Into the unknown
While CCP could have just postponed this year’s Virgin Labfest, they thought that would’ve been the ‘easy way out.’ So, sorry, COVID-19, this show will go on.
While CCP could have just postponed this year’s Virgin Labfest, they thought that would’ve been the ‘easy way out.’ So, sorry, COVID-19, this show will go on.
The Virgin Labfest (VLF) of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) will push through this year albeit online, from June 10 to 28.
Dubbed “Virgin Labfest 2020 Kapit: Lab In The
Time of COVID (A Virtual Labfest Lockdown Edition),” it is their “creative and innovative response” to the challenges of quarantine, social distancing, and lockdowns.
VLF 2020 features nine new works, three revisited works, and six staged readings. The festival director is JK Anicoche.
“Virgin Labfest typically brings in not only hundreds of people as audience for its three-week run, but also creatives numbering around 300 people including playwrights, actors, directors, etc,” CCP Vice President and Artistic Director Chris Millado told Bulletin Entertainment in an exclusive interview. “So, for now, that’s a no-no (to hold it the way we did in the past).”
Coming up with a virtual stage and the transitioning are creative challenges that require “new works and new ways of storytelling.”
“It’s become an exciting prospect,” Chris said.
Then again, VLF lends itself to the change since experimentation is at the core of the festival anyway.
“What if they integrate recorded video of a previous production together with a live interaction of performers? What if texts are read as if it was really meant for Zoom (videotelephony and online chat services )? What if something is directed as if they were performing in the same place but actually using virtual backgrounds? These are the things being considered,” he revealed.
“In terms of transition, stage directors need to face the task of learning new skill sets. This means skill sets that might be more attributed to television and film directors.
So, hindi malayo the festival might collaborate with filmmakers and editors, those who are adept in the digital aspects of creation.”
Of course, Chris knows there’s a risk to all of these things.
“Definitely there will be a new aesthetics altogether and I think that’s part of the risk,” he said.
“So, you know, it’s like any performance that goes online--you really lose something, you lose the intimacy of audiences, of different experiences in live (performance) that you cannot really capture online. Like walking inside a theater, waiting and hobnobbing in the venue before going in, sitting in your chair, no laughing together, right? All of these things. we will lose.
“But at the same time, you have the immediate interaction. You see, you have performers calibrating their performance because they have an immediate reaction from audiences.”
While they could have just postponed the festival, they thought that would’ve been “easy way out.”
“So I think the group of artists wanted to challenge themselves by seeing how they could continue to deliver to audiences in the midst of this changing environment, for the arts. One thing that we might get out of this is a template for doing things in future projects.”
Among the nine Main Performances are: “Doggy” by Dustin Celestino, directed by Roobak Valle; “Pilot Episode” by Floyd Scott Tiogangco, directed by Giancarlo Abrahan; “Dapithapon” by Jay Crisostomo IV, directed by Sigmund Roy Pecho;
“Papaano Turuan Ang Babae Humawak Ng Baril” by Daryl Pasion, directed by Erika Estacio; “BlackPink” by Tyron Casumpang,
directed by Jethro Tenorio; “Multiverse” by Juliene Mendoza, directed by Fitz Edward Bitana; “Titser Kit” by Jobert Grey Landeza, directed by Adrienne Vergara; “Mayang Bubot Sa
Tag-araw” by Mark Norma Boquiren, directed by Mark Mirando; and, “Gin Bilog” by Luisito Nario, directed by James Harvey Estrada.
The Revisited Plays include “Fangirl” by Herlyn Alegre, directed by Charles Yee; “Anak
Ka Ng” by U Z Eliserio, directed by Maynard Manansala; and “Wanted: Male Boarders” by Rick Patriarca, directed by George De Jesus III.
For the Staged Readings are: “Jenny Li” by Buch Dacanay, directed by Nour Hooshmand; “Dominador Gonzales – National Artist” by Dingdong Novenario, directed by Joel Bunny Cadag; “LadyMasters” by Rouchelle Dinglasan, directed by Joy Cerro; “Matira Ang Matibay” by Bernice Dacara, directed by Alon Segara; “Bagahe” by Nicko de Guzman, directed by Joel Saracho; “Mongoloida’s Casa De Pun” by Claro delos Reyes, directed by Guelan Luarca.
There will also be a VLF Playwright’s Fair, one of the components of the theater festival. A collaboration of the CCP Intertextual Division, the VLF Team, and The Writers’ Bloc’s Rody Vera, the fair features Filipino writers.
There will be online discussion and digital marketing platforms for the expertise, services, publications, and other products of writers of theatrical productions.
The VLF Playwrights Fair is free and open to the public. It will be held online every 7 p.m. during the VLF 2020. The complete line up of speakers and activities can be seen on the official Facebook page of VLF.
‘What if they integrate recorded video of a previous production together with a live interaction of performers? What if texts are read as if it was really meant for Zoom? What if something is directed as if they were performing in the same place but actually using virtual backgrounds? These are the things being considered.’