first days of Virgin Labfest 3

Finally, an update on my crazy life, hahaha.

So Virgin Labfest 3 opened last Thursday. We had at DTR the evening before with the 2 other plays in our set (International Night), Lizard and Three Sisters. But holy kamote, our costumes came in half an hour before we had to start our run, and the girls had to figure out how to wrap themselves in the cloth, then a couple more delays. Behind Ed's smile, I knew he was ready to strangle me, ahehehe.

Another DTR on Thursday, but this time, the delay wasn't my fault. Aside from a couple of actors being late, the platform stage was repainted and we had to wait for it to dry before we start our run. But then, I had one more screwup near the end of our play's DTR, as I forgot to call the final light cues, waaah. Darn it, I was so nervous about calling cues for a play for the first time that I keep thinking that I might screw up.

By the time it was time for the first show, I reviewed the protocol in my head, and it was showtime! I was a little rusty, but I guess I did OK, except for that miscue in the end again! Sir Jaime pointed it out as well by the time the show was over. Then of course I still had to stay for Lizard as I had to help strike the set and setup for Three Sisters. Lizard was funny, and as Opa, Ola and I watched from near the tech booth, we even saw this kid with his dad, and whenever there was a delicate scene, the dad had to cover his son's face to keep him from seeing what was going on, ahahaha. Then there was Three Sisters. Ever since I got to read the play, I was intrigued. The set and blocking were amazing. I love how much they maximized the space. And of course, there was the cast, including Mailes and Jojit.

After the first show, there was a rehearsal for Kasaysayan, then we had our second show. Thanks to Misch, Nikki and Pam for watching! I was a bit more relaxed during this one, as I was already fully conscious of what had happened at the DTR and the first show. Thank goodness more people came to watch that time, hahaha.

By the time our set was over and we had to strike everything, I wanted to crash. I bid goodbye to the cast who went their own way to have dinner or head on straight home, then Bryan, Jacq and I grabbed all our props and costumes and stocked them in the TP office and the prop room. When we were done in the prop room, Ed thanked us and returned to Batute, where My Padir is an OCW began their uber-late rehearsal. I picked up my bag from the dressing room and that's when I realized that our set's mugs haven't been washed. Rawr. I didn't really want to avoid the task, so I grabbed my mugs, washed them, and returned it to the prop room, just so I won't have anything against me.

Caught both shows of Set B (Madadramang Pamilya) yesterday. Bagahe was a bit low, but heavy. It's lead male character looked quite stiff from the shoulders down, and I can't help noticing that he moved his head a lot. To make up for the stiff upper torso maybe? Plus his voice was a little soft some of the time. Hahaha, Tad had to point out that their blocking was almost always redundant. Oh well. Looking for Darna was next, featuring Daniel and Eric. Daniel's acting was good, her diction was clear, but her voice was also pretty soft. Other than that, the play was pretty OK. Then there was Teroristang Labandera. Now that was hilarious. I loved how each character made his/her own sound in opening and closing the door, ahehe. Cris even stole the show with his "Lucky-esque" character, hahaha!

We also got to watch the play reading of Games People Play at the Little Theater. That was interesting, as the concept was pretty real. Well, I think I slept through a couple of minutes of the play, because I was still lacking sleep, but that doesn't mean that the reading was boring. I actually enjoyed it.

Today I caught the 3pm show of Set C (XX and X: Babala: Hindi Pang-Isip Bata) with Betty, Zee and Carlo. Seance was a delightful play about calling on the spirit of a gay guy's writer-friend, and he had this monologue with both characters. I had a hard time figuring out at some point the difference between the 2 characters though. Up next was Kasaysayan, some absurd play which lines I keep hearing because Chrome keeps on rehearsing it anywhere he goes. My Padir is an OCW was also quite interesting, and I still can't get over those shoes that Riki wore in the finale, hahahaha.

We headed for the LT lobby for the Platform event that featured writers Niel, Rene Villanueva and James Cansanay, as they discussed writing children's plays. Let me just quote what Niel had said... "Vital ang writing because you write to remember." Ahehehe, I do that a lot. It's one of the prime reasons why I blog.

Anyway, Betty, Jen and I then headed for the Little Theater for the play reading of Baby B, which featured Anna, Riki, Russ, Kat, Sugus and Tad. This was more interesting that the one we saw yesterday, as this play had blocking. Being a play reading, sometimes it got a little awkward for some scenes because they were all holding their scripts.

Will be back tomorrow evening for Set D, which is called Ang Pagdadalaga at Iba Pang Rebelasyon. After a bunch of us returns from RCBC for ZsaZsa, that is, hahaha.