"There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend... One day the black will swallow the red.

" It is probably the year's most unanimously acclaimed stage production. Amadis Ma. Guerrero of the Philippine Daily Inquirer called it probably the most important play to be staged this year. Wanggo Gallaga of Juice.ph called it an amazing experience! Katrina Santiago Stuart of gmanetworknews.com wrote, to call Guingona brilliant is an understatement. Vladimir Bunoan of abs-cbnnews.com called it, an engaging work.that forces the audience to look more closely and allow the work to consume you.(For more of what they said, weve attached an annex of sample reviews.) After a highly successful series of performances in Manila and Cebu, I want to give you the opportunity to see the play on its final day, while at the same time helping PeaceTech -- a not-for-profit organization where I am a trustee. PeaceTech is holding the Gala Performance for RED as a fund raiser. This last show will happen on Sunday, February 9 at 3:00 pm. It will be in the Studio Center at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. PeaceTech is a Philippine NGO, whose mission is to use communications technologies to build peace. In the Philippines, we have been bridging hundreds of classrooms in public high schools throughout Mindanao with their counterparts in Metro Manila and Cebu. By enabling young Filipinos all over the country to learn their classes together, we are building understanding, supporting the Peace Process and improving learning. PeaceTech has partnerships with the Department of Education. For more on PeaceTech, please click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S4moIxcN-M&feature=youtube here:

SOME REVIEWS FOR RED "Red" is a relatively quiet play. It involves only two characters discussing art and while they do play music while working and later, as tensions rise, they start to raise their voices to shout at each other, it can't ever get too loud or busy on set because, well, there's just two people on stage at any given time, in a quiet studio of one artist. But "Red" gets very loud, on an intellectual level, because the text is so damned brilliant that it bellows and howls inside your head. It's loud in a different sense. It's an amazing experience. --Wanggo Gallaga, Juice.ph To say that Guingona is brilliant in the role of Rothko is an understatement, and that is really a failure at finding the right words for this portrayal. Last year, in "Next Fall" I
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had wondered why I wasn't seeing more of Guingona in theater. Kicking off the year with "Red" made it worth the wait. "Red" resonates in the context of third world Philippines with its travesties of art and culture, creativity and art making. And no, this is not about Guingona's mere existence as actor, layering the words here with new meaning - that isn't flattering at all, really. Instead the gift of Guingona is that you completely forget it is him, at the same time that he need not necessarily be Rothko, as he could just be the every-artist. The stance is both confident and tired, the tone is excited and frustrated, there is nary a kindness in his voice, as there is an undercurrent of pain. -- Katrina Stuart Santiago, GmaNetwork.com "Red," which is being mounted locally by the aptly named group The Necessary Theater, certainly makes you think. In particular, it makes you think about the personal connection between art and artist. Written by John Logan as a two-character play performed without intermission between Rothko and his fictional assistant Ken, it is an engaging lesson about the humanities and seeing. From the play's first line "What do you see?" it forces the audience to look more closely, to meditate and allow the work to consume you. And while "Red" is about Rothko's abstract expressionism, Logan could well be talking about art appreciation in general, whether literature, music or, yes, theater. It is obvious that Guingona understands that. Particularly in "Red," Guingona is totally consumed by the character that he simply disappears onstage. And it takes getting used to. One also has to totally submit to the performance itself to realize just how powerful Logan's work is and how effective the actors are.

Although much younger, Valdes, who is an independent filmmaker, also understands. -- Vladimir Bunoan, Abs-CbnNews.com There was good reason why Red won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2010. It reminds you that the play is the thingthe written word incarnated in complex characters who are made flesh-and-blood by actors who can give them the depth and layering that they require. --Cora Llamas, Interaksyon, TV5 Guingona plays Rothko with aplomb, turning his voice into a snarl and a growl, with
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bent back and stubborn joints, portraying a dog who refuses to learn new tricks. In contrast, Valdess Ken is pleasant, thoughtful, and hopeful despite his tragic backstory. Valdes is able to bring out this laddish charm as well as the mature and thought-provoking side of Ken, the Ken that reveals to Rothko his own folly. Together, the two actors electrify the stage with their chemistry. -- Pia Ranada , Rappler It is refreshing to be captivated by a play after such a long time, to be immersed in another world, to be JOURNEYED - and all this created just by brilliant text, two prolific actors and paint. Bravo Bart and Joaquin! The stage has never been so filled. --Pat Valera, Artist Just saw Red, with Bart Guingona as Mark Rothko. World class. A play about art, about the old being replaced by the new, and so much more. The play will now go to Cebu and Dumaguete, and then return to Manila. Honestly, don't miss it. --Jules Maaten, Country Director, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung The said production brought together onstage two of Philippines finest performers Bart Guingona as Mark Rothko and Joaquin Valdes as Ken, Rothkos assistant. Having both actors with different attacks on their respective highly intense characters made this theatre experience worth coming back again and again. --Jude Cartalaba, Broadway World Asia Guingona was consistently excellent as Rothko. The charismatic Valdes was a perfect foil, his character being both knowledgeable and nave. Red may well be one of the most important plays staged this year. --Amadis Ma. Guerrero, Philippine Daily Inquirer

