The plays in these two volumes revolve around the themes of tradition and history. Volume I, Revitalizing Tradition, collects three plays that give new life and meaning to ancient forms and/or old texts in distinct ways. Pilipinas Circa 1907 invests the traditional light sarsuwela with political gravitas, as it dramatizes the clash between Filipino nationalists and American colonialists in the field of economy, politics, and culture in 1907. Noli at Fili Dekada 2000 combines and contemporizes Jose Rizal’s classic novels by exposing the social cancer of our time—the greed of those in power that denudes the forests and causes the massive floods that cost thousands in lives and millions in property. Labaw Donggon: Ang Banog ng Sanlibutan allegorizes the Panay Bukidnon epic, interpreting the journey of Labaw Donggon to the three levels of the world as the pursuit of the harmony between all levels of the physical and metaphysical universe as well as the inner faculties of the human being and the workings of all sectors of society.

1. Zarzuela ? Philippines. 2. Musical theather ? History and criticism ? Philippines. 3. Musicals ? Philippines.