OUR SYMPATHY and condolences to actor-director Jose Mari Avellana. His mom National Artist for Theatre Daisy Avellana (widow of National Artist for Film Lamberto Avellana) took her final curtain call and passed last Sunday, Mother’s Day, at 96. She helped found the Barangay Theater Guild in 1939 and played the leads in such Shakespearean productions as “Othello” and “Macbeth”. We’ve seen some of their productions at the FEU Theatre and they were impressive. We’ll forever remember her as Candida Marasigan in Nick Joaquin’s “Portrait of the Artist as Filipino”, with Naty Crame Rogers as Paula. We first saw it at the CCP Little Theatre and we were just blown away by the play. It’s even better than the 1965 film version which also starred her. All other versions failed in comparison, except for the late Lino Brocka’s Tagalog adaptation at Fort Santiago starring the legendary Lolita Rodriguez and Charito Solis.
