From out of the Darkness was born Night and Erebus, and from the union of these two dark beings came Love, and from Love came Light and Day. It was only when these two disparate elements of light and darkness came into being that the stage was set for the creation of mankind and the gods.

During the 17th century, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio became "the most famous painter in Rome." He was one of the most celebrated painters of his time, with both church officials and politicians vying to have his creations in their churches or in their private collections. It was his theatrical use of chiaroscuro—the use of light and shadow—that Michelangelo became famous.

Here in the country, at the Karapatan Hall of the Museo Pambata, Filipino children are given an opportunity to enjoy performances by our very own manipulators of light and shadow.

The Anino Shadow Play collective, a group of artists who intend to popularize the art of shadowplay in the country, performs shadow puppet shows at the Museo every first Saturday of the month.

This year, the group even takes their efforts across to other shores: The collective will be taking part in this year’s 10th World Puppet Art Festival in Prague, Czech Republic, performing Francisco Balgtas’ classic "Florante at Laura."

The Anino Shadow Play Collective was first established in 1992 by Alwin Reamillo, Bernadette Solina and Junivic Andrion, arts faculty members at the Philippine High School for the Arts. Initially an extracurricular attachment to the school’s visual arts program, the group eventually received a grant from the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) to tour the country.

It was only when the group touched base in CCP later that year that the decision to formalize the group as the Anino Shadow Play Collective was made. A lot of changes have happened since then: From the founding teachers leaving the group to new members coming in, the group has been able to go with the flow and adapt to the changes as they happen.

"Shadow play as an art form has always been organic," says Don Salubayba, a member of the collective. "The founding member didn’t really know anything about shadow puppetry, but when the teachers and students collaborated, they were able to work out how to treat light and shadow, and they taught this to the new members. Eventually the new members began to make their own treatments of the medium."

The group’s members say that this very informal and organic way of meeting and performing has been the factor that has kept them coming back to perform with the collective, despite the fact that there is no money at all to be earned from shadow puppetry. Most of the collective’s members still maintain day jobs that give them a regular income with which to pursue their passion.

Anino has also become something short of a family. While an organization, they do not have leaders amongst them. The group comes up with production decisions and the like through democratic means, where no opinion is left unheard and where a consensus is sought before any action is made.

"It’s the intimacy of our companionships that keeps us coming back," explains Salubayba. "It’s a venue for us to meet each other again and bond over the medium and see our individual works, whether it be music or writing, be interpreted in an entirely different way."

Shadow play certainly allows for quite a number of subjects to be expressed through it. The collective has not only been performing in a variety of places—from the Museo Pambata to Glorietta—but have treated such political, social and environmental issues such as Philippine history and social as well as cultural life; and Philippine folklore, legends and literature.

Collaborative efforts with folk artists such as Joey Ayala and Cynthia Alexander have resulted in three to seven-minute performances of "Manong Pawikan" and "Hiroshima." The group even came up with a feature-length performance in 2001.

Their interpretation of the Bicolano epic Ibalon was an enormous success; it made all the way to the 1st International Festival of Shadow Theatre in Greece. Their invitation to Greece had only happened because of chance: The organizers had chanced upon their website and had invited them over to the festival.

It was here in Greece that the group had a solid opportunity to impart something of their own to the world’s own tradition of shadow puppetry. With the country having no real tradition of shadow puppetry, Anino was able to show the groups that converged in Greece something entirely new.

"Most of the people that were invited there performed the traditional shadow plays that they had in their own country," relates Salubayba. "They were a bit shocked and pleasantly surprised with us since our approach and our materials were much more contemporary and advanced."

The group found out that unlike most shadow play traditions, their performances had a lot more color in them. Most shadow plays that feature color only do so because these colors are already embedded in the puppets, whereas Anino has taken it to include even the background of the performances.

Another thing that drew in the foreign spectators was the action that went onscreen.

"They told us that it looked as if there were a thousand people backstage," says Salubayba with a laugh. " He was surprised to find out that there were only five of us."

This time around, Anino has another opportunity to take a Filipino story to far off places. Being part of the 10th World Puppet Art Festival in Prague was as much a surprise as their invitation to Greece ("The organizers were surprised that a shadow play group existed in the country."), but Anino is determined to leave a mark.

With their experience touring around the country and outside of it, the group has learned valuable lessons on how to make their plays more accessible to a greater number of people.

"One thing we learned is that even if our visuals catch the attention, the audience doesn’t always get what our characters are saying," says Salubayba. "This time around we’ve provided synopses for each chapter so the audience can follow us while enjoying the visuals. We’ve also made a greater effort of making the story accessible and for the action to be able to tell the narrative by itself."

Anino hopes that as they establish and entrench themselves into the Filipino art consciousness, they will be able to surmount the challenges they’ve been facing in their quest to make shadow plays a part of Filipino culture.

Of course, a lack of funds is one challenge that they encounter on a daily basis, and despite having sponsors and donations from audiences and friends, it is something that they grapple with.

In fact, the DVD launch of Florante at Laura on April 20 is meant to finance the group’s trip to Prague. They need to sell 450 copies to buy themselves one ticket to Prague.

"We certainly won’t deny that we could use a lot more money," says Salubayba. "But to just be able to get on that plane would already be a victory for us. To be able to dispel the notion that puppets are just for kids, and to be able to expose it to more people as a viable art form, would be the bigger victory for us."