Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero

Wilfrido Maria Guerrero (January 22, 1911 - April 28, 1995) was a Filipino playwright, director, teacher and theater artist. Guerrero wrote well over 100 plays, 41 of which have been published. His unpublished plays have either been broadcast over the radio or staged in various parts of the Philippines.

His plays can be found in various anthologies: 13 Plays (first published in 1947), 8 Other Plays (1952), 7 More Plays (1962), 12 New Plays (1975), My Favorite 11 Plays (1976), 4 Latest Plays (1980), and Retribution and eight other selected plays (1990). Guerrero also published a family memoir, The Guerreros of Ermita (1988).

Guerrero taught and trained many notable figures in the Philippine Performing Arts: Behn Cervantes, Celia Diaz-Laurel, Joy Virata, and Joonee Gamboa.

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero was born in Ermita, Manila. He wrote his first play at the age of 14 in Spanish, entitled, "No Todo Es Risa." This play was produced at the Ateneo de Manila University when he was 15.

Guerrero worked as a reporter and proofreader for La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper, and as a drama critic for the Manila Tribune. He also worked for some time in the Philippine film industry as a scriptwriter. He served as director of the Filipino Players from 1941-1947. In 1947 he was appointed as Director of the Dramatic Club at the University of the Philippines despite not having a degree, and he held that position for sixteen years.

In 1962, he organized and directed the U.P. Mobile Theater, which travels around the Philippines to give performances.

Several of Guerrero's plays have been translated into and produced in Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano and Waray. Six of his plays have been produced abroad: "Half an Hour in a Convent" at the Pasadena Playhouse, California; "Three Rats" at the University of Kansas; "Condemned" in Oahu, Hawaii; "One, Two, Three" (premiere performance) at the University of Washington, Seattle; "Wanted: A Chaperon" at the University of Hawaii; and "Conflict" in Sydney, Australia.

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