Virgin Labfest 4 Schedule of Shows

VIRGIN LABFEST 4 Schedule of Shows:


PLAYS
(Tanghalang Huseng Batute/ CCP Studio Theater)


VIRGIN LABFEST 3 REVISITED
June 25 (W) – 3PM/8PM / July 4 (F) – 8PM / July 5 (Sat) – 3PM

Njel de Mesa‘s Mga Obra ni Maestra
Directed by Njel de Mesa
Featuring Abby Gonzales, Nympha Gonzales and Cashlyn Cuarez

A hilarious and biting play about three young children with superpowers and are heavily conflicted between saving the world or fulfilling the grueling, tedious domestic duties that their parents have ordered them to do.


Layeta Bucoy‘s Ellas Inocentes
Directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio
Featuring Janessa Roque and Lovely Balili

Two sisters, whose innocent conversation and unmalicious observations of a household not quite their own, reveals the violence and inhumanity of the adults around them.


Yoji Sakate‘s Three Sisters
Directed by Jose Estrella
Featuring Mailes Kanapi, Marj Lorico, Cheryl Ramos, Bong Cabrera, Joel Garcia and Lowell Conales

A moving ghost story and a touching memorial to the ravages of war and the significant resonance of war in theater.


* * PROGRAM 1 * *
KAPAMILYA, KAPUSO, KABISYO
June 26 (TH) – 3PM/8PM / July 5 (SAT) – 8PM / July 6 (SUN) – 3PM

Hase Hiroichi’s Amoy ng Langit
Directed by Toshiisa Yoshida
Featuring Mailes Kanapi, Martha Comia, Ana Deroca,Mica Froilan and Tara Cabaero

Ghosts are known to roam the world of the living because of unfinished business. This small and simple play about suicide, leaving and death happens on the rooftop of a school where no one is allowed to loiter. Yet a spirit manages to reconnect before finally heading “home.”


Layeta Bucoy’s Las Mentiras de Gloria
Directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio
Featuring Bart Guingona and May Bayot

Gloria, whose cancer kills her, appeals to her fraternal twin Utoy, to whom she appears as a bleeding ghost, to maintain the lies that she has been spreading to her faculty colleagues in the university. Utoy is compelled to obey by forced guilt and a macabre 'umbilical' connection. But beneath these secrets and lies are more secrets and lies and it seems the death of Gloria, no matter how sanitized, would only leak their foul stench even more.


Carlo Garcia’s Ang Mga Halimaw
Directed by Paolo O'Hara
Featuring JK Anicoche, Amihan Ruiz, Kristine Balmes, Alvin Obillo, Nar Cabico, Isab Martinez, Mara Marasigan,Philip Evangelista and Oscar Garcia and the Dulaang Sipat Lawin

Small time criminals think big like their bosses. In this car scene, drama effectively unfolds with strange bedfellows for characters and a wonderful poetic wit that speaks the language of the damned. These murderers, who include an Operadang Bakla, a Taxi Drayber and a Lalaking May Pakpak make for one short glimpse of surreo-realism.


* * PROGRAM 2 * *
KATOTOHANAN, KATARUNGAN, KAPATIRAN
June 27 (F) – 3PM/8PM / July 2 (W) – 3PM / July 6 (SUN) – 8PM

F. Sionil Jose’s Dong-Ao
Translated by Rody Vera
Directed by Chris Millado
Featuring Carme Sanchez, Nanding Josef, Tommy Abuel, Bembol Roco, Dido de la Paz, Gigi Escalante and Monica Llamas

Dong-ao is a traditional Ilokano funeral ceremony where relatives and friends pay tribute to the deceased. In this short play, Pepe Samson, the lead character in F. Sionil Jose’s novel Mass is dead. Several characters speak in front of his coffin, before he is laid to rest: Senator Reyes, Pepe’s Aunt Bettina, his college professor-mentor Badong Hortenso, his parish priest friend Father Jess, Colonel White Sidewall, and an old woman Tia Nena who served in the parish where Pepe once stayed. The divergent views uttered by the characters depict a fragmented nation, teetering between complete collapse and newfound hope and direction.


Allan Lopez’s Masaganang Ekonomiya
Directed by J. Victor Villareal
Featuring Katherine Sabate and Abner Delina

Framed by an unfinished game of chess between Vera, a highly decorated military
officer, and Guzman, an esteemed activist, the play unfolds as an interrogation of Gomez, a younger militant. In layered scenes that shift from intense examinations to harrowing scenes of humor, budding fascism, and brutish attacks on human sensibility, ‘Masaganang Ekonomiya’ offers an emasculated contemporary look on the age-old conflict between the establishment and the insurgents, in the context of a globalization- obsessed nation.


