TITLE PLACE DATE DESCRIPTION Filipino artistry will once again be celebrated as Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), the resident theater company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, concludes its 31st Theater Season (billed as “Freedom Writers: Freedom Fighters”) with Nang Dalawin ng Pag-ibig si Juan Tamad, a new and original production based on National Artist Nick Joaquin’s story “How Love Came to Juan Tamad.” Literary critics describe it as the correct explanation why Mariyang Makiling forever nurses a broken heart and why Juan Tamad remains a pop idol; a model for the young. Included in Joaquin’s Pop Stories for Groovy Kids (1979), the play is a mash-up of popular folk tales, and follows the love triangle among Filipino legends Mariyang Makiling (diyosa ng pag-ibig/goddess of love), Monte Banahaw (diyos ng digmaan/god of war), and Juan Tamad. Adapted for the stage by Rody Vera and directed by Jonathan Tadioan, the play is teeming with complex characters (including Ba’I, diyos ng lawa ng Laguna/god of Laguna lake and brother of Monte Banahaw), with no one being purely a hero or a villain.