By Jenny Ortuoste
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) closed Women’s Month on March 31 with the soft launch of the Virgin Lab Festival (VLF) anthology of plays written by women playwrights.
Through its Intertextual Division, CCP debuted the special VLF anthology of fully staged plays on the CCP and CCP Intertextual Division Facebook pages as part of the Center’s celebration of National Women’s Month.
Entitled “Elemental: Mga Babaeng Mandudula at Mga Elemento ng Drama”, the anthology will be formally launched online as an e-book on June 2021 at the VLF Playwrights’ Fair.
Edited by veteran playwright Layeta Bucoy, the special anthology features the works of the following playwrights: Clarissa Estuar (Ang Mamanugangin Ni Rez), Debbie Ann Tan (Fate’s Line, Mga Babaeng Toobright, Dragon’s Breath), Dominique La Victoria (Chipline), Eliza Victoria (Marte, Ang Bahay sa Gitna ng Kawalan), Herlyn Alegre (Bahay-Bahayan, Tagu-Taguan and Huling-Huli), Isa Borlaza (Sa Package Counter), Joyce Ann Icayan (Last Ten Minutes), Lani Montreal (Looking for Darna and Sister-Out-Law), Layeta Bucoy (Ang Anak ni Gloria), Liza Magtoto (Paigan and Anonymous), Sheilfa Alojamiento (Boy-Gel ang Gelpren ni Mommy), and Mixkaela Villalon (High Stakes), among others.
The works by women were selected to serve as examples to help define and explain the elements of a play. The collection of works can also be considered a manual for writing for theater.
The online launch was highlighted by a dramatic reading of Layeta Bucoy’s “Ang Anak ni Gloria” by theater actresses Opaline Santos and Olive Nieto, while Isa Borlaza discussed her play “Sa Package Counter”, also featured in the soon-to-be released anthology.
Borlaza, a teacher from Lipa City, Batangas, said she got the idea for her play from a news video she watched about items left at package counters in establishments. She first wrote her piece as a ten-minute skit, then developed it into a one-act play.
The plays selected for this volume were chosen from works by women that were staged at various editions of the Virgin Labfest, the annual theater festival that provides a venue for emerging and established Filipino playwrights to present their unpublished and unstaged works to the theater-going public.
