LOVE CAN move the highest mountains. But, when that love is taken for granted, even the tallest will find its way of crumbling down.
Sierra Madre: Isang Musikal depicts sacrifice in the face of neglect and unravels how nature always remembers, for what breaks will first bear—until it no longer can.
MEDIARTRIX, the official student-run multimedia organization of the University, returns with its original theater production written by Medical Technology freshman Joshua Peter Tolentino, Communication freshman Hannah Karylle Espiritu and Creative Writing sophomore Rio Celine Zafra.
Directed by sophomore Jearinna Maerizza Burgos of Civil Engineering and junior Lourdes Angel Gonzales of Communication, Sierra Madre: Isang Musikal echoes nature’s uproar beneath the storms, proving that nature not only reminds, but also warns.
The musical follows the story of Sierra, (Jewelrae Ferrer, Political Science freshman), a brave warrior fated to become the next leader or the “Hara” of her tribe. As her father bestows upon this great honor, Sierra grapples with the pressures and hardships concerning land, love and duty.
To its core, the production is a heartfelt epic that journeys through the story of motherhood, the cyclical struggles of environmental issues and how some memories haunt their way into the present. The two-hour musical echoed with 14 original compositions that weave myth, memory and mourning into one mighty tale.
Right off the bat, the play opens with a haunting plea to Bathala as Sierra and the tribe yearn for hope and solitude within their land, all while bathed in blood-red light, as if already grieving for what is yet to come. From there, the story goes back and forth from the past to the present time where the story shifts to Siena (Joenmaeus Mercado, Nutrition and Dietetics senior), a young advocate and granddaughter of Sierra, who recounts their ancestral story to a group of children.
In between the brief, quiet moments of duty, Sierra finds solace in Lusong (Kenzo Carolino, Data Science and Analytics freshman), a steady presence in her life whose warmth and undying love offers fleeting reprieve from the pressures of becoming the next Hara.
Bugsong Hangin (EJ Recalde, Physical Therapy freshman), a fierce and arrogant warrior who strives to win over Sierra and threatens the land from which she came, symbolized both calamity and hubris. Upon his defeat, he threatens to wreak havoc on the lives of the people and their land. His wrath endures not only on Sierra’s presence, but on the very soil her people call home.
The musical did not just chronicle sacrifice; it embodied it. Portrayed with aching restraint while rooted in hope, Sierra is not just a mother and a leader, for she carries generations of tradition, responsibility and generational expectations, all of which she humbly braves through.
Sierra’s quiet strength is echoed in her children, Iloco (Ryan Castillo, Architecture senior) and Tagalo (Shane Olchondra, Painting sophomore), who inherit not only her duties and responsibilities, but also her battles. This very thread of legacy binds them more by blood, stitched through time, giving the narrative its strong and familial yet devastating power.
As myth bled into reality, the play remained grounded in timely truths. The story tackled political struggles and confronted environmental issues and systemic neglect similar to what is being experienced today.
Though living in different generations, each character mirrors a real-life figure relevant and felt daily. Sierra embodied a mother’s selfless love and sacrifice destined to protect her land and people. With his power-hungry persona, Bugsong Hangin symbolized the relentless forces of greed and complete destruction that threaten communities and its people. Siena wholly represented the new generation confronting the present while honoring history. Through fear, she embodied hope and determination.
In the present timeline, Siena fights to protect Sierra Madre and, most importantly, the people living in it as the government plans a project to displace their community and erase ancestral land. Siena confronts the mayor (Andrea Noble, Microbiology sophomore) as she fights for her people and exemplifies resistance that hits uncomfortably close to home. She becomes a proof that a mother’s sacrifice does not end, but is passed on by those left behind.
What makes the production strikingly beautiful is its visual and sonic stage set design, mirroring the turbulence within and around its characters.
Through an intricate use of stage elements and a deliberate use of the color red for its passionate and fiery themes, the play highlighted its characters’ different kinds of rage, heightening tension. Hues of green were then used to symbolize life and renewal, present during moments of peace, community and hope. The pairing of colors and narrative made the transitions purposeful and set the emotional tone for each scene.
Despite the play’s complex dialogue rooted in Tagalog and the shifting between two different timelines, the actors managed to deliver their lines with enough bite and vulnerability. The choice of traditional dialogue grounded the story in the cultural and historical roots it derived from while narrating the past, which effectively weaved both timelines. The lead actors carried their characters with aching sincerity, bearing the weight of grief, hope and defiance that the story identified itself with.
While the show concludes, the tale does not. The musical resisted the comfort of resolution as Siena’s final cry for help mirrors the opening scene, as if an echo of history repeating itself. It was an honest, almost unsettling choice, but a necessary one.
The play’s choices force its audience to confront today’s harsh realities. The past looms into the present and without action, history is bound to become a cycle, each time with greater stakes. Sierra’s sacrifice and Siena’s fight represent a parallel of women bound by their love for their land and people plagued by storms not of their making.
Sierra Madre: Isang Musikal is not only a story of maternal love and environmental advocacies. It is a reminder that history is not just something one inherits, but something one creates. Because like memory and grief, nature waits for no one. F
