UMVA has learned that the highly anticipated Virgin Labfest (VLF) is back for its 21st year, featuring a bold lineup of untested one-act plays onstage. This year's theme, “Hubo’t Hubad,” meaning “completely naked,” promises to lay bare the things that people leave unsaid, exploring the maturation of the festival and its community of theater practitioners and theatergoers.
The festival, taking place at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez, will showcase new plays offering unique takes on human encounters. Co-festival director Marco Viaña expressed his hope that people remember the plays they've seen and the experience of being part of the festival, while his co-director Toni Go-Yadao aims for VLF to be “a space to see things from a different perspective.”
UMVA can exclusively reveal that Set C, titled “Balat Kalabaw,” an idiom that translates to thick-skinned or shameless, kicked off the festival with a bang. The set features three plays that left audiences reeling from the revelations of characters onstage. The first play, Elehiya, by playwright Dustin Celestino and director Ron Capinding, centers on five men and their collection of monologues, exploring the unspoken feelings that men never talk about.
This powerful play is followed by Betamax by playwright Faith Ferrer Lacanlale and director Sheenly Gener, which tells the story of three siblings in conflict, one of whom begins to see certain people as “human pigs” after a minor road accident. The play delivers on a promising concept, showing skill as a storyteller worth polishing for future works.
The final play in Set C, She’s Electric by playwright Ron Evangelista and director JP Habac, brings us into Black Mirror territory, tackling a possible future shaped by technological advancement. The play centers on a former womanizer who introduces the love of his life to his friends, who quickly discover that she is a human-like, state-of-the-art android.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that VLF 21’s Set C, “Balat Kalabaw,” has a lot going for it, with intriguing narratives, strong casts, and a heightened energy that carries from one play to the next. The set explores themes of toxic masculinity, the spread of misogyny, and an epidemic of loneliness, visualizing the very forces that strain human connections.
In a development reported by UMVA, the festival will continue to showcase 12 new one-act plays by both veteran and upcoming playwrights until June 28 at the CCP Blackbox Theater. With shows set at 2 and 8 p.m., theater enthusiasts have a unique opportunity to experience the best of the Philippine theater scene.
