Tropical Baroque: Four Manileño Theatricals

Tropical Baroque: Four Manileño Theatricals celebrates the depth and the vibrancy of National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin's dramatic output.

Set in old Manila, A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino revolves around two spinster sisters, Paula and Candida Marasigan, who fight for all the things precious to their family.

This play has gone on to be adapted as a major motion picture. In Tatarin, Doña Lupe stands firm on her ideas on feminism. She joins the three-day fertility ritual where women wildly dance around the balite tree, giving her the perfect opportunity to boldly demand respect and admiration from her husband, Don Paeng.

In Fathers and Sons, Bessie fights back against the shadows cast by her past as an abandoned child sold and bought into the life of prostitution. 

The Beatas illustrates modern views and actions of Antonia Ezguerra and Sebastiana de Santa Maria, along with their fellow beatas, as they stand their ground despite the challenge from the patriarchy of the Holy Church to shut down the first beaterio in Manila.

About the Author

Nick Joaquin (1917-2004), novelist, playwright, poet, journalist, historian, and biographer, has been the recipient of almost all of the prestigious awards in literature and the arts, including the National Artist Award for Literature, the highest national recognition given to Filipino artists who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts and to the cultural heritage of the country. Widely regarded as the greatest Filipino writer of the twentieth century, he was also conferred, among other recognitions the Republic of Cultural Heritage Award for Literature in 1961; the Journalist of the Year Award in the early 1960s; the Book of the Year Award in 1979 for his Almanac for Manileños; The National Book Award for several of his works; the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts (the Asian counterpart of the Nobel Prize) in 1996; and the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award in 1997.