How Virgin Labfest pulled Angelica Panganiban back to acting

Angelica Panganiban-Homan is charting unfamiliar territory as she prepares to make her theater debut in "Don't Meow for Me, Catriona," a play by Ryan Machado and directed by Toni Go-Yadao.

- By CHARMIE JOY PAGULONG

The show is among the plays featured in this year's Virgin Labfest (VLF), a theater festival which will run from June 11 to June 29 at the Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theater).

"Don't Meow for Me, Catriona" revolves around the familial love between a mother (Peewee O'Hara as Reting) and a daughter (played by Angelica as Phoebe). "It's about responsibility and yung hangganan ng pagmamahal natin sa ating pamilya," direk Ryan told The STAR at a presscon.

The synopsis reads: "At a nearly empty bus terminal in Cubao during the pandemic, a daughter waits with her elderly mother for a bus bound for Bicol. After years of caring for her mother alone, she has decided it's time to finally pursue her own dreams. But as the bus refuses to arrive, they are forced to confront old wounds, unspoken regrets and the complicated weight of familial love that binds—and sometimes breaks—families."

Angelica agreed to do the play because she loved the script and didn't feel burdened with the demands of this particular project.

"It's not that overwhelming as compared to other plays that would drain your energy and paniniwala mo sa sarili mo. I think this one, mas pang-'virgin' siya," she told this paper.

"Also because you're with a group of people so it's a different support system. Mas maigsi so it's not that overwhelming and it's fit for newbies. When they offered it to me and I read the script, I told my husband (Gregg Homan), 'I think I'll be working.' Hahaha! Because I really liked it (the material)."