The Metropolitan Teen Theatre League (MTTL) is the youth theater arm of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). It was founded in 1968 and originally conceived as an alliance of school drama clubs to allow the youth to engage in the development of Philippine culture. Since then, it has become a seedbed of outstanding theater artists, cultural workers, child educators and future leaders in various fields of Filipino endeavor. The premise for its formation was that an essential component in the advancement of a National Theater Movement lies within the confines of the schools and communities. Thus, the MTTL was envisioned as an umbrella organization of community and school-based youth theater groups.
Vision-Mission
We are the Philippine Educational Theater Association’s Metropolitan Teen Theater League (PETA-MTTL). Through theater and the arts, we empower young people so that they become leaders with initiatives for collective action towards progressive social transformation.
WE ARE
… young Filipino artist-teacher-leaders who work for and with the young people.
WE ENGAGE
… youth in activities of free expression, consciousness-raising, and collective action through theater and the arts.
WE CONVERGE
… with different youth groups to provide opportunities for youth expression through performances, workshops, and fora.
BAGONG BILANG: A Workshop-Performance on Voter’s Education (2010)
BAGONG BILANG: Isang Dula-Palihan (New Count: A Performance Workshop) is a voter’s education project that reached 2208 young people from at least 30 different school and community organizations in Bohol, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Bulacan, and Metro Manila within a 9-month period (August 2009 – April 2010) that aimed to:
1) Educate first time voters on the electoral process
2) Develop greater involvement and vigilance among the participants; and
3) Empower the youth and encourage their active participation in society and voicing out the youth agenda.
It was a new way of educating other young people about the importance of elections, youth participation, vigilance and good governance. “New” because of its unique form – the convergence of a workshop and a performance in one experience. The workshop was framed within a storyline performed by young artist-teachers wherein certain scenes and situations provided impetus for improvisation and interaction. During the process the participants did not merely watch but also actively performed in the scenes as they experienced the process of voters’ registration, the campaign period, the elections, and even 100 days after the elections. BAGONG BILANG was a concrete example where theater was a rehearsal for participation and active involvement in governance and society.
Upcoming Activities
To continue our advocacy for youth empowerment, PETA-MTTL will undertake a year-long Sexuality Education Campaign. We believe sexuality is an integral component of a young person’s development. This campaign aims to break our cultural fear of discussing our body and sexuality as a first step in protecting one’s health, building loving relationships, and being a responsible young person.
The sexuality education campaign is a creative dialogue with local schools and communities in Metro Manila which will utilize various approaches to educate and empower the young people. Using these two activities as a spring board for discussion, and with the help of existing support groups and adult supervisors, the campaign aims to equip the audience and participants with the life skills they need to be able to make responsible decisions as adolescents.
Activity Description
A) KaSARI-SARIan (Titignan at Pipiliin): a Workshop-Performance on Sexuality Education that aims to facilitate a deeper appreciation and understanding of a young person’s body and sexuality, acknowledging these as integral and natural aspects of one’s being. The workshop is framed within a storyline performed by the artist-teachers wherein certain scenes and situations provide impetus for the participants to improvise and join the performance. These art-based and participatory pedagogical tools aim to draw out the experiences and critical views of the participants while equipping them with basic artistic skills. It has roots in the U.K.’s Drama-in-Education, International Drama and Education Association’s (IDEA) process drama, Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed and PETA’s Basic Integrated Theater Arts Workshop. The process will be facilitated by 5 Young Actor-Facilitators and each session can accommodate at most 30 to 40 Audience-Participants, to ensure the quality of discussion and learning.
B) Pat(h)lang: an experimental performance, is a mixture of drama and comedy. The production piece combines the use of songs, poetry and movement to show the different faces of youth in different dimensions of time and space. It is an interwoven aria of three teenagers whose stories resonate in the experiences of teenagers today.
Their stories reflect the choices that a typical teenager is confronted with — the influence of media,of on-line social networking and the effect of teenage hormones. Pat(h)lang challenges the young person to make an informed choice rooted in one’s knowledge and awareness of his or her own gender and sexuality. At the end of the performance, a debriefing session will be conducted to process the thoughts, feelings and insights of the young audience on the issues tackled in the informance. The project will be launched on September 2011 at the PETA Theater Center.
