Emmanuel Jones Mante
Emmanuel Jones Mante wrote two superb plays that are both contemporary in tone and theme, the comedy “Disney X” and the drama “The Surge.” Both plays got staged 13 times in a span of three days.
An accomplishment that seems cool save that it’s only a fraction of the story on how Mante acts like a black hole or at least a magnet that pulls in the energy of many artistic souls to help him out in making a Cebu theater community.
Although Mante still has to work with Alex Uypuanco and Rudy Villanueva, he already has the blessings of Cebu theater legends Orlando Magno, Rudy Aviles, Bien Fernandez, the iconic Al Evangelio and the New York-based playwright Linda Faigao. Students of the late Daisy Baad along with talents from other schools and theater veterans who’ve worked abroad are very supportive of him.
The reason they flock to him could be because he seems to have a childlike innocence and curiosity. He asks and he tinkers. He listens to his mentors. He gives talented actors breaks as directors. He gives talented singers and dancers a crack at acting. He is not hesitant to ask help from benefactors and fellow members of the academe when the going gets rough.
Read on as the Play! pool tries to trace Mante’s theatrical track.
How did you get into theater?
Ever since high school, I was already a theater enthusiast. I wrote scripts and directed plays during the Drama Festival for our high school Social Studies class in University of Cebu. In college, I joined this play entitled “Call of Guadalupe” directed by Beth Mondragon. I consider her my first mentor. I was an actor and the production manager at that time. Through Beth, I was able to go to Australia and furthered informal training 2008. Then I came back to Cebu and worked with Al Evangelio for three years. We did “A Chorus Line,” “Dreamgirls,” “Kapepe” and “Calamba Joe.” We did the “Calamba Joe” European tour in 2010.
What was the most memorable play you saw?
”The Wizard of Oz” was the first play I watched. I was still nine years old then. It was produced in CIT and directed by Mam Delia Villacastin. The first experience is always memorable.
How did you get into directing?
Al Evangelio is my mentor in directing. He was the one who really molded me. After Europe, Al retired and so I formed my own theater group called the Young Thespians of Cebu. We staged plays like “Sister Act,” “Doubt,” “In the Name of our Fathers.” The latter was in collaboration with Bien Fernandez. Until I finally wrote my own original Cebuano material and produced it with the Unified Artists of Cebu.
So, how did you get to be a playwright?
I was inspired to write because of Ms. Linda Faigao. I’m a believer of hers and the motivation and inputs she gave were splendid. Other mentors like Gardy Labad also pushed me to create original materials instead of staging broadways which he really hates. I think this is because he works for the NCCA.
Both your comedy, “Disney X” and your drama, “The Surge” dealt with child abuse and rape. Why were these common concerns for both your works?
To be honest, these themes were not really my goal when I wrote the plays, they just came. I only realized later that they made up a thematic thread for both plays. Looking at them now I think these themes are prevalent and should be taken up in theater as doing so would be for a good cause.
Scene from Mante’s play “Disney X”
A scene from “The Surge”
Can we read that the character of Carla, the successful lawyer in “The Surge” who comes home to face her mother and get her sister, is a latent lesbian? She is evasive to questions about relationships and had been battered by her father as a child, it could suggest this possibility.
(Laughs) No. I never thought of her as a lesbian but a man hater maybe. Not cynical but skeptical of men. For me, she is a symbol of hope. Although I would love to know the audience’s interpretation of the story.
How do you pick your directors?
Junrey (Alayacyac) and MJ (Mark Jude Tenedero) were my fellow actors. I noticed they were very thorough. I also found them to be talented and intelligent. And yes, they are younger than me so this means they could still go far. These guys know how to maneuver the actors well so that the actors deliver their best performances.
How about the economics? How is theater as business?
Marketing is never easy. Developing an audience for theater in Cebu is even an uphill climb. But if you have the support of the teachers, then it becomes easier. But you must maintain a certain quality in the production so students will not complain that they didn’t get their money’s worth.
How do you see yourself, in the theater world, in the next five years?
I want to write another Cebuano material, a musical and stage it in different parts of the world while at the same time developing more Cebuano theater artists. That is my dream five years from now.
Related Stories:
Mapping the history of abstractionist Elle Divine
Photographs of the skin we speak by Jose Antonio Nigro