06/06/2025
This coming June 7, 2025, Tanghalang Lykeion , LPU Cavite’s official theater company, will stage an adaptation of Paz Márquez-Benítez’s 1925 short story Dead Stars for a one-night-only engagement. The show was previously staged last April 29 and May 3 at the LPU Cavite Auditorium and is back again for a rerun as Tanghalang Lykeion’s season-ender and as a celebration of the short story’s 100th year anniversary since its publication.
The story is set during the apex of American colonial power in the Philippines where Alfredo Salazar, a 30-year-old lawyer, struggles with unfulfilled love and the weight of societal expectations as his engagement to lawyer and socialite Esperanza Laurel collides with his lingering infatuation for aspiring bodabil star Julia Salas, ultimately reflecting on the fleeting nature of desire and the illusion of happiness. The play’s themes of love, duty, and the quiet ache of choices left unmade take center stage against an impressionist narrative that explores how grandeur and great suffering often coexist in a country grappling with its identity.
“I’ve been writing this adaptation for over three years now, and to bring the characters of Paz Márquez-Benítez to life is an honor in itself because to me, Dead Stars is simply one of Philippine literature’s greatest tragedies. A lot of research went into fleshing out the story and its characters and I chose to set it in 1937 to highlight the fight for women’s suffrage. In this adaptation, Alfredo is a lawyer, Esperanza is a suffragist and socialite, and Julia is an aspiring bodabil star. The adaptation draws inspiration from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina,” says playwright John Encela.
Directed by resident director Janie Marie Peleño, she reflects on the timelessness of the work and what makes this adaptation faithful to its literary roots:
"Paz Márquez-Benítez’s Dead Stars, as a literary piece, is history—a lifelong roaring protest, an amplification of the voices of women, and an in-depth questioning, at the same time, understanding of the choices, relationships, dreams, and tribulations of every individual mirrored through the portrayal of each characters in the story. This Dead Stars staging by Tanghalang Lykeion has its way of resonating with anyone who has witnessed its light. The magic of the original story is still intact in the adaptation as it ignites, burns, though eventually fades, and most of the time, even at least, its shadow remains.”
The cast features Khiro Arbiz and Matthew Trinidad as Alfredo Salazar, Ma. Arra Cecilia Lison and Rania Ameri Asong as Esperanza Laurel, and Hannah Charisse Magat and Koleen Edanielle Odiamar as Julia Salas with stage management by Yureika Khalee Pillo and John Jhared Plandes.
Dead Stars opens this June 7, 2025 at the LPU Cavite Auditorium at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Tickets are priced at P100 for LPU students, employees, and alumni and P150 for non-LPU. You may visit Tanghalang Lykeion on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok at for more information.
Proceeds will go to LPU Cavite’s Community Outreach and Service Learning (COSeL) and its beneficiaries.
Book your tickets now!
LPU Tickets: https://forms.gle/c7HxKV8bnvTbcT9F6
Non-LPU Tickets: https://forms.gle/ghtkzHUKXGeJy1zr5