Tim Dacanay‘s Pamantasang Hirang
Directed by Hazel Gutierez
Featuring Jonathan Tadioan, Ian Bautista, Nicco Manalo, Ryan Guzman, Nicole Andrew Guila, Russell Legaspi, Alexis Dorola, Jay del Rosario, Jonathan Cabrera and Jacqueline Amper.

At a fraternity initiation in the state university, ambitious Congressman Chok Villanueva, an alumnus interfering with the proceedings, uses everything at his disposal to win back his friend, Dan, an advertising man who went back to the university to revive his literary talents. No institution is sacred, and everything is subverted, as persuasion fails and spirals downward to an orgy of brutality and excess.


* * PROGRAM 3 * *
PAGBABAGO, PAGHAHANAP, PAGKAKATAON
June 28 (SAT) – 3PM/8PM / July 2 (W) – 8PM / July 3 (TH) – 3PM

George Vail Kabristante’s Ang Kuwento ng Menginga ng New York City na Kamukha ng Bee-Stung Lips ni Julia Roberts
Directed by George de Jesus III
Featuring Ricci Chan, Jojo Riguera, Xeno Alejandro, Jef-Henson Dee and Gem Padilla

Denise fulfills the almost impossible condition given him by Victor, his sole object of obsession. He undergoes a sex change operation hoping that Victor’s promise of love will finally be requited. To Denise’s utter dismay, the condition turns out to be a half-forgotten joke. This melodramatic (and literal) reversal of fortune becomes black hilarity in the hands of George Kabristante. More like his reprise and variation on a theme that he started in last year’s Labfest, My Padir is an OCW.


J. Dennis C. Teodosio’s Gumamela
Directed by Roobak Valle
Featuring Phil Noble, Chrome Cosio,, Riki Benedicto and Russell Legaspi

"Gumamela" is more than just about hibiscus rosa sinensis or its botanical characteristics and pharmacological effects. It tells the bitter-sweet- campy story of man who contemplates what's there in 40 missed calls, in 40 minutes of waiting, and in 40 years of loneliness, love, and life, between serious bouts of suicide attempts and the desire to eat a sumptuous slice of chocolate cake.


Rogelio Braga’s Ang Bayot, Ang Meranao,at ang Habal Habal sa isang Nakababagot na Paghihintay sa Kanto ng Lanao del Norte
Directed by Nick Olanka
Featuring Joey Paras and Arnold Reyes

An unusual rendezvous of two beautiful and sharp-tongue outspoken creatures living at the margins of our society. Take a peak on their engagement as they courageously travel— devoid of any inhibitions, political correctness, and social graces—that rough and ‘older than history’ roads of discrimination, hypocrisy, bigotry, social divides, corruption and unspoken violence to arrive in a decent friendship. The play is a bitter yet funky peppered with a Radio Active Sago Project kick-ass take on the cruelties of our society that condones discrimination which is definitely not so cool.


* * PROGRAM 4 * *
PAGKAGAHAMAN, PANLILINLANG, PANANAMPALATAYA
June 29 (SUN) – 3PM/9PM / July 3 (TH) – 8PM / July 4 (F) – 3PM

Floy Quintos’ Ang Kalungkutan ng mga Reyna
Directed by Floy Quintos
Featuring Shamaine Buencamino, Tuxqs Rutaquio, Nar Cabico, Jonathan Tadioan, Riki Benedicto and Jerald Napoles

Megalomania is witnessed by Marcel, a hairdresser who accedes to the leader of the land’s Yolanda Cadiz. The empty, vacuous preoccupation with hair and beauty is after all, the most important ingredient to governance. The elegance of decadence and its inevitable slide into self-destruction introduces one of this year’s Labfest’s most endearing/terrifying characters.


Debbie Ann Tan’s Mga Babaeng Too Bright
Directed by Ana Valdez-Lim
Featuring Peewee O'Hara, Mailes Kanapi, Kathlyn Castillo, Charissa Litton and Wenah Nagales

To settle who among the two is stronger in a woman, Harmony and Discord was given a scenario where their counterparts Ms. Ferra and Georgia Oh influence the lives of Porcelaine and Virni. Porcelaine is an egoistic woman who got a Toobright Scholarship. Virni is a manipulator, but when she met Porcelaine, they somehow agreed on what constitutes art. The interplay of the women and the "Goddesses" results in a battle where no one is the winner and the loser. The
politics of women are hard to define, they can betray each other and they can come together. In this world of faux art, what is real and what is unreal?