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About the Play:

In 1958, abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New Yorks spanking new Seagram Building for what was then considered an astonishing amount of money. In what is now considered one of the most enigmatic gestures of 20th century art, he decides to withdraw the paintings and return the money shortly after completion of the work. Red by John Logan speculates the reason for this turn of events in a series of electrifying scenes between the artist and his newly hired assistant. The play was first produced by the Donmar Warehouse, London in December 2009. The original production was directed by Michael Grandage and performed by Alfred Molina as Rothko and Eddie Redmayne as his fictional assistant Ken. The production, with its two leads, transferred to Broadway at the John Golden Theater for a limited engagement which began on March 11, 2010 and closed on June 27. It was the 2010 Tony Award winner for Best Play. Additionally, Redmayne won a 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. Having acquired the rights to do the play, Actors Actors Inc. held the Asian premiere of the play on February 27 to March 1 for just 4 performances. The reviews were ecstatic and the production was then toured to Cebu again receiving glowing reviews and attendances. The two performances in Teatrino, Greenhills on August 23 and 24, 2013 will prelude a series of shows in Dumaguete in September, 2013 ABOUT THE CAST

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Bart Guingona (Rothko/Director) Winner of the 2003 ALIW Award for Best stage Actor, he has directed and acted for most of Manilas major theatre companies including the highly acclaimed The Crucible for Repertory, Julius Caesar for Gantimpala Theatre Foundation, Ang Kuripot for Tanghalang Pilipino and Blood Wedding for Dramatis Personae, The Maids for PETA. He has fulfilled 2 theater grants in London, one for theater direction and is presently artistic director and president of Actors Actors Inc (AAI). His body of work as director and writer also includes the multi-media celebration of the senses Rendezvous avec les Sense, FireWaterWoman with Ballet Philippines and Musical Theater Philippines. Recent works include Shopping and Fucking, Closer, Art, Oleanna and the musicals Promises, Promises, and The Last Five Years. His accomplished portrayals include Hamlet, Macbeth, John Proctor in The Crucible, Madame in The Maids, Jose Rizal in Teksto at Komentaryo and Oedipus the King as well a host of television, movie and commercial appearances. His eclectic choice of directorial material for AAI includes the farce The Nerd, and the complex Cocteau melodrama Les Parents Terribles, the all-male Taming of the Shrew and the smash hit musical Once on This Island. His philosophy is that theater should encompass all ideas however complex or simple, -- that theater should be idea-driven. He recently directed the smash musical Childrens Letters to God and ART in Pilipino for AAI and currently stars in the long-running and widely acclaimed Repertory Phils. Production of Tuesdays With Morrie. He has also been responsible for conceptualizing, scripting and directing a variety of shows for corporations, institutions and events such as PECC, the APEC
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conferences in Hong Kong and Davos, the Nation al Press Clubs Gridiron Night, Century Properties (Essensa, West of Ayala, Oxford Suites, Medical Plaza Ortigas), Coca Cola, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Total, Apec Business Advisory Council Conference, Ayala Malls (Nights at the Circus, The Magic of Curtis, Disney Princesses), The CCP Centennial Awards, the Centennial Celebration Flag Ceremony (in Kawit, Cavite; Sta. Barbara, Iloilo; Butuan City) the MediaNation Conferences, the Prejudice and Pride Conferences and countless others. Joaquin Valdes (Ken) Joaquin (a.k.a. Pedro) Valdes is no stranger to theatre and moviegoers. Making his debut at the age of 10 in Trumpets The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, he later appearing in Atlantis Productions Spring Awakening. He was featured in the independent movie Nio directed by Loy Arcenas He finished his Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Audio Visual Communication from the premiere Film Institution in the Philippines' State University (UPFI). Being mentored and groomed by renowned directors and cinematographers such as Nap Jamir, Erik Mati, Lyle Sacris and Rodolfo Aves Jr., Joaquin Pedro Valdes put on his directors hat as exemplified by the cutting edge short film entitled Bulong (Whisper). His film attests to his versatile and dynamic mode of storytelling as well as encompasses a wide range of aesthetics which he claims comes from influences as diverse as Woody Allen and David Fincher. He loves the audacious images of Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham. Bulong was not only cited as the best Thesis Film during the University of the Philippines centennial year, it also garnered praise from the Short Film Corner of Cannes France, Sapporo, Japan and won the top price for the Short Narrative category in Beijing, China. Bulong continues to screen in various universities and campuses in the Philippines. Other Awards received by Bulong: 2008 Feliciano Award College of Mass Communication 2008 BEST THESIS UP FILM INSTITUTE College of Mass Communication 2008 Screened in Cannes Short Film Corner 2008 Screened in Cinemanila Young Cinema Exhibition 2008 Golden Duck Award Best Short Narrative New Beijing International Movie Week (NBIMW) 2009 Ani Ng Dangal Award NCCA 2008 Screened in San Beda Alabang and DLSU Dasmarinas for World Philosophy Week Now, Joaquin Pedro Valdes attempts to expand his artistic

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horizons by penetrating the advertising, commercial and international film and video scenes.

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