The daughter of one of Cagayan de Oro’s award winning playwright is bringing back her mother’s award-winning stage play.
Maia Poblete, daughter of Ma. Soledad Chic Reyes Nery-Fortich, will be staging the full-length play Reyna Elena which won 2nd place in the 1983 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature when she was but a 3rd year high school student. Originally, play was a project for a playwriting workshop facilitated by Kagay-anon director and writer Nestor U. Torre.
Fortich family pic in Horseshoe Village, QC with maternal grandmother Mama Chata Reyes-Nery
“The staging of Reyna Elena is my tribute to mommy. It is my way of thanking her for everything she taught my sister and I,” writes Maia in her blog Maiascribbles. “It is the best way to acknowledge the person that she was; not only to me, my sister, my husband, my niece, and my dad; but to the many others who she helped in one way or another as well.”
Maia has been staging benefit one act plays but it would be her first time since 2005 to direct and stage a full-length play.
Reyna Elena 2016 cast going through the reading of the script.
“The reason why I admired/admire my mom is because she didn’t let her disability stop her from fulfilling her goals. She kept writing even when she couldn’t see the typewriter or the keyboard anymore. She always found a way to make things work. She was quite aggressive, but this only helped her do her tasks better.”
PlayFestival
Following her award, Chic devoted more time to writing and the theatre arts. One of the projects she did as a member of the Bai Lawanen Jaycees was the Inter-School Playfestival.
“I remember the Playfestival because it formally introduced me to theater arts. I was in 3rd year high school when it was established. Our school, Liceo de Cagayan, was one of the participants. We competed against other high schools in all the categories of the event.”
Scenes from Reyna Elena 2016 workshop
However, although the Playfestival lasted only three years, it left a lasting impression on Maia.
“The Playfestival is one of the reasons why I am staging Reyna Elena. I hope it will inspire local theater groups to stage more original plays. I believe that CDO is overflowing with talent; in fact, I know some of them. All that we need is someone or something to start the ball rolling. I hope Reyna Elena can do that.”
Rehearsals are now ongoing and the troupe is about halfway through the script.
Going through the readings with new tech.
“ Even when we don’t have a venue yet; even when we still need to look for sponsors, I am pushing through with this. I know Mommy will want me to. I know she’s rooting for me and the team. Because that’s just the kind of person she is; always believing in the people she loves.”
“Thank you for everything, Mommy. I hope I’ll do justice to Reyna Elena. This one is for you. I love you!
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Reyna Elena
Elenita is a 30-ish single mom who works as a manager’s assistant for a small company. Her best friend Karen is the executive secretary. They are the only ones who know about Elenita’s affair with their boss, Teodoro. As the story develops, Elenita’s pregnancy is revealed and her problems begin. She goes away to weigh things over and recover. When she gets back to the office, she is a totally new person: she transforms into Elena and starts a new chapter of her life.
More than extramarital affairs and single parenthood, Reyna Elena talks about the importance of relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and members of the community. It also tackles decades old issues like graft and corruption. Most of all, it is the story of a woman struggling to survive against all odds fate brings into her life.
Chic Fortich with daughters Connie and Maia
Ma. Soledad Chic Reyes Nery-Fortich was the youngest of six siblings. Her father, Vicente Nery was a musician. She suffered from two eye diseases: Retinitis Pigmentosa and Optic Atrophy. RP is a genetic disease, which caused her to slowly lose her eyesight. When she passed in 2006, she was already 98% blind.
Chic was a prolific writer and had a regular column Outtasight! in the Philippine Daily Inquirer featuring every day stories about her experiences as a blind person. She also wrote Tagalog and English novels under different pseudonyms; like Sol Reyes.
Besides Reyna Elena, Chic was also the writer, lyricist, and director of the original Binisaya musical Ay Kasing Kasing Ko, staged at the Manila Metropolitan Theater Dalubdulaan in 1987; and the XU Little Theater in 1989. She co-wrote Labaw sa Bulawan: A Musical Tribute to Visayan Songs and Songwriters,” a musical variety show directed by Nestor U. Torre staged at the City Tourism Hall and Grand Caprice in the early 1990s;, and wrote and directed Salangsang, which was staged at SM City CDO in the early 2000s.
Chic Fortich was recognized by ABS-CBN and the City Historical and Cultural Commission as this year’s Tsada Awards recipient for Literature.