Photos from the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) Facebook page
‘Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4: Oh Sh*t! It’s Live Sa Cheter!’ is onstage at the PETA Theater Center, 5 Sunnyside Drive, Mariana, Quezon City, until August 16, 2026.
THE year was 1990, and I was nervously preparing for my very first ever play with Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas (DUP). I had met DUP’s founder and artistic director Tony Mabesa the year before during a shoot for a San Miguel Beer commercial on a barge on the Pasig River. On the spot, Mabesa invited me to appear in a DUP play. A few months later, a script was delivered to my home: I had been cast as Helga, the wife of protagonist Rene Gallimard (to be played by Behn Cervantes), in DUP’s production of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly.
Also in the cast were several theater arts students working as extras and backstage hands. One of them was a cute morena with loads of personality named Eugene Domingo. Mabesa was obviously struck by her obvious stage presence, quick wit, and unfiltered comments, even if Eugene (known to all as Uge) was cast mainly as a kurogo or invisible Japanese stage hand dressed in black, whose main job was to hold a hand mirror in front of Behn as he dressed up as a geisha. She would joke often about sweating while she tried not to tremble in front of the holy terror of an actor and director.
Uge was there in my next couple of plays, as well, playing a Russian maid, Sasha, in Maxim Gorky’s Mga Bakasyonista (alternating with Frances Makil-Ignacio), who could draw laughs just walking across the stage, and later, resplendent in native costume in the premiere staging of Floy Quintos’ …And St. Louis Loves Dem Filipinos, dancing to choreography by Edru Abraham.
Between takes, she and Frances would help tie the impossible corset I wore under my costume as a circus fat lady in St. Louis, bracing their feet against the ancient makeup table backstage at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater. I also remember when Uge and another UP student and actress, Ge Malacaman, were too sloshed to get home on their own after a cast party, so I put them up for the night at my house, fed them breakfast, and sent them on their way, like a good theater ate.
I went back often to UP to watch plays, and yes, I did see Uge do drama, very, very well. But I knew without a doubt that she was destined to be a brilliant comedian. Did I anticipate that she would become a star? Not of this magnitude. Not the absolute force of nature that she has become.
She was already playing a lot of small roles in films and on TV. I remember sitting with a friend in Starbucks at the old ABS-CBN Building; she joined us, and when I asked about her financial security, she said her steady gigs allowed her to not worry about rent and electric bills anymore.
Then came 2009’s Kimmy Dora, and people got to see her versatility on the big screen. And then came the film that would pretty much change her life, 2011’s Ang Babae sa Septic Tank, written by screenwriter and director Chris Martinez and directed by ultimate multi-hyphenate (director, former advertising creative director, makeup artist, costume designer, actor) Marlon Rivera. Uge played a fictionalized version of herself, an actress whose role required her to swim in, well, a septic tank. With such an insane premise, one can already imagine the chaos. Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank grossed P20 million in five days and made it to international film festivals, and the Cinemalaya Film Festival declared Uge Best Actress that year. The film still holds the record as the highest grossing independent Filipino film ever.
The equally chaotic sequels—2016’s Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2: Forever Is Not Enough (2016), where she tried her hand at directing mainstream romantic comedies, and 2019’s Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 3: The Real Untold Story of Josephine Bracken (2019), where she played the title role in a crazy reimagining of the story— made her instantly recognizable and a fan favorite.
Andoy Ranay
Tony Mabesa, Uge’s mentor, died in 2019, and was named a National Artist for Theater in 2022. Long before then, however, during one theater event, he had taken me aside and told me proudly how two DUP alumni, Uge and Andoy Ranay (who would go on to be an accomplished actor and director for film and TV), had flown him to New York for New Year’s Eve and treated him to several Broadway shows. It was the sweetest thing.
Last June 26, I was at the Philippine Education Theater Association (PETA) Theater Center to watch Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4: Oh Sh*t! It’s Live sa Cheter, a theatrical adaptation of the film, also by Chris Martinez. PETA describes it as “a chaotic, hilarious meta-comedy about ego, art, and the messy reality of making Philippine theater today.”
The cast with director Maribel Legarda (center) at the gala night of ‘Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4: Oh Sh*t! It’s Live Sa Cheter!’
