DANAS NA GANAP: REALIZING LIFE VIA THEATER
Dr. Glecy Atienza
DR. GLECY CRUZ ATIENZA is a Full Professor at the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, where she teaches Philippine literature, creative writing and Philippine theater. She is a performing artist-director-playwright-essayist and theater scholar. She has conducted various trainings and seminars on acting, playwriting, improvisational theater, creative writing, and documentation for the theater locally for various local government units including the Department of Health, Department of Education, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, National Commission on the Role of Women, Department of Social Welfare and Development and has presented papers in Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Malaysia and Denmark.
Dr. Atienza is also a multi-awarded writer of plays creative non-fiction and scholarly researches. She has received awards from prestigious award-giving bodies such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Cultural Center of the Philippines Writing Grant for Literature , Gloria Villaraza Guzman Creative Writing Grant ,the U.P. Creative Writing Center Local Fellow for the Essay. Her recent performances include “TnB Titser ng Bayan” (2014) at the CCP and the PUP Manila the Ist Philippine International Monodrama Festival held in February 2011 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines where she performed the role of “Bien” . As a teacher and scholar of literature, language and creative writing , she has been awarded the UP Chancellor’s Award for “Outstanding Teacher (l995)” “Outstanding Published Research (2000)” and “Outstanding Teacher for Extension Work (2003)” and the 2002 Gawad Leopoldo Yabes for Outstanding Faculty (professor level) and the prestigious 2004 Concepcion Dadufalza Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teaching. She was also recipient of the Nippon Foundation Fellowships for Asian Pubic Intellectuals in 2006, TOWNS Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service Award (Arts) in 2007 and the UP Centennial Research Fellowship Grant for 2008 and the UP Sentro ng Wikang Filipino Gawad Saliksik Research Grant 2009. Her recent solo recognitions include UP Gawad Chanselor para sa Natatanging Mananaliksik sa Filipino 2014 (UP Chancellor’s Award for the Most Outstanding Research in Filipino) and the National Outstanding Volunteers Award (Regional level-NCR) for 2013 . She is also part of the “U4U Teen Trail Project” of the Commission on Population which garnered the top prize for the 51st Anvil Awards (2016) and the 52nd Quill Awards (2016) for Public Relations.
Dr. Atienza is founding chair of a community theater network, the ALYANSA, Inc which is committed to popularizing the use of theater and the arts for community development.She is also a member of the Guro sa Sining ng Bayan (GUSI ng Bayan) Inc, a teachers’ group for art and theater educators. Dr. Atienza was chair of the Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters, U.P. Diliman (2003-2006) and former head of the National Committee on Dramatic Arts m(2004-2010) of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). Her recent projects include “Kilos Sining sa Unibersidad 2016” a festival of works, papers and collaborative works among university based theaer groups, “Hello Healthy Goodbye Dumi” (2013-2015) a toilet advocacy project for rural communities in Masbate in cooperation with the Center for Health Solutions and Innovations and UNICEF, “Handa Awit Lindol” (2015) a collection of songs on Earthquake Preparedness in collaboration with PhiVOLcs and the UP Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dissemination, “Ang Sikat ng Teatrong Pilipino:Mga Tagumpay at Hamon ng Pambansang Ugnayang Pandula” 2014 ,a conference on theater networking and “Tanghalin ang Tanghalan Unang Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Estetikang Pandula”, regional research project conducted in September 2011. Her most recent publications include “Ang Salitang Dula:Ang Di- Nasupil na Diwa ng Paglaya” and “Buhay(!) “through the support of the UP Sentrong ng Wikang Filipino . She is currently working on her collection of critical essays on Philippine theater vocabulary as part of her Gawad Saliksik Wika of the UP Sentro ng Wikang Filipino. Her research contribution on “Sagisag ng NCR” for the Philippine Cultural Education Program will soon be published.
