MANILA -- The Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas or Dulaang UP is poised to set the stage ablaze again as it launched its latest season on Monday.

For its 43rd season, Dulaang UP will be staging just three plays, instead of its usual lineup of four or five productions. Its theme this season is "Hudyat: Pag-alala. Pagkilala. Pagpapahalaga."

The new season will open on September 5 with "Six Characters in Search of an Author" by Italian dramatist Luigi Pirandello. DUP is set to do both English and Filipino versions, the latter translated by acclaimed playwright Rody Vera.

"Six Characters in Search of an Author" will be directed by theater luminary and DUP founder Tony Mabesa, with an all-student cast and ensemble.

Asked why DUP chose the Pirandello meta-drama to open its 43rd season, Mabesa said it's a beautiful classic that they have done during the first season of the theater group. "Maganda 'yan. Puro na lang kasi musicals ngayon, dapat may gumawa rin ng classics," Mabesa said.

The second play is a restaging of "The Dressing Room" by its former artistic director Alexander Cortez.

"May pinagdadaanan ako nung ginawa ko ito dati. Kaya maganda siyang balikan," a teary-eyed Cortez admitted.

"The Dressing Room" was staged in 2016, at a time when the Faculty Center was razed by fire, also burning a lot of memories, artifacts, and costumes of Dulaang UP.

DUP seasoned actresses Frances Makil Ignacio and Ces Quesada will be returning to the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero stage stage again to do "The Dressing Room."

Quesada said this is their way of giving back to their home. "It's great to collaborate with young students," she said.

Last in the lineup is a play on the life of comfort woman Nana Rosa. It's an original story by Rody Vera, to be directed by Jose Estrella. The play is slated in February 2019.

CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

This season opens another chapter of challenges for the semi-professional theater group, as it recently changed leadership. Its former artistic director, the young and prolific Dexter Santos (who also directed the ongoing "Ang Huling El Bimbo" at Resorts World Manila) has passed the baton to opera singer and actress Banaue Miclat-Janssen.

Miclat-Janssen admitted that while she has experiences in directing, she isn't a regular director. "This is the first time that the artistic director is not a director herself," said Miclat-Janssen, who has been known for her performances in the Metropolitan Opera in the US. Miclat-Janssen is an alumna of the theater arts program of UP Diliman and later studied in the City University of New York for her MFA in Acting.

Asked whether she will be directing plays for DUP in the future, Miclat-Janssen said "it's in the horizon." But she wants to familiarize herself and learn the ropes of the job. "Maybe next season!" she quipped.

Miclat-Janssen has big shoes to fill, coming from Santos's successful three-year stint as artistic director.

Under his helm, Santos has staged critically acclaimed productions such as "The Kundiman Party," "Angry Christ," and the one-woman show "A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing."

Miclat-Janssen said they would like their students to focus and dedicate more time on their own productions under the Dulaang Laboratoryo.

Asked about the rationale of streamlining the lineup into just three plays, the new artistic director admitted that both the department and the theater institution are facing several issues -- especially on free tuition.

"We've yet to see how things will work. We're posed with the challenge of how to make DUP more sustainable," she said.