Wilfredo Ma.

Guerrero

(January 1917- May 1995)

He was a Filipino playwright, director, teacher and theater artist. He has

written well over a hundred 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unpublished plays have either been broadcast over the radio or staged in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 publications include 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), Retribution and eight other selected
plays (1990) and The Guerreros of Ermita (1988).

He has been the teacher of some of the most famous people in the
Performing Arts at present: Behn Cervantes, Celia Diaz-Laurel, Joy Virata,
and Joonee Gamboa.

Biography

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero was born in Ermita, Manila. At the Age 14, he has
already written his first play in Spanish, entitled, "No Todo Es Risa." This play
was produced at the Ateneo de Manila University when he was 15.

Aside from becoming a reporter and a proofreader for La Vanguardia, a

Spanish newspaper, and a drama critic for the Manila Tribune, he also worked
for some time in Philippine Films as a scriptwriter. He also became the
director Filipino Players from 1941-1947. In 1947 he was appointed as the
University of the Philippines Dramatic Club director despite lacking a degree,
a position he served for sixteen years.

In 1962, he organized and directed the U.P. Mobile Theater that goes on the
road all over the Philippines to for performances.

Several Guerrero 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.

He is the first Filipino to have a theater named after him within his lifetime:
The Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater of the University of the Philippines.

His Life as a Child

Wilfrido grew up from a wealthy family. His father, Dr. Manuel, was considered
the most renowned doctor of his time, his reputation based on his clinical
eye which could diagnose a persons illness by just studying that persons
outside appearance. Among his clients were some of Manilas richest, like
Brias Roxas, the Ayalas, Pardo de Taveras, Zobels, Roceses, Osmeas,
Alberts, etc. Thus, his father could afford to give them all the comforts of life.

They were not allowed to eat with their hands and they were forbidden to
speak Tagalog. He had a totally comfortable life.

He was nearly seven when his father died. They were left with the big house
at Plaza Ferguson, two cars (which his mother sold), and a Php10,000 life
insurance. Five months after the funeral, they rented the first floor of his
cousins the Mossesgelds house for Php50.00. His mother had their house
rented to an American family and they lived on the monthly income. All of
them being To be able to study high school in Ateneo in Intramuros, he and
his brothers, Edmundo, Lorenzo, Manuel became choristers. They got free
tuition which was Php60.00 a semester, but they had to buy their textbooks.
When he reached third-year high school, being sick and fed up with having to
hear daily Mass, he took the courage to go to Don Alejandro Roces, Sr., who
had been one of his fathers patients and whose wife was a close friend of
their mother. He went to Roces office at the Manila Tribune and stated his
purpose. Don Alejandro readily agreed, and he paid for his tuition for his last
two years in high school.

Why He Started Writing

His favorite aunt, Maria Araceli, discovered his writing ability. When he was
around 12 or 13, she noticed him writing on scraps of paper, then hiding them
inside his cabinet drawer.
He wrote his first complete one-act play, No Todo Es Risa, while in his second
year high school. He showed it to the late Father Juan Trinidad, S.J. (who at
that time was translating the Bible into Tagalog) and he liked it. The priest said
his Spanish was idiomatic and decided to stage it for their Father Rectors (Fr.
OBrien) birthday.

And yet soon after his aunts death, he wrote some of his most popular
comedies, like Movie Artists, Basketball Fight, and Wanted: A Chaperon.

Years later, he made his aunt the principal character in Forever as Maria
Teresa and later as Maria Araceli in Frustrations. Both women are like my
aunt: imperious, strong-willed, wise, but also humane, he wrote.

Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero was born in Ermita, Manila. At the Age 14, he has
already written his first play in Spanish, entitled, "No Todo Es Risa." This play
was produced at the Ateneo de Manila University when he was 15.

Aside from becoming a reporter and a proofreader for La Vanguardia, a

Spanish newspaper, and a drama critic for the Manila Tribune, he also worked
for some time in Philippine Films as a scriptwriter. He also became the
director Filipino Players from 1941-1947. In 1947 he was appointed as the
University of the Philippines Dramatic Club director despite lacking a degree,
a position he served for sixteen years.

In 1962, he organized and directed the U.P. Mobile Theater that goes on the
road all over the Philippines to for performances.

Several Guerrero 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.

He is the first Filipino to have a theater named after him within his lifetime:
The Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater of the University of the Philippines.