Lots of things happened during the recent #romanceclass event #FeelsFest last October 22, at Glorietta 5 Atrium in partnership with Ayala Malls.
Reunited with them... ❤️
#FeelsFest is my second Feels Day. Swooned again by the live readings, still in awe with the performances of Rachel Coates, Gab Pangilinan, Herv Alvarez and Gio Gahol.
Scenes read during live readings were from the following books:
The Hometown Hazard by Dawn Lanuza
Sweeter by the Second by C.P. Santi
Tempting Victoria by Mina V. Esguerra
What You Wanted by Mina V. Esguerra
Save the Cake by Stella Torres
Keep the Faith by Ana Tejano
When Sparks Fly by Ines Bautista-Yao
'Holy kamote! He has abs now.' is a personal fave read by Gab Pangilinan with Gio Gahol from the book, Sweeter by the second of Ms. C. P. Santi, one of the stories in Maybe This Time short story anthology. This part of the live readings was hilarious and kakilig.
New Releases!!!
Me, given a chance to say something my book, fighting!
(Photo taken by Kim Derla, thanks!)
20 books were released and launched during #FeelsFest. How about that! Haha. One of my books, Once Summer Days, was fortunate to be one of those new books. Yay! 💕
Meet and greet, yey! Signing books made me blushed.
(Photo taken by Kim Derla, thanks!)
20 books were released and launched during #FeelsFest. How about that! Haha. One of my books, Once Summer Days, was fortunate to be one of those new books. Yay! 💕
Meet and greet, yey! Signing books made me blushed.
A cup of coffee before the day ended. Cheers! ☕️ Hehe.
Drunken with all the feels, I look forward to the next event. February is the set date for another Feels Day. Who's coming?
Ghosts, skeletons, and cobwebs might be
decorating the windows of shops these days, but why give in to fear when you
can celebrate love in October? And why drown your sorrows and stress in beer at
Oktoberfest when you can go on a rollercoaster of emotions at #FeelsFest? At
least that’s what the folks from the #romanceclass community of authors and
readers figure!
Mark your calendars: The #romanceclass
#FeelsFest will be on October 22, 2016,
at Glorietta 5 in Makati. Authors will be on hand to meet readers and sign
books. They’ll be selling indie romance books—many of which you won’t find in
your typical bookstore. There will also be games, giveaways, the launching of over
15 new titles published by indie authors just this month, a book donation drive
for Ayala Malls’ Little Free Library, and the much-anticipated live readings!
In fact, #romanceclass live readings are
show-stealers, thanks to the feels delivered by actors invited to read excerpts
from romance novels. Previous live readings have been punctuated with shrieks
and sighs. #FeelsFest will mark the fifth official live reading event, the last
one held just last month at the Manila International Book Fair. #FeelsFest will
feature new live readings from #romanceclass books. (Visit http://romancepodcast.com/ to get the
audio versions.)
The #FeelsFest live readings will feature
performances by Gio Gahol, Rachel Coates, Hervin Alvarez, and Gabriela
Pangilinan. Expect to hear scenes from books by Mina V. Esguerra, Ines
Bautista-Yao, and more.
“The #romanceclass community is all about
encouraging each other to read, write, and publish books we love,” says author Mina
V. Esguerra, whose books include Tempting
Victoria, What You Wanted, and Iris
After the Incident, all of which and more will be available for sale at the
event. “#FeelsFest is our chance to give back to the community of readers and
friends who’ve supported us. We get to have a little fun, and maybe meet some
new people who love a good love story as much as we do.”
So if you like to hug your hugot close and are addicted to happy
endings, drop by Glorietta 5 on October 22. Selling will begin when the mall
opens, and the official program is scheduled for 2PM to 6PM.
For more information about #romanceclass,
visit http://romanceclassbooks.com,
where you’ll see a catalog of the authors’ books along with other information
about the community. #FeelsFest is brought to you by Ayala Malls.
