'Mapanakit!' explores the pain—and power—of love
'Mapanakit!' will stage a trilogy of intimate, one-act plays written by playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc that dive deep into the messy, beautiful realities of love, longing, and healing.
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'Mapanakit!' will stage a trilogy of intimate, one-act plays written by playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc that dive deep into the messy, beautiful realities of love, longing, and healing.
If you’ve ever felt like the local theater scene outside of Metro Manila doesn’t get the spotlight it deserves, prepare to be proven wrong this July. A homegrown theater company from Biñan, Laguna is about to make its grand Manila debut, bringing a whole lot of heartbreak, hope, and raw talent with it.
The Biñan Youth Performance Council, a group that has spent two solid decades doing cultural groundwork and nurturing young talent in their community, has officially launched its professional touring arm, YPC Stage. To kick things off, they are bringing Mapanakit! Mga Dulang Bittersweet straight to the metro starting 25 July.
It is the first time a theater work entirely developed in Biñan is touring outside city lines, fresh off a successful community run back in December 2025. Director BJ Borja actually built YPC Stage specifically for this reason—to give regional artists a bigger platform and prove that grassroots, community-based theater can absolutely thrive on the country's largest stages.
Mapanakit! will stage a trilogy of intimate, one-act plays written by playwright Eljay Castro Deldoc that dive deep into the messy, beautiful realities of love, longing, and healing.
To make things even more exciting, the production is bridging the gap between local talent and big-name stars. You’ll see fresh, emerging performers from Biñan sharing the stage with established theater performers like Gab Pangilinan, Kokoy de Santos, Phi Palmos, and Ross Pesigan.
The stories themselves promise to hit you right in the feelings, starting with Ang Liknayan ng ating mga Katawan. This one follows a student named Hershey Mae who confronts her chemistry teacher after he rejects her highly controversial research paper. Even though her study has already caused total chaos at school, she refuses to back down, arguing that some truths—especially the ones about love—can't just be dismissed.
From schoolyard drama, the production shifts to a mythical realm in Ilihan at Kalingaw. In this story, a poet-historian named Ilihan faces severe punishment from her tribe for writing forbidden love poems for Kalingaw. Instead of running away to save herself, she chooses to stay, defend her words, and challenge her tribe's rigid beliefs about which stories actually deserve to be remembered.
Finally, the trilogy brings us back to a painfully relatable reality with Ganito ang Pinangarap kong Kasal. This piece centers on a longtime couple, France and Noel, and their close friend, Kris. Their carefully guarded dynamic is pushed to the absolute brink when one of them decides to surrender to society's conventional expectations of masculinity, forcing all three to confront what this means for their friendship and their future.
Behind the scenes, the show is backed by the creative team of production designer Carlo Pagunaling, lighting designer Gabo Tolentino, sound designer Arkel Mendoza, and creative director Carlo Cannu, alongside production manager Baha Vergara and technical director John Paul De Paz.
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