Child star plays lead role in new PETA play
MANILA, Philippines - Child actor Martin delos Santos plays the lead role in the Philippine Educational Theater Association’s (PETA) adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office.
Barely in high school, Delos Santos has acted in an international film (with Gael García Bernal and Michelle Williams), attended the Berlin film festival, taped in Sweden and acted alongside the biggest names in Philippine Entertainment for the shows: Kamandag, Totoy Bato, Encantadia, Asero, Mga Mata ni Anghelita, Super Twins, All My Life, Magpakailanman and Jollitown.
Many directors have been amazed by his natural talent, his consuming passion and his remarkable memory, which help him learn scripts and cues in a breeze.
At age 10, Delos Santos has the acting credits of a showbiz veteran, but this young actor has not stopped just yet. After conquering the big screen, television shows, commercials and talent searches, he is now into live performance — theater.
In the PETA adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s The Post Office, he plays the lead role, Abel, a sick young boy who longs to join the outside world. With touching curiosity, he meets peculiar and inspiring characters that give him a sparkle of hope despite his fatal illness.
The play, Ang Post Office, written in beautiful, poetic verses by Palanca award-winning writer Rody Vera was given life by Delos Santos’ heartfelt interpretation of the text.
The play’s director, multi-awarded artist, Gardy Labad reveals, “Martin is very intuitive and spontaneous, alive and imaginative — traits that fit the role as if Tagore originally wrote it for him.”
This project is supported by Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), UNESCO Commission for the Philippines, MISEREOR/KZE and Zest Airways Inc.
Ang Post Office show dates are as follows: Aug. 9, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, and Sept. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 (10 a.m. and 3 p.m.) at The PETA Theater Center, 5 Eymard Drive New Manila, Quezon City.
For inquiries and reservations, call PETA Marketing and Public Relations at 725-6244, 410-821, SMS 0917-8044428, or e-mail petatheater@gmail.com.
