Teatro Pilipino was a resident drama company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) from 1976 to 1987. It was founded by Filipino playwright, translator, director, and educator Rolando S. Tinio, who also served as its Artistic Director.
The company was dedicated to producing world classics in translation as well as notable Filipino plays, as it aimed to promote the cultural development of the youth and of the Filipino language through theater.
Teatro Pilipino popularize a number of classic masterpieces of world theater among Filipino audiences by translating them into Filipino. Rolando S. Tinio believed that by translating these masterpieces for the Filipino audiences, he was also translating the philosophies and ideologies behind those plays as well. As such, the production of such plays serve as vehicles to intellectualize the Filipino audience.
After a 1975 pilot season of two plays sponsored by the Department of Public Information and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Teatro Pilipino was formally introduced as one of the two resident drama companies of the CCP. After a change in government in 1986, the new CCP Management decided to let go of its two resident drama companies, forcing Teatro Pilipino to move to its new home at the old Metropolitan Theater (MET) at Lawton, near Downtown Manila.
After the death of its principal actor, Dame Ella Luansing-Tinio in 1991, the closing curtain fell for the last time, and fittingly on its take on William Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night (IKALABING-DALAWANG GABI). The play was produced as a showcase piece for the then ongoing Unang Tagpo: National Theater Festival hosted by the CCP.
The most notable productions of Teatro includes the maiden presentation of Bienvenido "Boy" Noriega's Bayan-Bayanan in 1975; Anton Chekhov’s Tiyo Vanya (Uncle Vanya), 1976; Alexei Arbusov’s Kawawang Marat (The Promise), 1976; Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, 1976; G. Bernard Shaw’s Santa Juana (St. Joan), 1977; Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, 1977; Tennessee Williams' Laruang Kristal (Glass Menagerie), 1979; William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, 1979; Albert Camus’ Caligula, 1981; Shakespeare’s Romeo at Julieta (Romeo and Juliet), 1981; Jean Anouilh’s Antigone, 1982; Chekhov’s Seagull, 1982; Ugo Betti’s Ang Reyna at ang Rebelde (The Queen and the Rebels), 1983; Bertolt Brecht’s Ang Mabuting Tao ng Setzuan (The Good Woman of Setzuan), 1983; Euripides’ Medea, 1988 and Shakespeare’s Makbet (Macbeth), 1989.
Plays by Filipino playwrights staged by Teatro include Francisco Baltazar’s Orosman at Zafira (Orosman and Zafira), 1977; and those written by Tinio himself, such as May Katwiran ang Katwiran (Reason Has Its Reason), 1981, 1989; and Ang Babae sa Panitik (Women in Literature), 1991.
Teatro Pilipino also held annual summer workshops on acting, directing and stage management.
Artists who worked with Teatro Pilipino from 1976 to 1992 include Nestor U. Torre, Tony Mabesa, Ernie Garcia, Celeste Legaspi, Freddie Santos, Tommy Abuel, Edgar Oira, Rey Malte-Cruz, Divina Cavestany, Marcelino Cavestany, Nomer Son, Naty-Crame Rogers, Adul de Leon, Rustica Carpio, Amable Quiambao, Frankie Aseniero, Angie Ferro, Nanding Josef, Chriss Michelena, Tess-Dumpit, Tony Espejo, and Victoria Tinio.