‘He also gave us the go-signal to mount “The Reconciliation Dinner, the Movie,” to be written by Guelan Luarca and directed by Andoy Ranay.’
BY NOEL D. FERRER
Florencio de la Cruz Quintos, more popularly known as Floy Quintos, was a playwright, director, and writer whose body of work over the last 35 years has spanned theater, television, movies, opera, live concerts, documentaries, and events. He passed away last Saturday, April 27.
Direk Floy attended grade school at the Ateneo de Manila, high school at UP Integrated School, and obtained his bachelor’s degree in journalism at UP Diliman in 1985. Initially, he worked as a freelance contributor for a broadsheet and, at one time, worked for the publicity department of the Manila Metropolitan Theater and served as managing editor of Metro Magazine and Voda.
He began his career as an actor in various Dulaang UP productions under Anton Juan Jr. and Rene Villanueva. He transitioned into directing productions such as Tanghalang Pilipino’s “Kudeta!” and “Flores Para Muertos,” the translated version of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” He also directed the Philippine Opera Company’s “Ang Bagong Harana.”
Among his works for Dulaang UP are “St. Louis Loves dem Filipinos,” “Isang Panaginip na Fili,” “Ang Nawawalang Kapatid,” “Ang Huling Lagda ni Apolinario Mabini,” “Atang,” “Shock Value,” “Laro,” and “The Kundiman Party,” all in Filipino. His works in English include “Collection,” “Fake,” “Fluid,” and “Angry Christ.” His one-act plays, all staged for the Virgin Labfest, are “Ang Kalungkutan ng mga Reyna,” “Suor Clara,” and “Evening at the Opera.” A two-volume anthology of his work, “Floy Quintos: Collected Plays,” was published by the Ateneo University Press in 2014. His plays have been featured in anthologies both locally and internationally.
We had some projects in the pipeline, including his latest collection of plays, to include our favorite “The Reconciliation Dinner” and the new one, “Grace,” for the UP Press. He also gave us the go-signal to mount “The Reconciliation Dinner, the Movie,” to be written by Guelan Luarca and directed by Andoy Ranay.
Floy’s body of work has been recognized by numerous award-giving bodies. He garnered three Palanca Awards for his plays and screenplays, two Aliw Awards, and a Golden Leaf award for concert direction, plus two Gawad Buhay awards for directing.
Recently, he ventured into exhibit curation, mounting exhibitions devoted to various aspects of Philippine traditional and indigenous arts for both the Yuchengco and Ayala Museums.
Upon news of his death, social media was filled with an outpouring of sympathy and gratitude. Most people were in shock when his niece, Celina Quintos, announced his passing on Facebook.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I, on behalf of my family announce that Floy Quintos, esteemed playwright and director, but more importantly beloved brother, son, uncle, cousin, nephew, and friend, has returned to the arms of the Lord. He passed suddenly in the ER from a heart attack this (Saturday) morning,” part of her message read.
National Artist Ryan Cayabyab, who worked with Floy in many cultural specials, the most recent being the CCP Anniversary that we co-produced, “Anywhere We Sing Is Home,” said, “Floy is a National Artist para sa akin. For literature and theater.”
Respected and multi-awarded playwright Rody Vera also said, “Floy, you have left a huge void that nobody else can fill. We feel that void not only in our hearts, we, your friends and colleagues. We lose a playwright, and we lose a hundred visions of the world, now left unrealized. We, who find comfort, hope, and renewed faith in your work, will miss you terribly.”
Floy’s colleague at Dulaang UP and good friend Alex Cortez, from whom we got the news of Floy’s passing, is devastated. Alex Cortez said, “I am inconsolable! Oh, Floy!!! Aside from Tony M, you were always there for me… and then, very typical of you… you left in peace and quiet… and I’m in tears! NO!!!”
Guelan Luarca, himself a recognized name in theater, related, “I know I’ll always be that kid from Ateneo, but through Sir Floy (and later on, Sir Dex and Sir Tony and Sir Alex), Dulaang UP will always feel like home in my heart. My inbox with Sir Floy is chock full of exchanges like these – full of warmth, kindness, generosity, and lessons in playwriting and directing. I have all his notes for all my plays he saw, and all my essays when I particularly loved a play of his. He was, unbeknownst to him, one of my teachers in the craft. Many closer to him will pay him richer tributes, but he and I, silently, I feel, had something deep, in the form of phone calls and impromptu car rides and inbox messages and gossip galore and a mutual admiration club – a testament to his spirit of generosity even for someone who was just outside his circle, just outside of UP, but still felt welcomed – and whose life he touched and shaped significantly.
“He was the very first person to greet me on my birthday, last Thursday… could he have known…? So he decided to do it much earlier…? The fiction in my heart says yes. Hay.
“I mourn with such good friends from Dulaang UP. I love you all. I mix my tears with yours.
We lost a great one today. We lost a defining voice in Philippine Drama and Playwriting. We lost an Artist of the Nation.”
OPM president Ogie Alcasid was also honored to have worked with Floy on very special projects, especially “Ogie Da Pogi, the musical-concert.” He said, “Floy, thank you for taking a chance on directing a newbie like me back in the early ‘90s. You taught me many things.
Things that I carry to this day whenever I perform. One time you wrote an article about me in a magazine called MAN, and I still have it preserved on the wall of my studio. I have always had the utmost respect for your patriotism, which you breathe into your artistry. I will miss you and miss making you laugh with my corny jokes. Mahal ka namin Floy Quintos at salamat sa lahat ng iyong nagawa.“
There should be more tributes to our dear Floy as the days go by; but for now, a good friend Gibbs Cadiz’s words may sort of calm us, “This May, he would not be there to see his latest – his last – play open. He had talked a lot about it – the so-called Lipa apparitions and its questions of truth, belief, the power of norms and authority, the capacity for stillness, the uknowability of the heart – ideas he had always grappled with, in plays such as FAKE, and COLLECTION, and ANGRY CHRIST. It was a play that was particularly challenging to write, according to his longtime friend and collaborator, director Dexter Santos – not only the research, but ‘he really wanted it to be right.. and he wanted to make sure na malinaw what he wants the perspective and the message of the play is.’ But just days before, Dexter had been handed the script, all done, hardbound. And so, this May: What a fitting swan song for the expansive, tenderhearted, eternally curious life of Floy Quintos – a work called GRACE.”
Godspeed Floy, and yes, we will be guided by your wisdom, especially when you said, “Rid ourselves with the burden of popularity, and just do the good work.”