Koh Jun Eiow’s Ang Dalawa Niyang Libing
Translated by Terrence Co
Directed by Leo Rialp
Featuring Noel Taylo, Billy Parjan, Tina de Guzman,Sherwin Sozon, Mc Do Bolanos, Alexis Dorola, Jeffrey Ramos, Jorge Walter Ladera, Paul Domine, Cara Mercado and Ailen Mojica

This play is based on a true story that happened in Malaysia. An old Malaysian- Chinese businessman dies leaving his wife and son the beginning of their troubles. In the middle of funeral, following the traditional Chinese ceremony, two Muslims come to claim the body of their brother Muslim insisting that the dead man should be buried in proper Muslim cemetery. They have proof that the deceased Lin Shunfu has converted to Islam. His official I.D. bears the name of a Muslim. Thus begins the travails of a family caught in between two faiths and a government unable to address the problem that has turned into a national issue.



MGA PREMYADONG KUWENTONG PAMBATA
July 5 (S) – 10AM/3PM / July 6 (SUN) – 10AM/3PM
(Bulwagang Amado Hernandez)


Njel de Mesa’s adaptation of Terangati by Victoria Anonuevo
Directed by Njel de Mesa
Featuring Bong Cabrera, Nar Cabico and the Koine Theater Foundation

This is a retelling of the Manobo version of the sky maiden who marries a mortal lad. Terengati, the protagonist whose name means bird hunter, does exactly that – he hunts birds for a living. Like other folktales, this story is rich in fantasy and has a touch of romance. Terengati’s search for his wife is as an adventure that may be hard to believe but its resolution is realistic and is drawn from actual family experience.


Argel Tuazon’s adaptation of Bru-ha-ha-ha- ha-ha, Bru-hi-hi-hi- hi-hi by Ma. Corazon Remigio
Directed by Mayen Estañero
Featuring Eric Sindol, Kat Castillo, Nicco Manalo and Bea Sara Angoba

Maggie is terrified whenever she sees Mrs. Magalit, an old woman who lives by herself. She laughs like a witch and surely acts like a witch. Her face is wrinkled and looks oh so frightening. And the way she laughs, sends chills down Maggie's spine. But is Maggie just imagining things, or is Mrs. Magalit a real terrible witch?


Job Pagsibigan’s adaptation of Uuwi na ang Nanay Kong si Darna by Edgar Samar
Directed by Catherine Racsag
Featuring Tess Jamias, Paolo Cabañero, Ian Lomongo, Vanessa Liwanag and MarkGil Bacea.



STAGED READINGS
(Bulwagang Amado Hernandez)


June 26 (Th) – 6: 30 P.M.
Jovi Miroy’s Billboard
Directed by Chris Millado

Lovers and loveseekers come together in La Luz Beach resort, unwittingly giving dramatic rendition to Plato's Symposium and his discourses on love.


June 27 (F) - 6:30 P.M.
George de Jesus III's Kung Paano Maghiwalay
Directed by George de Jesus III

The myriad variations of breaking up is presented here like a symphony divided into rippling movements; a tribute to the loss of love and the painful confrontations to truth.


June 28 (S) – 6: 30 P.M.
Khavn de la Cruz’s Newtopia
Directed by Khavn de la Cruz

It is 2084. A couple, Bernard and Julia, struggle to fight for freedom, privacy, love and even Unhappiness against this pseudo-perfect society controlled by Mr. Big Boy in Khavn' de la Cruz's anti-rock opera.


June 29 (Sun) – 6:30 P.M.
Carlo Garcia’s Ama Namin
Directed by Krystal Banzon

Daniel and Joseph reverses the classic Odysseus tale into a battle of wits and guts, revealing the horrible face of corruption in the course of this compressed drama between father and son.

J. Dennis Teodosio’s Asunto
Directed by Dennis Marasigan

Brando and George, a rather odd couple, confront a two-faced swindler and learn a thing or two about truth and justice in the Philippines .

Ogie Braga’s Ang Mga Mananahi

The soft-spoken, otherwise silent weavers of uniforms for the Moro rebels produce not only clothes for their warriors but subtle ideologies for freedom and dignity.


July 3 (Th) – 6:30 P.M.
Excerpts from Savage Stage
Directed by Ralph Peña
Featuring Nonie Buencamino, Shamaine Buencamino, Red Concepcion, JD De Guzman, JJ Ignacio, Irma Adlawan Marasigan, Joel Torre

Selected excerpts from four plays, three of which are included in Ma-Yi Theater Company’s anthology, Savage Stage, edited by Joi Barrios Leblanc: Project Balanggiga by Sung Rno and Ralph Peña, peregriNasyon by Chris Millado and Middle Finger by Han Ong. The fourth play takes scenes from Ma-Yi’s upcoming production of Ralph Peña’s new play Nebraska which will premiere in New York in 2009.