After the successful staging of the Broadway musical "Once On This Island," at RCBC Theater in Makati, Actor’s Actors Inc. (AAI), together with Silang Production presents a drama dealing with social issues that are quite familiar to Filipinos today.

"An Enemy of the People" is a story about a public minded doctor in a small town who discovers that the town’s public baths or hot springs have been seriously contaminated.

Alarmed that it was probably the cause of illness among the tourists, who are the town’s economic lifeblood, the doctor tries to clean up the mess by informing members of the community.

The doctor holds a town meeting to give a lecture on the baths. Unfortunately, he finds out that the local government including the town’s mayor who happens to be his brother, the businessmen and media don’t want to support him and instead find his speech incredibly offensive.

At any rate, the doctor decides to get the truth out.

Due to this, he is labeled "an enemy of the people".

"I had always wanted to stage this play because it’s a good piece… it’s a classic," said AAI’s artistic director Bart Guingona.

"When the ‘Hello Garci’ scandal came out last year, I said it’s the perfect time to do it," he continued.

Playing the embattled Dr. Sto.Tomas is veteran film and stage actor Michael de Mesa.

"Actually Mike and I have been talking about this play since May last year when we were working on ‘Once On This Island’ where Mike didn’t really have a big role…"

"I told Mike that I wanted to give him a role that would showcase his range …a role that would bring out his dramatic spirit. I gave him the book of ‘An Enemy of the People’ and he started reading it," related Guingona.

Portraying the role of the stubborn Mayor Sto.Tomas is Jamie Wilson.

"Originally, we wanted to get Mike and his brother Mark Gil to play the lead roles (the doctor and the mayor). It would’ve just been perfect since they’re brothers in real life, but unfortunately Mark couldn’t join us due to his schedule, so we got Jamie Wilson instead," explained Guingona.

Other members of the cast include Jaime del Mundo, Dido dela Paz, Lorenz Martinez, Michael Williams, Gian Magdangal, Criselle Consunj, Madelaine Nicolas, and Marvin Agustin.

AAI’s version of "An Enemy of the People" is set in the Cordilleras. Neoethnic choreography will be done by Denisa Reyes.

To help the Filipino audiences better understand the play, Guingona and Jovy Minoy modified the script and translated some of the lines into "Ilocano–English."

"The entire production is done in Tag–lish so that the audience can relate to it," said Guingona.

"We also changed the names of the characters into Ilocano names. For instance, the character Morten Kill was changed into Martin Ki-il," he added.

One thing that Guingona really likes about "An Enemy of the People" is its message, which deals with corruption and how the citizens respond to political issues.

"I believe that theater shouldn’t only entertain the audience but it should talk to the audience and it should editorialize or express opinions ‘para mabago ang pananaw nila’," he stressed.

"In this play, we want our audience to think or ‘editorialize’ whether to defend the truth even if it means a whole lot of conflict or inconvenience."

"What we really want to relay the audiences is that if there’s injustice, it should be addressed now — deal with it immediately," asserted Guingona.

AAI plans to bring "An Enemy of the People" to schools to make the students aware of the country’s political issues.

"We always say that the youth is the hope of the nation, so we should educate them about our country’s problems to prevent them from being corrupt," stated Guingona.