Angelica Panganiban, Jamie Wilson, Nelsito Gomez, Dexter Santos get ‘devirginized’ at Virgin Labfest

Virgin Labfest opens June 11 and runs until June 29 at the CCP Black Box Theater (Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez), Pasay City.

BESIDES highlighting the new works of established and emerging playwrights, having well-respected personalities from music, film, and television acting onstage has become a tradition for the Virgin Labfest (VLF), the 20-year-old festival of untried, untested, un-staged one-act-plays organized by The Writer’s Bloc, Tanghalang Pilipino (TP) Foundation, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

Since theater returned in-person after the pandemic, there were rocker Basti Artadi for Dustin Celestino’s Fermata in 2022 and film-TV heartthrob JC Santos for Chesie Galvez-Carino’s Foxtrot in 2024.  

We can add multi-platform actor Joel Saracho who did Dingdong Novenario’s hilarious satire Dominador Gonzales: National Artist, and former beauty queen-fashion model Gem Padilla-Thomas, who played Imelda Marcos, in Shenn Apillado’s Hawaii, Here We Come in 2023.

Naturally, it helps market the festival to new audiences. 

Now there’s Angelica Panganiban, one of the biggest names in show business, who will make her theater debut as Phoebe, the daughter of Pewee O’ Hara’s character named Aling Reting, in the two-hander Don’t Meow For Me, Catriona by playwright Ryan Machado, directed by TP senior member Toni Go-Yadao.

Don’t Meow For Me, Catriona, in the VLF synopsis, reads: “At a nearly empty bus terminal in Cubao during the pandemic, a daughter waits with her elderly mother for a bus bound for Bicol. After years of caring for her mother alone, she has decided it’s time to finally pursue her own dreams. The bus takes long to arrive, so they are forced to confront old wounds, unspoken regrets, and the complicated weight of familial love that binds—and sometimes breaks—families.”

Artadi, Saracho, and Santos had theater experience before VLF, so the term “devirginized” coined with humor by the Virgin Labfest community would be apt for only Panganiban when the festival opens on June 11 and runs until June 29 at the CCP Black Box Theater (Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez), home to VLF for the past four years.

In an interview with media May 28, Panganiban was asked how true it was that almost all shows of Don’t Meow For Me, Catriona have been sold out. She said she was told that tickets for the first two shows in the opening week, June 11 to June 15, were selling fast, but there were still some available for the second and encore weeks. 

“Hanga ako sa galing at husay ng mga theater actors (I admire the skills and excellence of theater actors),” she said. She gave credit to her friend and mentor, Andoy Ranay, a VLF regular since the festival’s early years, whose day job is directing films and teleseryes (Dirty Linen, Till I Met You, The Broken Marriage Vow, among others). Randoy is responsible for wooing her back to acting after a long hiatus, when she concentrated on being a mother and wife.  

“I know he’s a theater actor and the hard work he does. I’ve been telling him, I wanted to try theater.  So one time, while watching a play, Marco Viaña approached me and asked if I wanted to join VLF,” she said in Filipino. Viaña is the associate artistic director of TP and festival director of the annual VLF. 

“I said, ‘Sure, although I am not sure about being sure,’” she said, laughing. Besides doing dramatic and sexy roles, Panganiban is also good and natural in comedic roles. Ranay helped choose the appropriate script and co-actor. When Panganiban got the script, she said, “I got really nervous. I asked myself if I can do this. Doubts still crept in. Then again, I really wanted to explore acting for theater. I’ve been watching a lot of plays for some time. I asked around, but my schedule and lack of confidence in trying theater got in the way. But it came to a point when I realized, I don’t want to reach that age when I would have regrets. I don’t want to have that big question, ‘What if I did this?’ because I let the opportunity pass me by.”

During the rigorous rehearsals, she said she almost threw up. The play’s director, Toni Go-Yadao, and her co-actor, Peewee O’ Hara, told her to use that nervousness, to channel that creeping fear into her acting. She said she couldn’t help but scream, and she was encouraged to do so.

