Sarimanok Travels by Francis Tanglao Aguas

Francis Tanglao-Aguas  is the author of "when the purple settles," winner of the 2002 Don Carlos Palanca Award, the Philippines National Prize in Literature.  He also wrote "where the carabao sleeps," and "Abuja Woman," both winners of the Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwriting Award. In April 2007, he performed his original solo play, "The Sarimanok Travels" at the University of Hawaii where he was awarded a Freeman Foundation Artist in Residence.  His newest work "Ramayana La'ar," a theatrical adaptation of the sacred Hindu epic "Ramayana," received wide acclaim from the Williamsburg community and the Virginia Gazette garnering Best Play, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress awards.  He is also the co-editor of "Tibuk-Tibok Festival Anthology of Young Filipino Writers." Educated at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television with a B.A. in Theater Magna Cum Laude, and M.F.A. in Playwriting, Professor Tanglao-Aguas is founding Artistic Director of the Ateneo de Manila Fine Arts Festival and Theater Underground at UCLA.  He has also taught at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Ateneo de Manila University, Kenyon College, and Georgetown University. He is a member of Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival, Screen Actor's Guildand the Dramatists Guild of America.  In April 2008, he will be directing the Pulitzer Prize winning "Topdog/Underdog" bySuzan-Lori Parks for William and Mary Theatre's Second Season. In 2007, Professor Tanglao-Aguas was awarded Outstanding Professor from the College of William and Mary Image Awards.  He is proud of his work advancing the celebration of diversity alongside the students groups he advises such as Filipino American Students Association (FASA), Asian Student Council, Muslim Students Association, African American Theatre Club, and the newly founded International Performance Arts Exchange (IPAX). PERFORMANCE:

 

Francis Tanglao-Aguas will be performing excerpts from his one man show THE SARIMANOK TRAVELS, a solo epic inspired by the mythological roots of the Philippines fused with contemporary manifestations of the Filipino global experience.  Francis previously performed SARIMANOK in Malaysia in 2003 at the Asia Pacific Indigenous Plays Festival held at the International Islamic University.