MANILA -- Dennis Marasigan, the Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) new artistic director and vice president, is back directing for the live stage with Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Ang Pag-uusig”.

• READ: Dennis Marasigan is new CCP artistic director

It’s the third run of the acclaimed play adapted from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” by Marasigan using the Filipino translation of Jerry Respeto. He also functions as lighting designer.

It debuted in 2017 at Tanghalang Huseng Batute and due to positive reviews and audiences’ requests for a rerun, it was staged a second time in 2018.

Besides one of TP’s best-selling productions in the past decade, it was among the most well-reviewed and awarded. In 2018 Gawad Buhay Awards, it brought home six trophies, including Outstanding Play for TP, Outstanding Stage Direction for Marasigan and Outstanding Translation for Respeto.

With the CCP main building undergoing renovations for the next three years, “Ang Pag-uusig” will be staged at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (TIG), or the new CCP Black Box Theater, from February 17 to March 12.

Incidentally, TIG could accommodate 250 audience members given the health and safety protocols. This is even bigger compared with THB’s 200 seating capacity in the pre-pandemic set-up.

Though set in the puritanical period in North America in the 17th century, Miller wrote “The Crucible” in 1953 as an allegory of the US government’s massive “red-tagging” known historically as the McCarthy communist witch hunt.

“Ang Pag-uusig” remains loyal to Miller’s story about the witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts that happened from February 1692 to May 1693 that cost the lives of 20 innocent people. Still, the production resonated with audiences with its allusions to similar events in the Philippines’ socio-political landscape, like references to the past administration’s bloody drug war that involved extra judicial killings.

We had a chance to have an email interview with Marasigan, who we learned has also met Miller, the great American playwright himself, in London in 1991. Here’s the excerpt of our online talk:

Q: How’s it been after a few months accepting the artistic directorial post at the CCP?

Marasigan: “It has been a very exciting and educational experience, as I had to familiarize myself with the ongoing activities and processes being undertaken by the CCP. Add to it the flurry of December events that the CCP undertook, coupled with the movement of our offices from the CCP main building. All of these while we reviewed the plans and budgets for 2023 programs.”

Q: Could you share with us an appetizer of what is to come at the CCP this year, now that the main building is being renovated?

Marasigan: “The CCP shall be bringing its performances, exhibits, trainings and other activities to more venues not only in Metro Manila but also in various places nationwide as the CCP main building is being renovated.

“We are finalizing arrangements with the Metropolitan Theater, the Samsung Performing Arts Center and the PICC as our partner venues for activities normally expected to be held at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abeladro. We are also developing partnerships with non-traditional spaces like the Ayala Museum and even some parish churches, while we also expand our outreach activities. And you might even see a CCP channel as part of an online streaming service.”

Q: The re-staging of “Ang Pag-uusig” has been set long before you were offered the CCP post, and given it’s the third run, would you say it’s a walk in the park to direct it now or it’s a new challenge for you since you’d be working with new scholars of the TP Actors Company, except of course for the four TP senior members Marco Viaña, Jonathan ‘Tad’ Tadioan, Antonette ‘Toni’ Go and Lhorvie Nuevo, who were part of the first and second ‘Ang Pag-uusig’ productions?

Marasigan: “I wouldn’t say so. While it is true that the four senior members will be back, they have not also played the same roles together in a performance (i.e., Marco was Reverrend Parris when Toni was Abigail William and Tad was Judge Danforth; Lhorvie will be playing an entirely new role. We have also invited [former TP Actor’s Company member] Monique Nellas to join the cast, but she will also play a new role.) And there are more new scholars (10 to be exact) added to the cast. Getting all of them to work well together as an ensemble, much more to rise to one deserving to be called outstanding is a definite challenge.”

(The 10 new TP Actors Company scholars who will be part of the play are Aggy Maggo, Sri Arjhay Babon, Judie Dimayuga, Edrick Alcontado, Earle Figuracion, Vince Macapobre, Mitzi Comia, Heart Puyong, Mark Lorenz and Sarah Monay. The three guest artists are Monique Nellas-Bagadiong, Francesca Dela Cruz and Daniel Gregorio, who will also serve as ‘Ang Pag-uusig’s costume designer using the late James Reyes’s original concept.)

• READ: Theater industry mourns the death of James Reyes, 48

Q: What are the challenges, adjustments in staging it the new CCP Black Box theater? Coming from a more intimate Huseng Batute Theater?

Marasigan: “Performing in a new venue with different dynamics requires us to come up with a new set and modified staging. For example, in Tanghalang Batute, we had audiences on two sides. This time, the set will effectively be a thrust stage, with audiences on three sides. That will require changes in the set, staging, and even lighting, and for the actors to adjust and recalibrate their performances.”

Q: It’s a happy coincidence that in the beginning of 2022, you directed the first play of TP, the re-imagined Layeta Bucoy’s “Doc Resurreccion, Gagamutin Ang Bayan” for streaming audience, now to jumpstart 2023, you’re back in TP for “Ang Pag-uusig.” So this time, would you be shooting also a film version of the play for future streaming?

Marasigan: “That is the plan.”

Q: When “Ang Pag-uusig” was staged in 2017 and 2018, there were some comments that this Arthur Miller play was very timely. How about in the post-pandemic milieu?

Marasigan: “We have begun work on the script with the actors, and we are discovering that the play still resonates with the current socio-political milieu, though not necessarily in the same manner as it did in 2017 or 2018. I think it is a testament to how great Arthur Miller’s play is.”

Q: Given all the awards and positive reviews that “Ang Pag-uusig” got in the past, is there a pressure on you to meet the expectations in this third staging?

Marasigan: “I try to dissuade everyone involved from thinking about the previous productions. Our main objective to come up with a production that will do justice to the original material and appreciated by the audience.”

• Theater review: In new run, 'Ang Pag-uusig' remains as relevant as ever

Q: After “Ang Pag-uusig” would you still be open to direct another play for TP next year? Say, another to start 2024? I mean, given the monumental tasks ahead being the CCP VP and artistic director?

Marasigan: “We have not spoken about it, but yes I am, subject of course to CCP policies.”

Q: Kindly tell us your experience in meeting the great Arthur Miller? Were you able to shake his hand? Talk to him?

“I did not have the privilege of a one-on-one with him. I was in London on a British Council Visitorship which allowed me to have a six-week residency at the Royal National Theater. As part of the NT's Platform Events series, they invited Arthur Miller for an open Q&A which I attended.

“He was there for the opening of his play ‘Ride Down Mt. Morgan’ in the West End. After the event, he stayed on for a book signing. I took his picture (I can't find it anymore) but couldn't stay on because I already had a ticket for another show in West End that evening. I told the story to the ‘Ang Pag-uusig’ company to show that they have a closer connection (e.g. like in Six Degrees of Separation) to Arthur Miller than they could imagine.

Q: Anything you’d like to add, Sir?

Marasigan: “We wish to invite everyone to watch Tanghalang Pilipino’s (and the CCP’s) first theater production for 2023, ‘Ang Pag-uusig,’ even those who have watched it before, for three main reasons.

“One, it is a great play written by a great playwright. Second, (it was) given a very accessible translation by Dr. Jerry Respeto and three, it will be performed by the Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company, known for its wonderful ensemble work. We promise everyone will have a great time at the theater.”

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