ISANG dalahira ang nag-post sa kanyang socmed account na sighted daw niya sina Janine Gutierrez at Jericho Rosales na magkasama sa isang mall na naibahagi sa isang portal. Sey pa niya, first time raw niyang makita ang dalawang actor na manonood ng sine at bumili pa ng snacks sa Powerplant sa Makati. Pang-iintriga pa niya: “Di ko alam, may koneksyon pala sila? Friends lang kaya?Nag-apologize pa siya dahil blurred daw ang litratong nakunan niya dahil natakot siyang mahuli na kinukunan niya nang palihim ang dalawa. Ito naman ang iba’t-ibang reaksyon ng netizens nang mai-share ito sa isang portal.“If true nga, at least di na creepy ang age gap kesa sa mga nag shiship ni kath at Jericho”“Type talaga ni Echo mga mestiza. I’ve never seen him with a morena.”“Heard rumors may pagka hopia at madaling mafall daw si Janine. She seems nice I hope she finds the right man for her. Yung mas into her, than her into the guy.”“I believe they’re working together dun sa new serye starring the jabbawockeez. Lol”“Promo promo? Hindi man lang nag-cap and/or mask yung dalawa, given public figures sila, gusto talaga ipakita magka-date. Kung pareho naman single, why not.”“Luh ngayon lang ako nakakita ng nagpost ng artista sighting sa rockwell. I thought lang naman na parang yun yung mall ng mga artista and people respect their privacy whatever they are doing. I felt na yun na lang yun pinaka-normal nila na magagawa as a person while no one is prying on them tapos mapipicturan pa din.”“I heard some rumours about Janine G direct from ABS friends but hoping this time walang nang sabit ang guy before they date. Saw Jericho in a restaurant in BGC once, super cool and clean.”“Promo lang yan. May show sila together.”“Siya ba ang bagong babae ni Echo?””In fair view, bagay sila.”
VLF WRITING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM: GIVING ROOTS TO BUDDING PLAYWRIGHTS
Where do stories come from? And how do you start to tell the story? What do you do to transform these compelling stories from a mere idea and morph it into something? The Virgin Labfest Writing Fellowship Program (VLF WFP) provides a place for playwrights to learn and experiment. It excavates the perceptions, experiences, emotions, and motives of the selected fellows, helping them take those first steps into playwriting and possibly constructing their works into possible materials for theater productions. With Palanca Award-winning playwright Glenn Mas as the fellowship mentor, VLF WFP has produced plenty of fellows who eventually were featured in VLF’s main line ups. Through the mentorship of Mas, the fellows learned about the study and practice of dramatic writing for the stage. Lectures, discussions, and workshops in playwriting complemented the program. They also underwent script critiquing, and experienced other aspects of theater productions. For two weeks, aspiring playwrights immersed themselves in theater production, watching the featured plays and staged readings, while participating in conversations with established playwrights and directors.Since its establishment in 2012, the VLF Writing Fellowship Program has embraced 125 young writers, 15 of which have come from the VLF WFP Visayas in 2022 and 2023. Fourteen works from those budding playwrights have become part of the main features of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ biggest theater festival of untried, untested, and unstaged one-act plays. Punks Not Dead, one of the main features in VLF 2018 and one of the revisited plays in VLF 2019, was the outcome of Andrew Bonifacio L. Clete’s participation in the writing fellowship program in 2015. It follows the encounter between a mother with a tattoo and a policeman who argue about this discrimination. The play shows what is permanently inked with prejudice. Participating in the writing program in 2019, Jobert Landeza created Titser’s Kit in VLF 2020, a play about a young Lumad student who gets into trouble after transferring to his new school and hides inside a dilapidated storage room where he feels safe until Titser Kit finds him there. Jhudiel Clare D. Sosa, a fellow from the writing program in 2020, wrote Identité, a featured play in this year’s VLF 19. The play scrutinizes the complicated relationship between a daughter and mother. According to the fellows, the skills learned from the fellowship helped in their writing. The program polished their foundational skills to create plays not just for VLF but also in their other works. The call for submission to the VLF 19 Writing Fellowship Workshop has now closed, but this is just the start of another journey for the newly selected fellows. The veteran fellows hope that the new batch of fellows will enjoy the two-week fellowship program and create their own literary path. Just like how the fellowship program has changed their lives. For these fellows, a writer’s journey is only complete if their mission is done. With the help of VLF WFP under Mas’ tutelage, fellows learned to tell their experiences through playwriting.The Virgin Labfest Writing Fellowship Program runs from June 18 to 30, 2024, at the CCP Complex in Pasay City. The final showcase, featuring staged readings of the fellows’ works to be directed by Dennis Marasigan, will be on June 30, 2024, at 5 p.m. at Bulwagang Roberto Chabet, 3/F Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez.
