Balcony Center, and ₱1,000 for Balcony Side.
For ticket inquiries and purchases, PETA advises audiences to contact King Joshua Nalupa through Viber at +63 993 643 6018. The production is scheduled to return for a longer run in February 2027.
Schools and communities interested in booking the full-length or excerpt touring production may contact King Joshua Nalupa at kingjoshuanalupa@petatheater.com.
Lola Basyang does not need to be frozen in the world where she was first published to remain Lola Basyang. PETA’s 2026 version lets the old stories meet the children who are actually here now, phones, questions, short attention spans and all.
They are allowed to interrupt. They can answer back. They can question what they hear and become part of the story instead of simply receiving it.
More than a century after Lola Basyang first sat down to tell Filipinos a story, passing the book to another generation may also mean letting them write something into the margins.