Co-producer: Fifth Wall Fest
Puppeteers: Arvy Dimaculangan, siglo, and V Soriano
Sound: Teresa Barrozo, Erika Estacio and Abigail Taniegrac
Stage Manager: Erika Estacio
Line Producer: Alain Zedrick Camiling
Production Assistant: Andra Alcazar
Supporters: Annie Salvatus, Dan Tagbo, Adrian Lizares, Ayi Magpayo, Outlooke Pointe Foundation, Natasha Sidharta, Textile Art Museum.Ph and Langgam Performance Troupe
The project stems from Pahiyas festival, the artist’s hometown celebration wherein local residents adorn the façade of their houses with the year’s bountiful harvest. From vegetables and fruits to palay, the locals manifest their ingenuity and craftsmanship using materials that are sourced in their immediate environment. As Lucban is an agricultural municipality, they show their gratitude by decorating the houses as an offering to San Isidro de Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. It was once a pagan tradition of offering to the gods and goddesses which eventually became a religious celebration during the Spanish colonization and is now a big community and local tourism project. The festival shows the condition of the materials, the site, and the time. The celebration only runs for a day every 15th of May.
One element during the festival that the locals make is the ‘anok’. Anok is a term used in Lucban to resemble a dummy, perhaps a mannequin that depicts a farmer, a worker, a weaver, or a resident. It is displayed during the Pahiyas made of vegetables, and fruits, complete with a farmer's outfit and complemented with farm tools such as bolo and salakot. The creativity of Lucbanins is evident in the way the anok is presented. Some are animated and in fact, live persons act as anok to the delight and surprise of onlookers, as the anok moves.
From these inspirations, Mark Salvatus creates a life-sized anok to become a puppet and will be animated by puppeteers. Creating movements of all-too-familiar gestures of a live person - walking, sitting, dancing, checking the phone, exercising, cooking, cleaning, among many others, accompanied by live improv sounds using kitchen utensils.