During the rigorous rehearsals, Angelica Panganiban said she almost threw up…She couldn’t help but scream, and she was encouraged to do so

“During the critiquing, sigaw ako nang sigaw para na rin ma-relax ang jaw ko (I kept screaming to relax my jaw),” she said, laughing. 

Working with a stage veteran like O’ Hara, she said, was a big help. They acted in a teleserye, a long time ago they can’t even remember the title, and in the 2004 Laurice Guillen-directed movie Santa Santita, which had Panganiban in the lead role as a wayward teenager who experiences stigmata in her dreams. 

A reporter asked in jest if she already considered herself “devirginized” by theater. 

“I would feel that after the first show,” she said, referring to the first two performances of Don’t Cry For Me, Catriona. The play is part of Set D, subtitled May Asim Pa, (“Still Hot In Old Age”), on June 14, Friday. 

In the VLF’s premiere week, all sets, A, B, C, D and E, are each given a one-day schedule. It means only one set of plays is done for the 2 p.m. matinee and the 8 p.m. show. This changes in the second and encore weeks, when different sets of plays are scheduled for matinee and night performances.

Set D also has Nelsito Gomez’s Anniversary, directed by Sarah Facuri. 

The VLF synopsis: “On the anniversary of his wife’s death, Rob visits the cemetery, where a chance encounter with May, an outspoken elderly woman, sparks an unexpected conversation. As their lives intertwine, buried grief, unspoken regrets, and deep-seated beliefs come to the surface. But some wounds don’t heal easily—and some questions have no answers.”

This is another reason to catch SET D, because this two-hander features two veteran multiplatform director-actors, Bibeth Orteza as May and Jamie Wilson as Rob.

“Yupyup! VLF virgin. Finally, my schedule allowed it to happen; the stars aligned and the universe cooperated!” Wilson told TheDiarist.ph via Facebook messenger. 

As we all know, Gomez is one of those gems of “Quintosian” (Floy Quintos) actors and founding artistic director-writer of C.A.S.T PH, but this time, Gomez is also being “devirginized” as a VLF playwright.  

Another play for Set D is Mommy G by Jobert Grey Landeza, directed by TP senior member Lhorvie Nuevo-Tadioan.

The synopsis reads: “Mommy G is turning 65 today! Her children are coming home all the way from Manila only to be surprised by a big revelation that their Mom will announce during their family dinner. It will stir their beliefs, test their relationships, and confront their tolerance in accepting a new ‘member’ of their family.”

Cast members are VLF regular actors Sherry Lara as Gina, Jonathan Tadioan as Ben, Sheenly Gener as Sofie, Manok Nellas as Toni ,and Gelo Molina as Ramon.

Set A is subtitled Bubot (“Unripe”). We found out the three plays under Bubot have very young actors, and have themes about children. 

There’s Takbo, Batang Tondo by YOJ, directed by Chic San Agustin-De Guzman. YOJ is a 25-year-old female whose surname is Sanchez, but she told TheDiarist.ph she just wanted to be called YOJ because “it sounds unique.”  

Her play is portrayed by child professional actors whose ages range from eight to 11, because it is about  “a group of friends who make the most of their summer vacation with a mystery game. Albin, the policeman in their little world, is baffled when the real ‘suspect’ isn’t punished.”

She said the script is already five years old. She submitted it when she was taking her final exams at De La Salle University–College of Saint Benilde. “I submitted it to VLF for fun since there’s no entry fee. Thank God, it was accepted. In 2018, it was part of the Staged Reading of VLF 18. It has grown literally big, into a full-blown version. I am excited how VLF audiences will accept it,” YOJ said.  

It is headlined by Felicity Kyle Napuli, whose recent lead roles included TP’s tear-jerker Sandosenang Sapatos and Full House Theater Company’s Burugudunstuytugudunstuy: The Parokya Ni Edgar Musical.  She is joined by actors Prince España, Ericka Peralejo, Ian Magz, and TP alumnus Bong Cabrera.

