THE PERFORMING arts scene is heating up again and, as usual, it is during the rainy season.

The major companies are about to open their new season of plays, concerts and dance performances. Rehearsals are in full swing, and this month there has been a slew of press conferences.

So we have announcements, glad tidings, dazzling previews of shows by young performers, press kits, good food and giveaways by the sponsors (as in body lotion and lambanog rice wine).

There have been back-to-back presscons by Tanghalang Pilipino (to promote ?Banaag at Sikat: The Rock Musical?), Theater Down South and Dulaang UP. And the Cultural Center of the Philippines has announced the Guitara Festival of the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music.

Family entertainment

Now on its fourth year, Theater Down South (info@theaterdownsouth.com), headed by actor-director Michael Williams, is so named because it caters to theatergoers in Southern Metro Manila areas like Parañaque City, Alabang, Las Piñas City, and nearby areas in neighboring Cavite and Laguna.

It focuses on educational and family entertainment, and develops young talents (?bored and rich,? quipped one nasty colleague) in the southern metropolis. Most of the productions are staged at Insular Life Auditorium, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang.

The lineup for the 2010 season includes Joonee Garcia?s musical for children, ?The Princess and the Red Carp,? which opens Aug. 22; Stephen Sondheim?s ?A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Oct. 2; and Shakespeare?s ?A Midsummer Night?s Dream (available for school purchase).

During the presscon at California Pizza Kitchen in Makati City, Williams said the company was not sticking to Western materials and was, in fact, doing researches on Filipino folk tales for a possible musical. ?But it is not easy,? he added.

One cultural writer asked tongue-in-cheekly what the company?s response would be to critics who may question their relevance to national development.

Williams pointed to his young talents: ?They are all Pinoys, and they are hardworking theater artists. Theater is a potent educational system, so we are right up there as far as national development is concerned.?

35th season

The durable Dulaang UP (tel. 9261349, 4337840), now on its 35th year, has given us quality productions through the years and has developed noted directors and actors. But it is in dire financial straits, and the company?s officers are quite candid about this.

During a presson at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater in UP-Diliman, founding artistic director Tony Mabesa attributed this state of affairs to ?unpredictable weather, marketing fiasco, misplaced trust??

Thus, for this season, Dulaang UP will bring back four outstanding productions: the acclaimed ?Orosman at Zafira,? Aug. 11-29; ?Shock Value... Take Two,? Sept. 15-Oct. 3; ?Isang Panaginip na Fili,? Nov. 24-Dec. 12; and ?Amphytryon? (Feb. 16-March 6, 2011).

Artistic director Alex Cortez promised ?new insights, new takes.? Added director Anton Juan: ?There will be new chapters, new ideas, new inspirations and new choreography.?

You cannot keep a good theater company down. And like the proverbial phoenix, Mabesa predicted ?Dulaang UP will rise from the ashes.?