organizations
The Writers Bloc
THE WRITERS BLOC is an independent organization of established and aspiring playwrights that seeks to create a fresh vision and to define new perspectives in contemporary Philippine Drama. Its members, including some of the country's best and most promising plawyrights today, gather every other Sunday to read and critically assess new works. Some of these plays have won Palanca awards and major theatre companies have staged several of them.
The organization traces its roots in 1989, to an informal group of in-house writers of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) who bonded together to seriously study the craft of playwriting. Under the auspices of PETA, a program geared towards the acquisition of dramaturgical skills and the development of proper theatre attitudes among promising new talents was developed. Under the guidance of Rene O. Villanueva and coordinator Charley dela Paz, the Bloc not only served as a regular venue for the critical assessment of new works, but also conducted rehearsed readings, mounted laboratory productions, assisted playwrights in marketing and promoting their plays, and provided facilitators of playwriting workshops for other groups.
The Bloc continued to flourish under Rody Vera, who became coordinator upon dela Paz' sudden death in 1995. Under his leadership, the group organized and hosted the very first National Playwrights Conference in 1997 and established the annual Dulaang Laboratoryo Festival with PETA in 1998. In 2004, the Bloc became an independent group and in January 2005, released its first anthology, 10x10x10: Sampung Tigsasampung Minutong Dula ng Sampung Mandudula . The book, featuring 10-minute plays that were staged in the 2000 Dulaang Laboratoryo Festival and the 2001 Komedy Klab Festival, received enthusiastic support at its launch.
Besides Villanueva and Vera, other senior members of the Writers Bloc include award-winners Nicolas Pichay, Liza C. Magtoto, Jose Victor Z. Torres, Jose Rizal screenwriter Jun Lana and Bridal Shower and Bikini Open screenwriter Chris Martinez. Some of the prize-winning plays that underwent a Bloc reading and have been subsequently staged are Rene O. Villanueva's Watawat and The Bomb! (PETA, 2003), Liza Magtoto's Agnoia (PETA, 2004), Rody Vera's Mga Aswang sa Pahanon ng Digmaan (TP, 2004) and Nicolas Pichay's Psychedelia Apokalipsis (TP, 2004).
Vera continues to lead the Writers Bloc as chairman of its Executive Committee, composed of sub-committee heads Rene O. Villanueva, Alfonso I. Dacanay and Rogelio Braga, associate administrator Liza C. Magtoto, treasurer Terrence Co and legal adviser Nicolas Pichay.
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