An actor dressed as a Roman soldier whips the actor playing Jesus Christ as part of the annual ‘Buhing Kalbaryo’ reenactment from San Nicolas Church to the Guadalupe Church. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
DESPITE the lack of budget, organizers of the annual “Buhing Kalbaryo” are getting ready to stage the annual passion play for the 19th year on Good Friday next week.
Organizers need around P500,000 to mount the play.
In the past two years, this was shouldered by the Cebu City government. But this year, no budget has been approved for the project.
“Now, we’re doing solicitations. We need to reach this amount of around P500,000. If we have to pay the cast, we would need around P1 million. But because of volunteerism, we just give them food, transportation and we hold a beach party for them,” said production director George Chu during a press conference yesterday.
Elmer “Jojo” Labella, overall director, said they already submitted a budget request to City Hall amounting to P595,000 for the play. Although it was listed in the agenda of one of the city council’s sessions, it was not discussed.
The “Buhing Kalbaryo,” which is being organized by the Office of the Mayor, Buhing Pasko Association and the Rotary Club of Guadalupe, will be presented on March 25 at 10 a.m. It will start from the San Nicolas Church until the Guadalupe Church Grounds passing through V. Rama Ave.
The play will also be staged today and tomorrow at the Courtyard of the Fort San Pedro starting 7 p.m.
The cast of around 120 is composed of students, some out-of-school youth and a few City Hall officials including Simeon Romarate, a member of city hall’s quick response team, who is playing Pontius Pilate, and former city councilor Joy Pesquera who will be playing Mother Mary.
During their launching yesterday morning at the Sinulog Hall of the Rizal Public Library, an excerpt of the play showed the scene when Mary was weeping over the dead body of Jesus Christ after he was taken down from the cross in Mt. Calvary.
Pesquera acted in straight Cebuano and shed tears as she delivered her line. It’s her second straight year to play Mary.
“Through the years, ‘Buhing Kalbaryo’ has discovered talents. Even myself. I didn’t think pwede diay ko mag-artista panagsa (I can be an actress sometimes). It’s a humbling experience. I’m used to be the one giving orders. Being an actress, I learned that I also have to follow instructions,” she said.
The play will have six segment directors: Neal Echavez, Clefren Dumaguit, Marcianie Fuentes, Werner Lorenzo, Mark Rosales and Joei Gallardo.
In an interview, Gallardo said they’re thankful for the support of the organizers. He started when he was younger as part of the cast and now he’s directing part of the play.
Over the years, Labella said they continue to try and innovate the play. This year, they’re focusing on adding musical scoring to the play unlike previous years.
In previous years, they also introduced new changes including the use of LED walls for backdrops, filming and just showing videos for some of the scenes and also doing a separate presentation at the Fort aside from Good Friday.
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