As it celebrates its 10th year, the Virgin Labfest should perhaps rethink defining itself as just a festival of untried, untested, unpublished and unstaged plays. It is all that—but, more importantly, the Labfest has become an oasis for the Filipino playwright, whether fledgling or not.
‘I have over a hundred toys in my shelf, most of them in mint condition, never taken out of the boxes. Some are loose for display,” says Tuxqs Rutaquio.
When “Katy” opened on Jan. 27 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, not only was it the first local production to raise its curtain this year, it was also a harbinger of sorts.
To review a play is normally a fairly precise matter. One reviews the plot, analyzes the characters, appraises the lighting, set design and a hundred other things, and from this forms a picture of whether the play succeeded or not at what it had set out to do. It is predictable, almost scientific and sometimes boring.
Veteran actress Amable “Ama” Quiambao, 66, passed away Friday night, her younger sister, Lui Quiambao-Manansala said. “My sister Ama Quiambao passed away peacefully at 8:09 p.m. on Friday, July 5, 2013. She was surrounded by all members of her family and close relatives. Let us pray for the eternal rest of her soul,” Lui posted in her official Facebook account.
Layeta Bucoy’s newest work “Walang Kukurap,” a play that tries to explore and expose the minds of people in public office, successfully opened Friday night (September 14) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s Tanghalang Huseng Batute, coincidentally attended by a fearless militant lawmaker, a whistleblower who almost got killed a la desaparecidos and a senator robbed of his post for four years.
If there’s one thing seasoned stage actor-director-set designer Tuxqs Rutaquio has proven in the past couple of years, it is that the Philippine theater scene never runs out of “virgins”—or new, exciting ideas from first-time playwrights and directors.
“What’s the point of writing an award-winning play if, for decades, it has remained a manuscript in a glass-encased air-conditioned...
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