The 14th Gawad Buhay Awards recognized the past year’s most notable productions, performances, and creatives

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The Philippine theater industry is booming, and at the 14th Gawad Buhay Awards, they showed the numbers to back it up. Philstage, the alliance of professional theatrical companies in Manila, presented a short summary of the 2023 “revenge theater” season. Among its member companies, they’ve staged 26 productions across 15 performing spaces, for a total of 325 shows, to a collective audience of 190,048.

The awards night, held July 9 at the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Theater Center in Quezon City, recognized the past year’s most notable productions, performances, and creatives. PETA’s comedy musical “Walang Aray” took home a total of eight awards, while Tanghalang Pilipino’s original dystopian play “Nekropolis” and Barefoot Theatre Collaborative’s production of Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years” both won four awards each.

The late playwright, artist, dramaturg, and director Floy Quintos was also honored with the Natatanging Gawad Lifetime Achievement Award.

Below are the official winners of the 14th Gawad Buhay Awards:

Outstanding Original Script
Guelan Luarca (“Nekropolis”)

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Rody Vera (“Walang Aray”)

Outstanding Original Score
Vince Lim and Rody Vera (“Walang Aray”)

Outstanding Musical Direction
Rony Fortich (“The Last Five Years”)

Outstanding Choreography
Gio Gahol (“Walang Aray”)

Outstanding Costume Design
Marco Viaña and Paw Castillo (“Sandosenang Sapatos”)

Outstanding Lighting Design
Gabo Tolentino (“Red”)

Outstanding Sound Design
Arvy Dimaculangan (“Nekropolis”)

Outstanding Set Design
Joey Mendoza (“The Last Five Years”)

Female Lead Performance in a Play
Justine Peña (“Lungs”)

Male Lead Performance in a Play
JC Santos (“Red”)

Female Featured Performance in a Play
Mitzi Comia (“Nekropolis”)

Male Featured Performance in a Play
Phi Palmos (“Laro”)

Female Lead Performance in a Musical
Shaira Opsimar (“Walang Aray”)

Male Lead Performance in a Musical
Myke Salomon (“The Last Five Years”)

Female Featured Performance in a Musical
Neomi Gonzales (“Walang Aray”)

Male Featured Performance in a Musical
Reb Atadero (“Tick, Tick… Boom!”)

Outstanding Ensemble Performance for a Play
“Laro” (Barefoot Theatre Collaborative)

Outstanding Ensemble Performance for a Musical
“Walang Aray” (PETA)

Outstanding Stage Direction for a Play
John Mark Yap (“Laro”)

Outstanding Stage Direction for a Musical
Ian Segarra (“Walang Aray”)

Outstanding Production of Existing Material for a Play
“Red” (The Necessary Theatre)

Outstanding Play – Original or Translation/Adaptation
“Nekropolis” (Tanghalang Pilipino)

Outstanding Production of Existing Material for a Musical
“The Last Five Years” (Barefoot Theatre Collaborative)

Outstanding Musical – Original or Translation/Adaptation
“Walang Aray” (PETA)

Outstanding Production for Children
“Sandosenang Sapatos” (Tanghalang Pilipino)