Education and Training
The School of People's Theater (SPT) is the present training arm of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). It started in 1967 as the Central Institute of Theater Arts in the Philippines (CITAP) which was “designed to infuse life into the moribund state of Philippine Theater”.
The CITAP became the Central Institute of Theater Arts in Southeast Asia (CITASA) in 1972 as the training school for traditional theater forms of the Third World infused traditional theater with the spirit and techniques of modern theater and modern communications media. It has offered programs that provided a deeper acquaintance with the different Asian cultures through personal, direct, richly educational and artistic experiences.
In 1986, the CITASA was reorganized into two separate program units: the Training and Research (T&R) Unit and the Support Organizing and Linkages (SOL) Unit. The T&R Unit was concerned with research, faculty training and the development of courses for the Institute of People’s Theater (IPT). A special focus was given to establishing the sectoral programs, the SOL Unit was tasked to coordinate and provide cultural support for the regional, national and international networks.
In 1989, after the PETA organizational review by the Management Advancement Systems Association, Inc. (MASAI), the two units were reformatted, and the School of People's Theater (SPT) Unit was established. This unit is now responsible for PETA's various efforts in developing people's theater curricula. The curricula is meant to support and enhance cultural, educational and development initiatives of the various sectors and communities in the archipelago.