May 29, 2026
Playwright: Gerald Manuel
Director: Tess Jamias
Phoebe (Krystle Valentino)'s lazy Sunday morning was disturbed by calls from her OFW brother from New Zealand Francis (Jigger Sementilla) and from Jo (Gena Suelto), the girl who replaced her at work. However, Phoebe was not herself that Sunday. Black entities with long whip-like hair writhe around her room moaning and hissing. Their gregarious leader Lala (Adrienne Vergara) offered Phoebe a way she can escape all her stress.
To represent the fragile mental health of a young career woman, Manuel involved dark mythological creatures known as Manlalayug (complete with PowerPoint introduction), while director Jamias employed horror techniques with the lighting, music, messy set and movement to make us feel the overwhelming claustrophobia Pheobe was experiencing. From her grand entrance from behind a painting on the wall, Vergara played Lala with her signature quirky verve, going all-out crazy as only she could.
Playwright: Jerom Canlas
Director: Mikko Angeles
Ram (Omar Uddin) shocked everyone who loved him when he suddenly passed away. One year after his death, his family -- his father Rick (Jojo Cayabyab), his mother Liz (Meryll Soriano) and his elder brother Rap (Elijah Canlas), and his girlfriend Mal (Pappel) encounter each other online in a virtual archive, as they were still looking for more clues which they might have overlooked before, to help them understand why Ram had left them behind.
We have seen other works that dealt about the effects of an unexpected death of a young person to those he has left behind. However, this particular play packed a much stronger gut punch because we are aware that this tragedy had actually happened in real life to both playwright Jerom and lead actor Elijah when their youngest brother JM passed away barely three years ago at age 17. Everyone's intense pain and the anguish felt very genuine because they really are.
Playwright: John Lapus
Director: Tuxqs Rutaquio
JM (Christian Bables) was a gay guy who had just been dumped by his boyfriend. He came across a shop called "Taksyapo," a Kapampangan expression used when releasing anger or frustration. Intrigued, he inquired inside and the shop's engaging salesgirl Ate Maya (Mosang) convinced him to vent his pent-up rage by providing various breakable objects like plates, bowls and glasses for him to hurl at a wall and shatter.
Rage rooms can be a rich source of funny lines as since there are so many annoying things we can all agree to be angry about, politics not spared. With the comic timing of Mosang and Bables at their most razor-sharp, Lapus let fly one snappy joke after another as the dishes were being thrown, with varying results. As this was basically one long single-concept comedy skit, pacing and consistency can be an issue when this idea is stretched to an hour's length.
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