Stage play seen as rehab tool in Baguio prison

Inmates at the Baguio City Jail female ward act in a play staged in June and this month, proving that community theater can be a useful rehabilitation program. They underwent free workshops led by a Baguio artist. —EV ESPIRITU

BAGUIO CITY — Inmates of the Baguio City Jail Female Dormitory staged two plays in June, earned P15,000 from ticket sales that they used for their livelihood projects, and proved that community theater could be a valuable tool for rehabilitating prisoners.

All these things happened after their warden, Senior Insp. April Rose Ayangwa, included performance art in the jail’s rehabilitation and development program.

An inmate, Ching, 47, said she remembered asking Ayangwa in a dialogue in 2016 to allow them to train in stage drama after being inspired by a student performance inside the prison compound.

Ayangwa agreed, so the inmates signed up for acting workshops, led by Baguio-based artist and theater director, Angelo Aurelio, early this year.

Many of the more than 50 inmates who participated in the workshops believed the plays were an interesting diversion from boredom. But Ayangwa said the workshops turned out to be therapeutic, noting the changes in the attitude and demeanor of participating inmates.

After several sessions, the more reserved inmates were becoming bubblier, she said, adding that theater workshops had since become institutionalized at the jail.

During the workshops, the inmates were encouraged to speak freely and bring out their emotions from their personal stories “without the fear of being judged,” Aurelio said.

In one of the sessions, an inmate yelled: “Isa kang pusit (You are a squid)!” “Pusit” in jail lingo means “one is under the influence of drugs” or one who has bad intentions.

The expletive gave Aurelio the idea of putting up a stage play he titled, “Anatomy of the Octopus Woman (Anatomiya ng Babaeng Pugita),” about the regrets and hopes of prisoners.

After 18 rehearsal days—where inmates spent four hours each session—the play’s 25 cast members performed on a makeshift stage at the jail library on June 10 and June 12. A third show was staged on Nov. 25.

The inmates were elated that their performances in June had earned them five nominations at the 2017 Aliw Awards to be held on Dec. 19, Ayangwa said. —Karlston Lapniten