Heartbreak, humor in full-length play 'Totong Hilot' at Virgin Labfest

Virgin Labfest 8, the nation's premier showcase of experimental theater, opens today at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, with ten "untried, unpublished and unstaged" works from Filipino playwrights.

 

The selection includes nine one-act plays and J. Dennis Teodosio's full-length play "Totong Hilot." The play is directed by Roobak Valle, and stars Alon Severino as Toto and Tommy Abuel as Lolo Pule, the hilot whose gift his grandson craves to inherit.  "Totong Hilot," at two hours long, is the rare full-length play to be staged at the annual Virgin Labfest.  

"Totong Hilot chronicles an unforgettable summer in the life of a 10-year old boy," reads a synopsis posted on the Virgin Labfest Facebook page. "As the play unfolds, the hushed existence in a far flung country village and the array of colorful characters there become essential in stirring up the bittersweet struggles and joys of the boy’s childhood. Both heartbreaking and humorous, unaffected and uplifting, it also tells the story of the boy’s dream, his unexpected adventures in making that dream come true, and the lives his small hands touched."

 

Totong Hilot is on June 30, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., July 4 at 8 p.m., and July 5 at 3 p.m. at the Tanghalang Huseng Batute, CCP.  

 

Virgin Labfest 8 will be held from June 27 to July 18, 2012 at the CCP Tanghalang Huseng Batute with shows at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

 

The full schedule is downloadable from the CCP website.

 

Tickets to the Virgin Labfest are at P300. For further inquiries, call the CCP Performing Arts Division at (02) 832-1125 local 1607 or 1606.