Maria Luisa F. Torres 
 
 
the first couple - then President Marcos and wife, Imelda - visiting 
Mindanao. For the scene in which Grusha is being sought in the 
Northern mountains by the soldiers, the military checkpoints which were 
all over Mindanao became the source of visualization. For the scenes in 
which Grusha asks for milk and is turned away and told to get milk from 
the soldiers, the motivation was instinctively clear: it was to be the 
many cases of hamletting in which the military took liberties with 
everything they found inside the homes of those who had been forcibly 
transplanted in other places during military operations. 
     It is interesting to note that the cast consisted of people from the

 different sectors of the area. They were beginning actors - as many 
 actors are in the Philippines - who came from the ranks of the urban 
 poor, out of school youth, professionals and cultural workers and 
 organizers. The scheming prince was played by a high school alliance 
 organizer in Mindanao; as such, he had clear ideas of traditional 
 politicians who would do a lot of maneuvering to get favors and position.

 The visualization and model for the king and queen were undoubtedly 
 the then President and the First Lady. The soldiers' model were the 
 CHDF, especially for the ironshirts; in this regard, what came out were

 CHDF who wore bullets for their earrings and tattoos all over their bodies

 and who were most of the time drunk. In one of the scenes in which the 
 cast was supposed to be carrying the bloody head of the king, they had 
 the image of the Mahero brothers, notorious criminals in Mindanao who 
 had figured in the headlines, who were used by the military to frighten

 away the people. The urban poor came from a highly militarized area in 
 Agdao who had worse experiences of zoning twice a week by the 
 military - there, she would go back to their abandoned house only to find

 out that the soldiers had taken away their food and other belongings. 
 She was the one who played the role of a servant woman who refused to 
 give milk to Grusha not because she was selfish, but because she was 
 poor, like Grusha. One could only imagine what her line meant when she 
 told Grusha to go get the milk from the soldiers. The person who played

 the cousin of the prince was an out of school youth, with roots among 
 the lumpen; apparently, he did project the look and rhythm of the part.

 Azdac was played by the head of the Kulturang Atin Foundation who had 
 no formal training in acting just like most community theater workers; 
 but he was very gifted with rhythm, enunciation, very politicized and a

 high-caliber cultural organizer; perhaps because of his native talent as

 an actor and his high level of political awareness, he was able to deliver

 Azdac's arguments so clearly. For the overall motivation, the cast relied

 on personal and shared experiences even as the play itself holds a 
 special significance to their collective life. For the movements, the 
 production borrowed from the dances of the tribal Filipinos in Minandao

 as in the T'boli dance, the Tausog dance, the pangalay (bamboo dance 
 imitating the balancing act of a boat with bamboo safety poles on both 
 sides). The pangalay became the focal movement as Grusha crosses 
the bridge; she was dancing the scene, which proved to be most 
suspenseful to the audience. The baptism scene in which the baby's 
clothes are changed into peasant rags, the malong was transformed 
into a streaming river. 
 
 
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