Devirginized: My First Virgin Lab Fest

For a self-confessed theater junkie, I'm sorry to have missed several years of Virgin Lab Fest pero di man sad gud ma-rason ang "mowanatch sa kog plays" sa Ohabart Simpson. This year, the 14th offering of VLF, my little theater nerd heart is finally filled.  Showcasing one-act "Untried, Untested, Unstaged Plays" by burgeoning playwrights, color me excited.

Set A

Mga Eksena sa Buhay ng Kontrabida
Playwright: Dustin Celestino, Director: Roobak Valle

This is the story of Jake, a 35-year old who has not been able to put his life together, and of his family who are trying to deal with this seemingly menacing member of the clan and society. It's "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" but with drugs, violence, rumors of incest, and Jake.

This is a solid act in 30 minutes. The narration slowly evolves from something problematic but relatively benign, into something outright sinister (if you have a family like Jake's).

This got a standing ovation from the great F. Sionil Jose. Easily one of my top 3 VLF plays. 

Mga Bata sa Selda 43
Playwright: Rolin Migyuel Obina, Director: Ian Segarra

Brothers Philip and Ino mysteriously find themselves in a cell. While trying to escape, they later meet Ed, an earlier occupant.  The tale ends in a heartbreak when we find out how and why they ended up there. And you end up with elevated blood pressure, if you follow the news. 

Ang Inyong mga Anak: Si Harold at si Napoleon
Playwright: Anthony Kim Vergara, Director: Ricardo Magno

What strikes me most is a line by Mama (May Bayot), while trying to beg her son to abandon his idealistic mission: "Mas bobo at tanga ang mga tao ngayon!".  Cuts deep because it's true.

I had the pleasure of watching this twice (in lieu of Ang mga Propesyunal) and both times I cried, mostly for Mama, portrayed with such honesty by Ms. Bayot*. With equal parts love and pride, She sends off her son, Harold (Joshua Tayco), into the very same path that she herself went through before and which cost her husband his life. I was reminded of Kahlil Gibran's "On Children" with this one, with layers of social relevance.  Inang, in a lucid interval, finally recalls the poem she created, powerfully played by Edna Vida,  that encapsulates the bittersweetness of parenthood and letting go of your children.

*This is what I love and miss the most with theater - the palpable, immersive energy and emotion from the actors that I rarely get with the celluloid. 

Set B

 Rosas

Playwright: Jose Dennis Teodosio, Director: Charles Yee

Anding (Crispin Pineda) and Merto (Bembol Roco) are life-long friends in their twilight years. They reminisce about their past and sigh about their present, where regrets and secrets are eventually brought to light. Brought to you by a love poem about a dead butterfly and a white, bloody rose. 

Hmm, this play was just OK for me. But as a relatively uncouth and uncultured viewer, I may have missed something.  Mr. Bee most likely might have picked up on it had he been around. Maybe it’s just a bit somber for my taste.

Edgar Allan Hemingway

Playwright: Carlo Vergara, Director: George De Jesus III

Levi (Rafa Siguion-Reyna with real-life Prince Charming hair) comes home a toast of the town with his NYT bestselling novel and a very efficient manager/boyfriend, Barns Noble (Ricci Chan) *wink wink*.  Everything comes undone as an old friend, George (Guelan Luarca), comes to visit.

All the actors are clearly adept at what they’re doing but Ricci Chan… He. Owns. The. Show. If Ricci Chan doesn’t have a one-man show already, WHHHHHYYYYY NOOOOOOTTTTT?! For a newbie and casual fan of the sci-fi genre, the story is something fresh and compelling for me.

Set C

Labor Room

Playwright: Ma. Cecilia Dela Rosa, Director: Jose Estrella, Issa Manalo Lopez

Anyone with experience in a tertiary government hospital  who watches this play will incessantly do this: 

Within the tiny, controlled space of the stage, this act quite captures the chaos that is the Labor Room. We've met all those characters. The problems are all to familiar. You can tell Ms. Dela Rosa did her homework and some. Fortunately, this act successfully veers from being too clinical and depressing by the characters’ funny banters and heart. 

Tulad ng Dati

Playwright: JV Ibesate, Director: Olive Nieto

What I liked about it: Stage production. The blank picture frames that stood for the relatives that turned their backs to the brothers during the times that they needed help, that was effective.

What I felt OK about it: Most of it.

What I hated about it: That ending. Feels contrived, unearned, shock value for the sake of wanting to be controversial. This is coming from someone who loves Flowers in the Attic to death. Has nobody read the Westermarck effect yet?! Arnold Reyes was wasted on this.

Ensayo

Playwright: Juan Ekis, Director: Eric Villanueva Dela Cruz

Tisha (Sherry Lara) and Peds (Bembol Roco) are first-time, elderly actors who are having apprehension with their first kissing scene.

Just the right palate cleanser for the play that went before. Love the meta-opening: while everyone was doing business during intermission, Peds was already on stage rehearsing his lines. The two master actors are so delightful in this play. Lahat kinikilig and you can tell everyone left the theater with high spirits, refreshed, and cleansed (from the bad juju from the previous act). 

Set D

Marawi Musicale

Playwright: Tyron Casumpang, Director: Ariel Yonson

This was the first play I saw for this year's fest and honestly, I had cynical thoughts before watching this - this could well all be a hokey musical done by a glaringly non-resident. But all of that is my own personal failings and nothing to do with this surprisingly grounded musical.  Kuya Jhong (Jonathan Tadioan), the ringleader of a can-do soup kitchen, tries to maintain the sense of joy and sanity for his meager crew of volunteers and the evacuees, while dealing with his own personal battles. We learn each crew's personal heartaches and difficulties all while taking up to the insurmountable task of feeding a thousand children affected by the Marawi seige. 

There was one song that, for me, is the best part of this play. Salanka, one of the volunteers, prays for the safe return of her abducted husband, but in the peak of her grief and helplessness, she could only say the name of her husband. And how beautifully Bayang Barrios interprets it UGH IT JUST RIPS YOUR HEART OUT. 

Amoy Pulbos ang mga Alabok sa Riles ng Tren

Playwright: Lino Balmes, Director: Tess Jamias

Scene opens up with a couple that could play out as an R version of Home Along Da Riles. Later on you learn through flashbacks, wittingly heralded by the passage of the train, that head of the family Ramil (Bong Cabrera) tried his luck in a TV show and lost. At first, we laugh at his, and his wife Chona's (Marjorie Lorico) antics - their game to try to win the game but later in act, you're all sobered up knowing that this will not end well with them.  

That scene with the mocking laughter of a well-known TV host reverberating while the main characters ruminate in remorse and regret stays with you.  It's all fun and games on TV and reality truly bites, it's not funny.

River Lethe

Playwright: Allan Lopez, Director: Chris Martinez

The metaphorical River Lethe in this play is a seedy motel room complete with distinctly tacky decors and writhing, moaning dancers. Later,  we are introduced to Abe (Paolo O'Hara) and Mara (Dolly De Leon),  cancer patients who may have met during one of their chemotherapy sessions which ended in an affair. The moral ambiguousness is brilliantly played out. There is no sentimentality that life goes on while they, inspite trying to prolong theirs, are just biding time to be over for them.  The motel room is an oasis where they can can still feel alive when their loved ones and the world, as Abe put it, has considered them dead.  This act leaves you pensive long after it ends.