I actually felt like I was watching a reunion of the kids from DUP as I sat up close and shrieked with laughter
I actually felt like I was watching a reunion of the kids from DUP as I sat up close and shrieked with laughter. The premise had Uge, now playing herself as a powerful, egotistical celebrity (how about playing tennis with Alex Eala and wrestling with Hidilyn Diaz on the side?), inviting friends to a dinner to talk about the new production she had in mind. The guests were theater people who played themselves: PETA president Melvin Lee, recruited to produce Uge’s show; Rivera, drafted to direct (he told me after the show that it was Maribel Legarda who helmed the stage production, as he wanted to act this time); Joshua Lim So, the playwright stuck amid creative clashes; Meann Espinosa, Uge’s girl Friday and intimacy coordinator; Stella Cañete-Mendoza, stage veteran; JC Santos, television, film, and theater actor; and Andoy Ranay, director and stage actor and resident hubadero (complete with lack of proper underwear—abangan). There was also the Ugeng-gengs Ensemble, street urchins adopted and educated by Uge on theater; watching the kids demonstrate the distinctions between the PETA, Repertory, and DUP schools of acting left me breathless with laughter.
JC Santos, Stella Cañete-Mendoza, Melvin Lee, Marlon Rivera, and Joshua Lim So
Why a reunion? Uge, Andoy, and Stella were all long-time Mabesa babies. Spot the part where JC alludes to both Mabesa and that other UP firebrand, Anton Juan, screaming directions.
Because Chris Martinez is an intelligent writer, the script was peppered with current references, puns, double entendres, and fun poked at known personalities. The discussions on the ups and down of Philippine theater, at a time when people are celebrating a renaissance (“There are 14 different shows going on this week,” Joshua said at one point) did not sound trite to me; the argument of spectacle versus substance has existed for decades. So has the tendency, as personified by Uge, to chase optics—she actually threatened a reluctant Joshua that she would replace him with AI: The phrases “Magtulungan na lang tayo” and “Hindi naman imposible” have never sounded so threatening.
Uge embraces her Ugeng-gengs
Did I say force of nature? Yes, because while the supporting cast was wonderful, confident, and threw around their lines like it was nobody’s business—those insider jokes were hilarious (attention Joel Saracho), although some might not quite work with non-theater folks—the show rose and fell on the immensity of Eugene Domingo.
Her timing was perfect, her presence strong enough to reach the farthest balcony seats (I could hear Mabesa yelling at the students to “Throw your voice!”), and her commitment to her character’s ego and diva-hood unfaltering, even when, towards the end, scene after scene felt like a drawn-out assault on the senses, what with the noisy show within a show. But ultimately, that seemed to be the point; all the wrong priorities bubbled up in the ending, so to speak, in a scene that was a testament to Uge’s own fidelity to the art form and courage to show things as they are. Despite the latter hysteria, the message I got was pretty clear: In the midst of this renaissance, it is so damn easy to lose perspective in the name of “art” when ego and excess get in the way.
Uge and husband Danilo during a trip to Tuscany, Italy last year (screenshot from the Eugene Domingo channel on YouTube)
Uge met her Italian husband, film critic Danilo Bottoni, at the Udine Far East Film Festival in Italy in 2014; Danilo had actually seen her work. They were married in 2016, and now divide their time between Manila and Italy. Uge loved her art so much that she actually went back to UP to finish her theater arts degree, even if it took her eight years and a stint at a different university, but she still finished as an Iskolar ng Bayan. Mabesa must be beaming with pride from above.
As he must be with all his “kids,” now doing so well in their fields—Uge is 55, after all—but still returning to the theater. Stella was last seen in Floy Quintos’ Grace, produced by Encore Theater, of which she is CEO. Andoy starred in 13th of September, the Philippines’ entry to the Mondiale du Theatre 2025 in Monaco.
And yes, it is heartwarming to see them make their marks in other media, but still, always coming home to their solid roots on the stage. After her stage “debut” in M. Butterfly 36 years ago, Eugene Domingo is once again holding up a mirror—but this time, in the face of Philippine theater. And the fallout has never been funnier.
‘Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 4: Oh Sh*t! It’s Live Sa Cheter!’ is onstage at the PETA Theater Center, 5 Sunnyside Drive, Mariana, QC, until August 16, 2026. Check Ticketworld for tickets: https://premier.ticketworld.com.ph/
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