Another is Ang Bata Kag Ang Ilaga, which was written in Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a, and English by Liane Carlo Suelan and directed by another one-word-named individual, Siglo. 

The synopsis: “Isaac is different from the other kids in St. Jerome’s Home for Children, a childcare center. He is an orphan, unlike the other kids, whose mothers come to visit every now and then, and is often picked on by Dom because of this. One Saturday, Isaac roams near the bodega where he hears a sharp squeak. He searches for its source and finds that it is actually coming from a baby rat, alone on the ground. Isaac is confronted with a dilemma on whether he should take the baby rat in and care for it, or merely leave it, hoping its mama would come back to get it. This bothers him the rest of the day. Nearing sunset, he decides to take the baby rat in, but then finds the baby rat gone.”

In the cast are Rigel Hechanova as Isaac, Ina Azarcon-Bolivar as Sister Mercy/Abigail, Aubrey Savet as Joana, Kizabelle Lopez Aromin as Dom, and Amihan Bonifacio-Ramolete and V Soriano as puppeteers.

Third play is Polar Coordinates by Ade Valenzona, directed by Paolo O’Hara. The title is suggestive of the story. Igo, a Grade 10 student, failed the summative assessment in Math. His only chance to pass is during the final exams; otherwise, he’ll repeat Grade 10.  His family has been heavily affected by his school problem, and could break apart. 

In the cast are Jack Denzel as Igo, Randy Villarama as Manny, Martha Comia as Risa, Chloe Dominique as Sab, Michael Hilao as Bobbie, and Sheryll Villamor Ceasico as Ma’am Onquit.

SET B is subtitled Manibalang, loosely translated as “nearly ripe.”

One play is Minating Ni Mariah Ang Manto Ng Mommy Ni Mama Mary by VLF-honed much-awarded playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc, directed by Dexter Martinez Santos.  A veteran in theater, Santos, another Quintosian artist, is participating in the VLF for the first time. 

In a recent Facebook post, Santos, a Marian devotee, said, “After 20 years, I’m finally directing for the CCP Virgin Labfest. For this year, I was invited (and kept being invited) by co-festival director Marco Viaña and playwright Eljay Deldoc, but I had to say ‘no’ so many times because of crazy schedule conflicts. They never gave up, and I’m really grateful for that—because this particular one-act play touches on something very close to my heart: the tradition of ‘pagsasanto’ and being a ‘camarero.’ When the stars finally aligned and I found the support I needed, I said yes.”

He added, “Looking back, maybe my love for theater started when I was just a kid watching the Holy Week procession with the whole Santos clan from our terrace. In my head, I would imagine dialogue for San Juan Evangelista, Mater Dolorosa, and my favorite, La Pieta.

“Years later, here I am—still in theater, now also taking care of ‘santos’ (saints). The old terrace in Bulacan is gone now (the road got raised so much it’s now level with our second floor), but the memories live on. And now, I’m directing Minating Ni Mariah Ang Manto Ng Mommy Ni Mama Mary, a heartfelt comedy about faith, tradition and society. 

“Who would’ve thought I’d get to direct a play written by someone I used to see in Purok 2, Sto Rosario, during the Holy Week procession? Eljay would always say that his core memory of La Pieta was the smell and music of the carroza. Everything important to me— theater, pagsasanto, baha, devotion, culture, tradition—all came together in this one piece.”

‘Looking back, maybe my love for theater started when I was just a kid watching the Holy Week procession…. I would imagine dialogue for San Juan Evangelista, Mater Dolorosa, and my favorite, La Pieta’ 

“Thank you for welcoming a ‘virgin’ director like me. I’ve always admired the festival’s vision. Like I told Rody (Vera, VLF co-founder), this was a great exercise in restraint—learning to honor the playwright’s voice while still doing my part in bringing the story to life. Honestly, it’s been a humbling and grounding reset for me.”

In the cast are Lian Silverio, Mosang, Esteban Mara, George de Jesus III and Roobak Valle.

