A tastier Virgin Labfest 9 happens at the CCP

June 26-July 7, 2013

Tanghalang Huseng Batute (CCP Studio Theater)

Bulwagang Amado Hernandez (Conference Room)

CCP Complex

Pasay, Metro Manila

Last year’s Virgin Labfest, the eighth edition of the festival showcasing untried, untested, unpublished and unstaged plays was notable for having sold out a week before the whole thing even started. Having a sold out run last year has set the bar really high for the upcoming edition happening this June 26 to July 7, 2013 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Huseng Batute (CCP Studio Theater) and Bulwagang Amado Hernandez (Conference Room). The Virgin Labfest is a joint venture of the CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino and the Writers’ Bloc, Inc. in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

This year’s edition, the ninth, poses the question May mas sasarap pa ba? or Is there anything tastier? when translated. Ten new, one act plays (nine short and one full length) along with three plays from last year, five staged readings, a writing fellowship program, site specific performances and a book launch make up the events for this year’s Virgin Labfest.

This year’s plays include works from Labfest veterans such as George de Jesus, Liza Magtoto and Em Mendez with Kapit, Isang Daan and Ambong Abo. Virgins to the Labfest playwrights are represented by Benjamin Pimentel, Herlyn Gail Alegre, Eljay Castro Deldoc’s, Bernadette Neri, Jimmy Flores’ and Carlo Vergara. Dominique La Victoria’s Chipline, will be the Labfest’s first ever play which will be totally in Cebuano. Restaged plays from the 8^th Virgin Labfest include Em Mendez’s Unang Regla ni John, Aizel Cabili’s Pagsubli and Guelan Luarca’s Kuneho. Chris Millado, Marlon Rivera, Chris Matinez, Melvin Lee, Charles Yee, Roobak Valle, JK Anicoche, Law Fajardo, Emman dela Cruz, George de Jesus, Ed Lacson and Ariel Yonzon will be directing the plays.

The plays that are part of the Virgin Labfest 9 are the following:

Set A:

June 26, 2013, 3:00 & 8:00 PM

July 6, 2013, 3:00 PM

July 7, 2013, 8:00 PM

Kudeta! Kudeta!

by Jimmy Flores

A coma patient and a disgruntled fallen angel join forces in a plot to remove Lucifer from power. It’s good versus evil and all the grays in between.

Kapit

by George de Jesus

In a bedroom, an older woman berates a younger man much like a mother reminding her son of his future. In the course of the conversation, their relationship becomes more than what it seems revealing how the ties that bind them together is being unfettered. Kapit is a story of the attachments people make, what makes them hold on to the things that they ought to let go.

Imbisibol

by Herlyn Gail Alegre

The play is set in 1992 on an ordinary Sunday in Tokyo. Two Filipino friends, Benjie and Manuel, both illegal workers in Japan, gather at the house of their Filipina friend, Manang Linda, to collect the letters their families send to fictional names they created to hide their true identities. At the middle of the happy lunch, Rodel, another young Filipino illegal worker, barges in declaring he had just killed a man who threatened to report him to the police. His friends suggest that he moves deeper underground by moving to another prefecture, finding a new day job, cutting ties with his family and friends, keeping a low profile, changing his name, and staying hidden for good. Would Rodel choose to stay invisible not only to the police but also to his family and friends to keep his freedom and continue working for his family’s sake?   

Set B

June 27, 2013, 3:00 & 8:00 PM

July 6, 2013, 8:00 PM

July 7, 2013, 3:00 PM

Isang Daan

by Liza Magtoto

Ting has a Katipunero hero for an ancestor.  In fact, a street is named after him.  He wants his Fil-am daughter to feel that Pinoy pride by showing her that.  The bad news  is that the street will soon give way to a highway which is being built through a mayor's initiative.  Ting's Fil-Am daughter Bituin couldn't care less, but Ting wants to preserve the legacy of his great-grandfather.  An informal settler and an NGO worker also seem to have reasons to stop the mayor from building this highway.   What's in this street  anyway that they have to fight for it?  Perhaps a quest for immortality, survival or something else?

Chipline

by Dominique La Victoria

The simple, quiet lives of three children in Bukidnon are shaken when they hear that a Zipline park is going to be constructed in their beloved playground. They go to the site hoping to play peacefully like they always do--instead they find a sign: NO TRESPASSING. In their own little way they weigh the pros and cons: development for their little barangay or loss of a childhood?

Owel

by Eljay Castro Deldoc

Owel's medical examination unlocks a story of loss, romantic petition, and gender discussions. Sexual innuendos, mentions of heartbreak, and personal strife are juxtaposed against the clinical atmosphere of an infirmary in Makati. Two ex-lovers attempt closure over stool samples and urine examinations staying true to the genre of black comedy plays.

Set C

June 28, 2013, 3:00 & 8:00 PM

July 3, 2013, 3:00 PM

July 5, 2013, 8:00 PM

Pamamanhikan

by Bernadette Neri

Pamamanhikan narrates the friendship of Ibyang and Ester as the latter is faced with the cross of motherhood.  Her youngest daughter, Ces, is coming home along with her partner and Ester is confronted with the predicament of how to deal with her daughter’s lover.  The story takes place while Ester and Ibyang are preparing all the ingredients of her daughters favorite dish.  With the help of Ibyang who is an expert in concocting not just complicated dishes but also that of the most complex emotions, will Ester eventually find the exact recipe that complements her own feelings?

Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady

by Carlo Vergara

Being a maid is tough enough, but when Mely finds employment under a group of unconventional employers, she steps up to the unique challenge for the sake of her family. When Mely's sister Viva enters the picture, Mely is reminded of a disturbing past, made complicated by an unsettling romantic revelation made by one of her employers. All this in a tragicomedy about domestic help, sibling rivalry, and shattered dreams.

Ambong Abo

by Em Mendez

Ambo is found by the police in Central Park. He is stupefied, staring blankly at a deadsnake in front of him. He has been missing for three days. Is it the fabled song of the Corocoro or the seducing hiss of the Oryol that led him to search or escape death? Ambo was a copra farmer in the lush tropical land of the Bicol province in the Philippines. Dolly, his youngest daugther immigrated and settled in the cosmopolitan city of New York. She is disillusioned by the comfort of living she finds in a foreign land that she dreads the idea of coming home. Back at home in the valley of Iriga, Ambo's eldest daughter, Magda is a simple, submissive abaca weaver who patiently waits for the return of her father. She reminds Ambo and Dolly of the life they left behind. “I am the son of Daragang Magayon, Handyong is my father” claims Ambo to his daughters that they quickly dismiss as whims of an aging man. Daragang Magayon is the legendary maiden of Bicol's enchanted volcano and Handyong is the leading mythical hero-warrior of their people. Ambo in his final words reveal the continuation of the lost myth of the Bicol region. Separated by geography, culture and language, two different lives of sisters, are bridged by Ambo's visions, actions and prophecies.  

Set D

June 29, 2013, 3:00 & 8:00 PM

July 3, 2013, 8:00 PM

July 4, 2013, 3:00 PM

Pramoedya

by Benjamin Pimentel

'Pramoedya' tells the story of Indonesian novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer who spent years as a political prisoner on a desolate Indonesian island during the Suharto regime. Banned from writing or reading, he defied his captors by composing an epic novel by secretly narrating the story to fellow prisoners. Pramoedya's novel features a 19th century Indonesian patriot who draws inspiration in his struggle against Dutch colonial rule from the revolution waged by Filipinos against Spain. The play probes the connections between the two archipelagos through the story of a Filipino journalist who travels to Indonesia to write a story about Pramoedya in hopes of making more Filipinos know about his life and struggle. The play evolves to become not just about the courage and commitment of a writer, but also an exploration of the Indonesian and Filipino experiences.

Set E - Virgin Labfest 8 Revisited

June 30, 2013, 3:00 & 8:00 PM

July 4, 2013, 8:00 PM

July 5, 2013, 3:00 PM

Unang Regla ni John

by Em Mendez

Ang Unang Regla ni John is a coming-out story of a young boy brought up in a hyper-machismo family. John dreads growing hair as he reaches the age of puberty but adores the hairless bodies of women displayed in posters in their barbershop. Upon waking up from a dream, he discovers the first spurts of hair in his privates. He sneaks away his father's labaha and attempts to shave the thing he hates most.

Pagsubli

by Aizel Cabilan

Pagsubli tells about how an old native man and a soon-to-be-wed lady from Manila met in an old, rickety waiting shed along the side of a road. In the course of their waiting and, later on, conversation and return to memory lane will they uncover each other's story. This "return", unknowingly, will lead to the eventual unfolding of how they know each other and, more importantly, how they know themselves. Set just before the warm and calm sunset on the province of Sagada, Pagsubli which mean return or "pagbalik", is enriched with Kangkanaey language and lullabies.

Kuneho

by Guelan Luarca

In exchange for four million pesos each, five clueless men are hired by a mysterious employer to accomplish an inanely simple task: to transfer a loaded body bag from one room to another. But suddenly, they find themselves locked inside a metal room, and forced to fight for survival when an absurdly murderous written instruction from their employer surfaces.Will they succumb to the idiocy of compassion and humanity, or rise to the challenge of instinct and cunning?

Staged Readings happening at the Bulwagang Amado Hernandez (Conference Room):

June 27, 2013, 6:00 PM

Ang mga Nakakapanggigil-hiningang Bline Items ng Kodakerong Chinito ng Binondo

by George Kabristante

June 29, 2013, 6:00 PM

Ang Kaligayahan ni Nelson at ng Ibang Tao

by Guelan Luarca

June 30, 2013, 6:00 PM

Ang Maharlika

by Rogelio Braga

July 3, 2013, 6:00 PM

Minsan May Pumara, Minsan Ma’y Pumara

by Marc Gaba

July 5, 2013, 6:00 PM

Juan Ispater

by Layeta Bucoy

The Showcase: Virgin Labfest 9 Writing Fellowship Programe happens on July 7, 6:00 PM at the Bulwagang Amado Hernandez. The launch of the Virgin Labfest Ikalawang Antolohiya will be on June 26, 2013, 6:00 PM at the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino Lobby.

Ticket prices:

P300

P1200 Festival Pass

For inquiries:

CCP Dramatic Arts Division 832-1125 local 1606-1607