MANILA, Philippines – The award-winning play that became an award-winning film returns to the stage in a way you’ve never seen it before. Jun Robles Lana’s Anino Sa Likod ng Buwan will be the debut production of IdeaFirst Live! starring Kate Alejandrino, Ross Pesigan, and Martin del Rosario, under the direction of Gawad Buhay awardee Tuxqs Rutaquio. The shows will be staged at PETA Theater Center in March 2025.
As a play written by Jun Robles Lana in 1993, Anino Sa Likod ng Buwan won the grand prize of the Bulwagang Gantimpala Playwriting Competition. In 2015, The IdeaFirst Company produced a film version which had its World Premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic and won major awards at the Pacific Meridien International Film Festival in Russia including Best Director (for Jun Robles Lana), Best Actress (for LJ Reyes), and the FIPRESCI Critics Prize and NETPAC Awards. Lauded by The Hollywood Reporter as a “tense and taut drama oozing sex, sweat and social chaos,” the film went on to win an Urian for Best Actress and another international Best Director award at the Kerala International Film Festival in India. This is the first time in 30 years that the play will be staged again.
The cast for this staging was selected through a series of auditions. Film and TV actor Martin del Rosario has won acting awards at Gawad Urian, Asian Television Awards, Golden Screen, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, and Star Awards. Kate Alejandrino is known for her roles in Cinemalaya’s “Bula sa Langit” (for which she became a Young Critics Circle Best Performance nominee) and CineFilipino’s “Mga Mister ni Rosario” (where she was also nominated as Best Actress). Ross Pesigan is a film and theater actor who participated recently at the Cannes Film Festival for starring in Arvin Belarmino’s short film “Radikals” which premiered at Semaine de la Critique. He earned a Gawad Buhay nomination for Outstanding Male Featured Performance in a Play for Barefoot Theatre Collective’s “Laro” and is set to perform in a play in Germany under the direction of Josefina Estrella.
Director Tuxqs Rutaquio is a theater designer, director, and actor, and educator who worked with Dulaang UP, then became the Associate Artistic Director of Tanghalang Pilipino, and later the Festival Director and Dramaturg of the Virgin Labfest. He was also the Philippine representative to the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Performing Arts Festival in Tokyo and was a Gawad Buhay awardee for Outstanding Set Design and Outstanding Stage Direction.
IdeaFirst Live! is headed by Jun Robles Lana and Elmer Gatchalian, both award- winning writers for film and stage. As the live performance arm of multi-awarded film studio The IdeaFirst Company, IdeaFirst Live! extends the company’s mission of illuminating stories that would otherwise be kept in the dark.
Celebrated graphic designer Justin Besana designed the poster of Anino Sa Likod ng Buwan.
Tickets to Anino Sa Likod ng Buwan will be made available this October.
