Cecile Guidote-Alvarez to be honored in New York
Theater icon Cecile Guidote-Alvarez is the only Southeast Asian among five honorees in La MaMa's upcoming Remake a World Gala in New York City on May 5, 2022.
Read the full article in The Manila Times here.
CECILE Guidote-Alvarez would be honored for her work as a global citizen besides being the youngest recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay for Outstanding Asian Award for Public Service as the founder of the 55-year-old National Theater Movement, Philippine Educational Theater Association and the founding president of the Philippine Center of the International Theatre Institute (PCITI).
The event would celebrate La MaMa's global community, the artists and audiences who have long been part of the One World Vision, articulated by its founder, Ellen Stewart.
"I am grateful for this recognition, shared with the community of artists in the Philippines committed to using techno-arts-inclusive interdisciplinary methodology as a force for education towards peace, poverty alleviation, climate action, health and well-being," Guidote-Alvarez said.
La MaMa hosted the PCITI that Guidote-Alvarez headed in exile while her husband, freedom fighter Heherson Alvarez, escaped from an alleged shoot-to-kill order of the Marcos dictatorship to lead the democratic opposition overseas and help restore democracy in the Philipines.
At La MaMa, Guidote-Alvarez directed The Third World Institute of Theater Arts Studies, profiling the wealth of cultural diversity of Asia-Africa and Latin America, linked to United Nations Sustainable Development Goals while rendering cultural services to the Filipino American community through the Philippine Educational Theatre Arts League.
Currently, Guidote-Alvarez has been directing the Earthsavers Dreams Ensemble, honored as a Unesco Artist for Peace. An EDSA People Power Commission Freedom Fighter awardee, Guidote-Alvarez has been the producer-host of the multiawarded "Balintataw" radio program on DZRH, aired six times a week at 11 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays and at 6 p.m. on Sundays.
"Your lifetime commitment to cultural caregiving has had such an impact on your local community and beyond. Your work speaks to our shared humanity," said a letter from the 60-year-old La MaMa Theater. It was signed by La MaMa Managing Director Mary Fulham, Artistic Director Mia Yoo and Board President Frank Carucci.