'Anino sa Likod ng Buwan' to return to stage in March 2025

"Anino sa Likod ng Buwan," Jun Robles Lana's award-winning play that went on to become an award-winning film, is making a return to the stage.

The IdeaFirst Company, the film studio owned by Lana and fellow filmmaker Perci Intalan, announced on social media that the play will be staged at the PETA Theater Center, Quezon City, in March 2025 "in a way you've never seen before."

"Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" will be directed by Tuxqs Rutaquio, with Sparkle star Martin del Rosario, Ross Pesigan, and Kate Alejandrino as cast. It will be the debut production of IdeaFirst LIVE!

The exact date of ticket selling has yet to be announced, but The IdeaFirst Company said in a reply to a Facebook comment that tickets will be available "hopefully 3rd week of October."

"Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" is a one-act play that Lana wrote in 1993 and later won the grand prize of the Bulwagang Gantimpala Playwriting Competition. It is about a husband and wife who are refugees of war and their connection to a military man.

In 2015, Lana adapted his play into a film of the same name that starred LJ Reyes, Anthony Falcon, and Luis Alandy.

The "Anino sa Likod ng Buwan" film garnered various local and international awards, including Best Director (Lana), Best Actress (Reyes), NETPAC Jury Best Asian Film, and the FIPRESCI Critics Prize at the 13th Pacific Meridian Interational Film Festival of Asia in 2015, as well as Best Actress at the 39th Gawad Urian in 2016.

— CDC, GMA Integrated News