Philippine Theater History and Genres, the first volume of Nicanor Tiongson’s trilogy of collected theater essays, is composed of two parts. The first puts together his three most important essays on the historical development of Philippine theater from its earliest beginnings to 2023, including the well-known essay “What Is Philippine Drama?” which uses the RPN (“Repleksiyon ng Pangangailangan ng Nakararami”) framework for the analysis of Philippine plays as well as the more recent “TAPAT: Teatro para sa TAO,” which refines the RPN criteria.

1. Theater?Philippines?History. 2. Philippine drama. 3. Philippine essays (English).