Not only those of a certain age but also and most important young people are invited to quite literally take up and come to grips with “Sa Ating Panonood: Pitong Dula at mga Palaisipang Panlipunan” by the playwright and cultural activist Bonifacio P. Ilagan. 

The coffee table volume, hefty in more ways than one, gathers seven of Ilagan’s plays accompanied by assorted notes torn from the maw of forgetting—“umaandap at kumukupas na alaala”—on how they took form during the period 1970–2021, and illustrated by old photographs that because rare, become immediate and new. 

The plays include “Sinipi sa Buhay/Tunggalian” (1970–71), “Dukot” (2009), and “Ang Batang Rizal at ang Lihim ng Liwanag” (2021).

In the Introduction, Ilagan lays his cards on the table concerning the artistic process of playwriting vis-à-vis political realities, the importance of a correct ideological stance and a faithful portrayal of material conditions, and the need for engagement and resistance. The academic and critic Rolando B. Tolentino explains in the Foreword Ilagan’s becoming, his radical and activist stance, and the poetics and aesthetics as presented in his book.

Both demonstrate and convey in their masterful and vivid use of the national language not only incisive form and rich substance but also, consequently, sharpness and elegance—a refreshing preliminary dose of hope and cheer: the “pag-asa at ngiti” that Tolentino says Ilagan’s plays provide in the course of finding a way out of the current predicament. And why not take this course? Tolentino asks. “Bakit hindi tatanaw sa direksyong ito?”

“Sa Ating Panonood…” was launched last Jan. 24, approximating the onset of the historic First Quarter Storm in January 1970, at the University of the Philippines’ Ignacio B. Gimenez-UP Kal Theater in Diliman. It was attended by an overflow community from theater, film, academe, and the parliament of the streets, as well as the author’s comrades, colleagues, and acquaintances from the fraught years of resistance, and also students for whom the martial-law era is a vague but nagging point in history.

The book, published by Erehwon Artworld Corporation ([email protected]; www.erehwonartcenter.com), promises a long and satisfying read. —ROSARIO A. GARCELLANO