DSCTA assesses its programs
April 26, 2024
A roundtable discussion (RTD) was recently hosted by the UP Diliman (UPD) Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) that presented the state of speech communication and theatre arts in the country today.
Event poster. Image from the DSCTA Facebook page
Titled State of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts in the Philippines Now: A Roundtable Discussion, the event according to DSCTA Chair Oscar T. Serquiña Jr., was “an explanatory or critical assessment of how things were, are, and could be, and a description of prevailing logics of practice.”
The RTD had two sets of panelists, one group discussed the speech communication program and another talked about the theatre arts program.
Serquiña said the discussion panelists would “explain to us what it means to study, teach, examine, and practice speech communication and theatre arts in the current moment.”
For the speech communication program, the panelists were Rex Sandro M. Nepomuceno, an assistant professor at the DSCTA; Bea Fabregas, a professional disc jockey, sports reporter, and host; and UPD Information Office Director Jose Carlo G. de Pano, who is also an associate professor at the DSCTA. Meanwhile, the panelists for the theatre arts program were Dexter M. Santos, an assistant professor at the DSCTA; Olivia Kristine D. Nieto, also an assistant professor at the DSCTA and a performance maker; and Ariel A. Diccion, a theatre actor and an instructor at the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Filipino.
(From left) de Pano, Fabregas, and Nepomuceno. Photo by Jefferson Villacruz, UPDIO
At the discussion on speech communication, de Pano said “Before, the program was anchored in a more generalist framework or a more generalist paradigm. Today, we aim to specialize.”
Explaining further, he said, “We have, for example, interpersonal communication, instructional communication. And not only those, we even specialize in more specific areas. For instance, we have interpersonal communication, but we have courses that focus on family communication, romantic relationships, and so on. We are also moving beyond the western roots of the discipline. Very often, in the past, we would use theories to understand communication phenomena in the local context…. But today, we question those theories, and in fact, assert that these theories might not be applicable considering our unique situation or the unique features of our communication or interactions.”
Nepomuceno was in agreement with de Pano in the latter’s assessment of the program.
“I agree with Sir Carlo na kailangan nating i-recognize na iyong pinanggalingan natin na tradition ay talagang Western, Euro-centric. Pero, lalo na sa rhetoric…