The story is often told: how Repertory Philippines began in 1967 with a performance of Strindberg’s “Miss Julie” with seven people in the audience. Rep’s five founders–Bibot Amador, Baby Barredo, Leo Martinez (yes, Congressman Manhik-Manaog of TV himself), Tony and Monina Mercado–nevertheless decided to forge on.

The first season featured five plays: “Miss Julie,” Murray Schisgal’s “Luv,” Sophocles’ “Antigone,” Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” and Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.” The weight and caliber of these inaugural offerings set the tone for Rep’s trademark fare in the next 40 years, give or take some poor choices and a few outright stinkers (Frank Rich’s “Moose Murders” this year, for example). While Cecile Guidote Alvarez’s Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), also founded in 1967, became the foremost exponent of original Filipino and Filipino-language theater, Rep covered the other end by becoming the country’s leading English-language drama company.

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