Another play for Set B is Unang Araw by Ivan Villacorta Gentolizo, directed by Cholo Ledesma. The story is about “four strangers accomplishing a job for the mayor. As they drive into a remote forest in Mindanao, clashing political ideals and hidden motives are revealed.”

In the cast are Aldo Vencilao, Earvin Estioco, DMs Boongaling, and Ybes Bagadiong.

The third play is Presidential Suite #2 by Siege Malvar, directed by Philippine Educational Theater Association actor-teacher Johnnie Moran. 

The synopsis: “Senator Zaragoza continues to recover after suffering a heart attack in today’s senate hearing. The senator, who authored the landmark bill ‘Zara-Gulay Act of Carrot Importations,’ is accused of laundering money through various charitable institutions. With her are her children: Constantino, Gertrude, and Richie.”

In the cast are Andoy Ranay as Constantino, Kiki Baento as Gertrude, MC Dela Cruz as Richie, Ariel Diccion as Andy, Charm Aranton as Doctor, and CCP supervising culture and arts officer Clottie Gealogo-Lucero as Wilma.

SET C is subtitled Kinalburo, loosely translated as “artificially ripened”. 

One play is titled Mga Magindara sa Siyudad by Chris Joseph Junio, directed by VLF regular Riki Benedicto. It is about “entertainers Maureen (portrayed by Raf Pineda) and Maylene (Donna Cariaga) who struggle to keep their shows afloat on their makeshift stage of plywood, bamboo, and iron scraps.”

Another is titled Ang Problema sa Trolley by Harvey “Imuthis” Rebaya Sallador, directed by Adrienne Vergara with cast members James Lanante, Joshua Tayco, and Mario Magallona.

The story “unveils on Pandacan’s rails. An attempt to jump into the river comes with a damning secret, leaving the trolley driver and passenger wondering what to push next.”

The third play is titled The Late Mister Real by VLF regular Rolin Migyuel Obina, directed by Maynard Manansala.

The synopsis: “Ex-spouses Boyet (played by Roi Calilon) and Raquel (Shé Maala) face the tragedy of nostalgia and letting go. Separated by COVID-19 isolation rooms, the two discuss the future of their only child, Carl.”

Then there’s Set E or the Revisited Set, which consists of the “most-watched, though-provoking” plays selected from last year’s VLF.

One is Jhudiel Clare Sosa’s hilarious Indetite, which “navigates the complicated relationship between a traditional mother and her now liberated daughter.” If I remember right, the once-innocent daughter finds sexual liberation in the use of different kinds of “dildos or sex toys” and her conservative mother from their hometown in Marinduque—or was it Mindoro?—makes a surprise visit. 

In Joshua Lim So’s Pagkapit Sa Hangin, directed by the veteran José Estrella, the story tackles “the tough decisions made in public hospitals during the COVID-19 delta wave in 2021.” Cast members are Elora Españo as Nurse A, Wenah Nagales as Nurse B, Tim Mabalot as Doctor, and Gold Villar-Lim as Watcher.

Elise Santos’ Sa Babaeng Lahat, directed by Repertory Philippines-honed Caisa Borromeo, has the returning cast members Jam Binay as Marie, Francesca Dela Cruz as Regina, and Yanni Lopez as Gab.

The synopsis: “A few days before the celebration of National Bible Week at an all-girls Catholic school in Quezon City, 14 -ear-old Marie believes she has been chosen by God for the next Immaculate Conception. However, she is unsure and not quite ready to accept her fate. Meanwhile, her best friend Regina struggles with her feelings for Gab, the school’s resident tibo, as they practice for the Bible Week singing competition. The play follows the three girls’ interconnected journeys towards figuring out their relationship with religion, sexuality, each other, and ultimately, their own selves.”

As a bonus of VLF and with free admission, there are two sets of the staged readings, each composed of two one-act plays.  Both sets are performed only for a day. 

For Set One, there’s Wala Ginakamatisan Ang Itlog by Andy Abellar, directed by Kyrie Allison Samodio.

