“13th of SEPTEMBER” - Official Entry To the 9th Festival International de Théâtre de Mont-Laurier

“13th of September” - the Philippine’s official entry to the 9th Festival International de Theatre De Mont-Laurier is all set for its international gala performance on September 9 – Monday 4 pm at the Espace Theatre located at 543 Rue du Pont Local, Quebec, Canada.

Produced by Be Our Guest Theatricals, “13th of September – A Reimagination of Lanie Robertson’s “The Insanity of Mary Girard” was adapted by playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc and directed by Riki Benedicto.

The 9th Festival International de Theatre De Mont-Laurier is a biennial theater festival which will be held from September 5 – 11 with a total of only 25 companies from 19 countries as participants. The Philippines is the only country from Southeast Asia who was selected to join the festival since its launch in 2003.

The complete list of countries are as follows: Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Italy, Morocco, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Romania, and Syria.

"13th of September" Fun-Raising Show Set On August 31 and Sepetember 1

Be Our Guest Theatricals, in partnership with BGC Arts Center and Erehwon Center for the Arts, brings you the Fundraising Show of Eljay Castro Deldoc’s “13TH OF SEPTEMBER” A reimagination of Lanie Robertson's "The Insanity of Mary Girard", directed by Riki Benedicto.

The play is the Philippines’ official entry to the 9th Festival International de Théâtre de Mont-Laurier in Quebec, Canada which will be held from September 5 -11, 2019. Only 25 companies from over 20 countries are selected to join and present their plays during the said biennial theater festival. The Philippines is the only country from Southeast Asia who was selected to join the festival since its launch in 2003.

Any play can, practically, be “based on true story” but “The Insanity of Mary Girard” is one of the few that took real-life events into a haunting and highly theatrical piece. Mary Girard (1758–1815) was committed to an asylum in 1790 where her husband declared her legally insane. During her confinement, she gave birth to a baby girl – unsure who the father was – who died five months later. After residing in the insanity ward for 25 years, she was laid to rest somewhere on hospital grounds, her grave unmarked.

Buybust -Violently Amazing Filipino Action Film

This took years to finish and now showing in theaters after so many factors that delayed the film's completion. But indeed, quality cannot be rushed. This is what Buybust aims to prove that Filipino action films are indeed works of art, sweat, blood, tears, and fractures. Leading the star-studded cast is Anne Curtis who plays Nina Manigan which already breaks the stereotype that men can only be the lead in an action movie.

Literally a buybust operation, the team of a special drug enforcement unit goes into the belly of the beast to capture a big fish drug lord named Biggie Chen. The team goes inside and found themselves in a labyrinth of shanties, poverty, drugs, and gang-infested "community".  They get caught in a race to either catch the prized criminal o just get out alive.

I have to point out some characters who stood out among the sea of stars here. First was Victor Neri who played Bernie Lacson who leads the team in the operation and really showed his nature as an action star. Next is Brandon Vera, who plays Rico Yatco, he is known to be an MMA fighter but also did well on acting and even had a great chemistry with Anne (not romantic though). Arjo Atayde sheds his charming image to become Biggie Chen who is ruthless and fierce and even looks very different from the roles he played before. And of course, Anne Curtis, who has shown a lot of dedication and work for this film. She gets bloodied and bruised and experienced almost every kind of pain in this film. It was indeed proved her versatility and power to give justice to her character.