Calungsod play premieres today in barangay Pardo

A STAGE play on the life and martyrdom of Blessed Pedro Calungsod will premiere tonight in the Sto. Tomas De Villanueva parish grounds in barangay Pardo, Cebu City.

After the stage play which starts at 8 p.m., a procession will follow with a Holy Mass.

Another presentation will be staged Saturday evening at St. Gregory the Great parish grounds in Ginatilan, on the eve of the canonization.

On October 27, Saturday, the group will perform again Malabuyoc parish.

The 30-minute drama will follow Calungsod’s life from the time he asked permission from his mother to join the mission the Ladrones Islands and include testimonies from those blessed by the Visayan martyr, said Aljin Abaquita, the director.

Abaquita said the group welcomes invitations from parishes to perform but requires the venue to be an open stage and the show to be free for the public.

“The point of evangelization performances is for everyone to be informed and aware of the Word of God. The more informed the audience, the better,” he told Cebu Daily News.

He said they were first inspired to mount a play after the Visayan martyr was beatified in 2000.

“It started in the year 2002. It was a product of research,” he said based on a cassette tape released by the Daughters of St. Paul and the book written by Msgr. Ildefonso Leyson, “Pedro Calonsor Bisaya: Prospects of a Teenage Filipino.”

A cast of 45 volunteer actors, mostly active parish youth, will perform. /Correspondent Jessa J. Agua