The synopsis: “For a traditional family with conservative values, change requires a huge turn of events for it to occur. Set in the early 2000s, amidst the rising armed conflict between the military and the rebels in the rural area, Orang and Tano, a middle-aged couple, finds themselves caught in the middle of a crisis when they meet Kulas, a young boy running away from home. As they get to know each other more, conflict arises, one that challenges not only their beliefs but also their relationship with their only and beloved son Junel, a returning soldier. While the couple navigates the sudden change in their principles, they discover a new side of their son when he arrives bearing news from their job, leading them with a difficult dilemma.”

Cast members are Gem Padilla as Orang, Nel Estuya as Tano, Rich Magtaan as Kulas, Johnny B. Maglinao as Junel, with Rey Correjado and Heber O’Hara as the soldiers. 

The second play is something not to be missed, Patay na si Rizal by Matt Ordoñez, directed by Kat Batara. 

The synopsis: “It’s 1962. Rizal’s manuscripts have been stolen. Alejando “Anding” Roces, writer and then Secretary of the Department of Education, meets with the thief and negotiates the ransom. They begin debating the legacy of Rizal’s work, and whether or not they mean anything to this country.”

(Roces would be conferred the Order of National Artist for Literature decades later. This reimagined meeting of Roces and the thief of Rizal’s original copies of the Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, I tackled in The Diarist.ph.

In ‘Patay na si Rizal,’ it’s 1962 and Rizal’s manuscripts have been stolen….

Versatile actor Nor Domingo plays Anding Roces (AR), Joshua Cabiladas is the Thief, and Johnrick Noynay is the Waiter.

Set Two of the Staged Readings has Isang Malaking Tipak ng Bato sa Gitna ng Ilog by M.E. Mejaro, directed by Victor Deseo, with cast members Chris Abecia as Polo and Fernando Jose Pabeloña as Nisio.

The synopsis: “On the 40th day after their grandfather’s death, Polo, a seaman, and Nisio, an engineer contractor, return to the riverbank of their youth in search of a mysterious, massive rock believed to rest in the heart of the river. As the currents carry them deeper into their quest, they unearth long-buried memories—fragments of childhood, brotherhood, and loss—all intimately shaped by the waters that once nurtured them. A quiet yet powerful journey about home, grief, and the things that stay unmoved even as everything else flows on. “

The second play is Ganimide by Rex Sandro Nepomuceno, directed by Arlo De Guzman, with cast members Marj Lorico, Kath Castillo, Ethan King, VLF co-founder Herbie Go, and Felipe Ronnie Martinez.

The synopsis: “In the midst of nothingness, a hut is lined up by those who wish to dream. Ida is the overseer of the place, a trader in sleep and its fruits. One by one, the customers will arrive, carrying goods to exchange for the experience. It is said that a young girl is in the hut, stirring a certain dream. Everyone will have to wait outside, to be chased by impatience and stirred by each other’s presence. Eager and hesitant about something that none of them fully understands. They will be lulled by waiting, settling for the promise that lies beneath.”

VLF also features Theater Talks, a series of forums which highlights the creative and production processes behind performances. Playwrights’ Fair, meanwhile, hosts conversations with renowned playwrights, curated by VLF co-founder Rody Vera.

There is also the Writing Fellowship Program and Showcase, a two-week mentorship program under playwright Glenn Sevilla Mas. The final output for staged readings will be directed by CCP vice president and artistic director Dennis Marasigan.

Like in the 19th edition, the four decision makers in the selection of materials for this year’s edition are Vera, Viaña, Tess Jamias, and Herbie Go. Jamias was an alumnus of TP Actor’s Company and is now managing director of Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas.

The number of entries submitted were 218 plays, from which each decision maker would trim their choices to 20 titles. They would discuss thoroughly the merits of each play until they come up with 12 plays, which are grouped into sets A, B, C and D. 

VLFXX: Hinog shows are scheduled at 2 p.m. matinee and 8 p.m. gala, while the educational components are at 5 p.m.

Festival schedule and ticket prices are updated on the official social media accounts of VLF, CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino, and Writers’ Bloc on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.