June 6, 2025
Playwright: Chris Joseph Junio
Director: Riki Benedicto
Since they were young kids abandoned by their parents, cripple Mylene (Donna Cariaga) and gay Maureen (Raf Pineda) performed as "mermaids" in a travelling fair. While they still owe their survival to Papi, the man who picked them up from the streets, they were also aware that business is not doing well recently. One day, Maureen decided that he wants to sneak away and try his luck to win the P15,000 cash prize of a singing contest in the city.
This play provided a behind-the-scenes peek into the miserable lives of circus performers and the dreams they still aspire for. Cariaga gave an admirably restrained performance as pragmatic Mylene, and her mermaid form was a pretty piece of stage magic. I am not sure if Junio actually meant for Maureen to have a chance to win the contest, since Pineda was apparently having difficulty singing his piece "Narito Ako," or was everything just supposed to be a sad, delusional irony?
Playwright: Rolin Migyuel Obina
Director: Maynard Manansala
It was during the pandemic in Dumaguete City. Christopher "Boyet" Real (Roi Calilong) was spending a few days in an isolation facility for being a close contact of a COVID patient. One night, he realized that the woman who was being isolated in the room next door was his long-estranged wife Raquel (Shé Maala), who had left him to work abroad. She has come back to her hometown to bring their 13 year old son Carl back with her to Canada.
A COVID isolation facility made it possible for this estranged couple to be trapped in rooms next to each other and talk through the walls like they never talked since they separated. The set designer built walls and doors in the background, but we had to imagine that there was a wall between the rooms. We saw how their marriage crumbled with the stories they told. Calilong's Boyet was a charismatic loser with his many flaws, while in contrast, Maala's Raquel was a picture of quiet resolve.
Playwright: Imuthis
Director: Adrienne Vergara
One night in Pandacan, a trolley operator Odell (Mario Magallona) was pushing his two passengers -- mall consignor Dido (Joshua Tayco) and med student Vesper (James Lanante) -- across a railway bridge. Midway, Dido ran to the edge of the bridge, threatening to jump. Odell and Vesper try to talk to get him to talk the distraught Dido out of killing himself. Once Dido confessed his reason though, they were not too sure anymore.
Imuthis chose the most despicable of crimes for Dido to commit, making the dilemma of this intense morality play that much heavier, as its setting above a murky river was precarious. The religious ejaculations of Magallona's bumpkin Odell and the psycho-babble of Lanante's nervously excited Vesper provide much-needed comic relief. The seemingly all-metal set was impressive, and looked like the most difficult to set up of all the complex sets designed by Wika Nadera tonight for this set.
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