Actress Celia Diaz-Laurel Releases Book about Her Life in the Theater

Stage actress, theater production designer, and costume designer Celia Diaz-Laurel launches her latest coffee table book My Lives Behind the Proscenium on May 29 via Facebook Live, in time for her 93rd birthday.

The book provides insight into her life, the social milieu of her time, and the historical narrative of the early years of Manila theater and the people who were part of it.

She has had training in the Yale School of Drama and has performed with the Ave Maria Players, Manila Community Players, UP Dramatic Club, Dramatic Philippines, and Repertory Philippines. After performing for 52 shows with REP from 1968-1992, Celia went “offstage” and became the production and costume designer for 80 of the company’s productions.

Celia has also authored several other books, consisting of a biographical coffee table book dedicated to her late husband, former Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel, as well as a historical and personal narrative about her grandfather Domingo Franco, who is one of the 13 martyrs executed at Bagumbayan.