Dulaang Lahi ng Dumaguete (1976)

The first significant theatre group in Dumaguete was the Portal Players, founded by Frank Flores in 1974, which utilized talents not just in Silliman campus but also in the community — and produced plays such as Rashomon, Sleuth, You Can’t Take It With You, and Fiddler on the Roof. These productions were brought on tours in Bacolod, Cebu, and Iligan. It was formally dissolved in 1976, to be replaced by the Dulaang Lahi ng Dumaguete, founded by Amiel Leonardia, with an emphasis on plays in Cebuano. This group, too, gradually faded away by the 1980s, with the exodus of many local theatre luminaries to other cities and schools. So far, no local theatre group — save YATTA — has followed in their footsteps. There is officially an Artista Sillimaniana, but it has yet to fully blossom, with no concrete productions yet staged. There are also talks of reviving Portal Players — but so far, also nothing. An existing playwriting group, the Bantawan Collective, has also yet to flourish.