ABSTRACT
The Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA), convergence and strategic use of the arts are key. PETA managed to exist and thrive because, in every show, forum, and workshop, it successfully draws in its audiences and allows these audiences to be fully engaged, receptive, and participative through the use of creative platforms. As an institution, PETA has three main strategies in using theater for change: performance, education, and partnerships. PETA actors and staff lead by director Ma. Isabel Legarda went through the gamut of the various Libby files—tons of research collected by PETA’s women’s theater program director Lea Espallardo on issues connected with women’s rights, domestic and sexual abuse, etc. Libby Manaoag became an ever-evolving work of theater based on real people for the consumption of real people. Libby was one of the plays that marked PETA’s shifts in content and aesthetics as it responded to the advent of globalization.
