Joaquin book, 5 others to be launched at VLF
SIX books of plays, including those by a deceased National Artist and two Palanca Hall of Fame inductees, will have a special launch at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in Pasay City on Saturday as part of its annual Virgin Labfest (VLF) theater festival.
Foremost among the titles is a new edition of National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin’s Tropical Baroque: Four Man ileño published by Anvil Publishing under its Anvil Classics brand last year to mark the celebrated author’s birth centernary.
It gathers “A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino”, whose latest incarnation was Loy Arcenas’ lauded 2017 musical AngLarawan; “Tatarin” and “Fathers and Sons”, which were adapted from Joaquin’s classic short stories “The Summer Solstice” and “Three Generations”, respectively; and “The Beatas”, which won a Palanca award in 1976, the year he was conferred the National Artist title.
Also to be launched are T at long Du la: Adapt as yon and Maxie by Palanca Hall of Fame honorees Rody Vera— who wrote the introduction to TropicalBaroque and who acted in a Dulaang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ( DUP) production of Fathersand Sons last year— and Nicolas B. Pichay, respectively. The University of Santo Tomas ( UST) Publishing House published them in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
T at long Du la: Adapt as yon, Vera’s second book of plays after TatlongDula ( 2011), collects “D’ Wonder Twins of Boac”, loosely adapted from William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and set against the Philippine movie industry in the 1960s; “Tatlong Mariya”, based on Anton Chekhov’s ThreeSisters and set in the Ilocos region during Martial Law; and “Arbol del Fuego”, adapted from Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and set on Negros island in the late 1970s.
The Philippine Educational Theater Association ( PETA) staged “D’ Wonder Twins of Boac” and “Arbol del Fuego” in 2013 and 2015, respectively; while CCP resident theater company Tanghalang Pilipino mounted “Tatlong Mariya” in 2010. All won prizes at Philstage’s Gawad Buhay, arguably the Philippine equivalent of the United States’ Antoinette Perry ( Tony) Awards.
Maxie was adapted into a musical from Michiko Yamamoto’s screenplay of the beloved 2005 coming- of- age feature Ang Pagdadalagani MaximoOliveros. Emerging theater company Bit by Bit Co. produced Maxie to critical acclaim in 2013.
Joining them are Liz aC. Magtoto’s Bi enve ni dade Sol tera and Em Mendez’s Anagnorisis: ApatnaDula, which the UST Publishing House also published last year and previously launched at the Dominicanrun institution in May.
Bi enve ni dade Sol tera offers three full- length plays that won Palanca awards, two of which were staged by PETA: “Despedida de Soltera”, about a thirtysomething woman whose independence and singlehood constantly face unwelcome scrutiny from family and friends; “Agnoia”, an adaptation of Eli Rueda Guieb 3rd’s unconventional short story “Horoscope” that focuses on 11 people dealing with the uncertainty in their lives and who are only identified by their zodiac signs; and “’ Nay Isa”, about Teresa Magbanua, the Iloilo province- born revolutionary general who was often called the “Visayan Joan of Arc.”
Anagnorisis presents four one- act plays that were staged in previous editions of the Virgin Labfest. These are “Ang Unang Regla ni John”, which depicts the title character as dreading to grow hair on his private parts and being fascinated by pictures of the hairless bodies of women in his father’s barbershop; “Ambong Abo,” which focuses on an old copra farmer claiming to be the son of Bicol mythical figures Daragang Magayon and Handyong; “Barbie Girls”; and “Ang Nanay Kong ExNPA”, about a young woman’s reunion with her estranged mother and the old wounds and questions it brings up.
Completing the list is Rarom Ra yo: Mg a Du lang May I sang Yu gt os a Biko lat Tagalog by Bikol- based playwright Sari Saysay that was published by Aklat Sining Banwa. The festival featured one of his plays, “Ang Bata sa Bus Stop”, last year and will present his latest, “Ang Mga Propesyunal”, on Thursday.
The special launch comes a year after the CCP unveiled Mga Piling Dula mula sa Virgin
The Virgin Labfest was established in June 2005 as a laboratory theater festival of untried, untested and unstaged one- act plays. Since then, it has helped introduce a new generation of playwrights to theatergoers and revitalize Philippine theater, especially in Metro Manila. Many of the works staged in the festival have gone on to win Palanca awards.
Its 14th edition, titled “Silip”, will open on Wednesday.
The festival is organized by the CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino, and The Writer’s Bloc Inc., a Manila- based independent group of emerging and established playwrights. Vera leads the group, which includes Pichay, Magtoto, and Mendez as members.
The“Virgin Lab fest 14: Si lip” book launch will be held at the CC P Si lang an Hall on June 30 at 6 p.m. A book signing will conclude the event. For more details, visit the Virgin Lab fest Facebook page atwww. facebook.com/virginlabfest.