PETA teaches ​positive discipline with Rated PG

It's been said that mothers should have been given more hands to do everything they need to do -- from household duties and small entrepreneurial ventures, to raising the kids and the husband, too. In Philippine Educational Theater Association's "Rated PG", we find Joselle, a mother most mothers can relate to.   Joselle has a loving husband, Romy, but he is almost always preoccupied with his job and leaves the children's moral upbringing to his wife. Joselle tries to delegate tasks, but her teenage daughter Rosalie has her own concerns - like an upcoming streetdance competition.   The family's youngest member is the playful Tonton, who, like most kids, gets into trouble. Like most parents, Romy and Joselle find themselves at their wits' end, and are tempted to resort to physical punishment as a form of discipline. Also, like many parents, Romy and Joselle don't want to be like their own parents, so they try to find other ways of instilling discipline.   Unlike other plays, "Rated PG"'s message is made explicit to the audience. The play is part of PETA's ARTS Zone project, which aims to teach positive discipline through the arts. It challenges the old ways in rearing our children and urges us to adopt positive discipline in homes, schools, and communities.   So far, the play has reached an audience of close to 40,000 in key cities in Metro Manila. Caloocan, Makati, Manila, Pasig, and Quezon City have been identified as hosts for the ARTS Zone project.   Given that "Rated PG" is meant to teach people various ways to discipline children, one might worry that it will be preachy. On the contrary, the play is highly enjoyable and at the same time, moving.   The story is simple and familiar. Joselle decides to apply for work abroad, in order to secure a good future for her children. While gathering her required documents, she tries to get Romy and Rosalie to take care of Tonton, and the results are less than ideal. She also seeks help from her mother, who resorts to threatening Tonton with scary stories about sacks with teeth.   The play is full of wisdom, but none of it feels forced. When Joselle tells Romy that she remembers being put in a sack but not why, the audience laughs, perhaps recalling their own childhood crimes and punishments. Through several situations - Tonton gets into a fight at school, Tonton answers back, Tonton drops a plate, and so on - Joselle and Romy experiment with different ways of disciplining their son. At the same time, Joselle and Rosalie learn to understand each other.   The actors do a wonderful job of portraying the family. As Joselle, Raye Baquirin makes the audience laugh, then cry. Gilbert Onida as Romy has flawless timing, but even with his non-stop funny lines he doesn't distract the audience from the play's seriousness. Joan Bugcat as Rosalie reminds the audience of how they were as teenagers, and Leon Matawaran as Tonton is a success - sometimes you want to hug him, and sometimes you want to hit him.   Of course, the whole point of the play is to show the audience that there are plenty of better ways to teach a child discipline than to hit him, and this is shown by the characters as well as through songs composed by Vincent A. De Jesus. Playwright Liza Magtoto does an impressive job of exploring positive discipline in Rated PG, a task which she herself says is not easy.   In her notes, Magtoto says she listened to teachers and barangay leaders who shared their experiences in child discipline. She also spoke with her friends and relatives, and credits these people as well as real-life experiences which helped bring the characters to life. Magtoto notes that although the people are real, the scenes need not be realistic. Thus we have a nightmarish scene of Tonton's fears, and actual doorframes through which the characters slide, signifying different ways of dealing with sticky situations.   The play runs for roughly two hours, but the audience doesn't feel it because its members get wrapped up in the story. They are able to put themselves in the character's shoes - or sandals, as it is said in the play.   After the play, the actors engage the audience in a dicussion about child discipline. Of course, views differ, and while some argue that corporal punishment depends on the situation, others will stand firm and say physical punishment is never okay. Some chose not to participate in the discussion, perhaps preferring to quietly process the lessons from the play, which was already effective on its own. - YA/KG, GMA News For more information, please visit the ARTS Zone Project website, or contact PETA at 7256244 petafr@petatheater.com or petatheater@gmail.com.