CONTACT: Mina V. Esguerra
minavesguerra@gmail.com
Twitter, Facebook: minavesguerra
minavesguerra@gmail.com
Twitter, Facebook: minavesguerra
Vincent De Jesus’ Changing Partners:
A Lovechild of Heartbreak and Music
Quezon City – The PETA Theater Center houses Vincent De Jesus’ newest production, CHANGING PARTNERS, a torch musical that explores the alchemy of relationships and questions the nature of fidelity and the complex issues partners face regardless of gender.
Opening at the PETA Theater Center in October, CHANGING PARTNERS is an intimate peek inside Cris and Alex’s challenging May-December relationship. Though most people would glance skeptically at May-December romances, they also accept them, depending on the couple’s gender and who gets to be ‘December’ and who gets to be ‘May’.
THE WRITING PROCESS
CHANGING PARTNERS was a staged-reading entry for the 2016 Virgin Labfest last July. A multi-awarded composer and writer, De Jesus has lent his talent to many theater productions and movies in his 33 years in the arts, including the PETA’s hit musicals Skin Deep, Juan Tamad, Batang Rizal, and Care Divas. “Many of my works for theater are commissioned pieces. Producers give me a theme and I work around that theme. Zsazsa Zaturnnah was a musical theater adaptation of Carlo Vergara’s highly popular graphic novel. Himala The Musical was a musical theater adaptation of Ishmael Bernal’s highly-acclaimed movie. Most of my PETA productions required a lot of research because of the company’s many advocacies like Children’s Rights and Women’s Rights. You have to arm yourself with facts and information. You can’t just wing through topics like that.” But this piece is obviously a very personal project for him. Does that mean no research was required? “I’ve lived it. I know the topic very well,” he said, smiling.
It was his friend and mentor, the late Palanca Awards Hall of Famer and Writers Bloc moderator Rene Villanueva, who pushed him to write more. “I used to write only when I have the time or when I’m commissioned to write original material. Rene told me that I should just keep on writing because ‘a writer writes’. That’s what a writer does. He writes. So now, even when I’m not commissioned to write a play, I write. Poetry. Song lyrics. One-act plays. Full-length plays.”
His most personal works focused mostly on LGBT issues, from classic coming out stories of self-acceptance to gay bullying. CHANGING PARTNERS is his first piece that weaves heterosexual and LGBT relationships in the most unpredictable way possible.
His inspiration for the play’s form and content stems from watching a theater rehearsal. “There I was, watching a run-through. The male lead was absent. Naturally, the stage manager, who’s lesbian, read his part. It was a scene between a husband and his wife. The energy and dynamics of the scene felt completely different because of the fact that it was being read by two women. Very interesting, I thought. I could write a musical using this form --- one couple, played in different genders.”
Why call it a torch musical? “A torch song is a love song, a very sentimental love song. The singer usually tells a story about unrequited love or a dying love or a lost love. The term comes from the saying, ‘to carry a torch for someone’, or to keep aflame the light of unrequited love. Hashtag walang forever. Torch is not a music genre but more of a way of singing, a singing style that focuses more on the words and emotions rather than the melody of the song. That’s how I wrote the songs of the musical --- they are more ‘felt’ than ‘performed’.”
De Jesus did not only draw inspiration from his own experiences but also from people close to him as well. “I would go out with my dear friends and I would read them a few pages and get their opinion. I love it when they say, ‘That’s my story.’ They were very generous in discussing some issues and would share their own stories. They were very helpful. Through this musical, I hope to shed light on the fragile nuances of a relationship, the concept of fidelity and honesty, and the tension brought about by the age gap and sexual politics.”
A STELLAR TEAM
Truly a passion project, De Jesus personally called up talented theater friends to join him in staging this production. The musical is directed by Rem Zamora, recently cited for his outstanding direction for Red Turnip’s Constellations in the 2016 Midyear Philstage Gawad Buhay Awards. Lighting design is by Ian Torqueza, also cited for his outstanding lighting design for PETA’s 3 Stars and A Sun.
The musical features an ensemble of accomplished theater, film, and television actors composed of Agot Isidro, Jojit Lorenzo, Anna Luna, and Sandino Martin.
But the real man of the hour is De Jesus who wrote the book, libretto, and music for the play. He will also play his compositions live on the piano while the cast shed their emotional armor and sing their torch songs onstage.
CHANGING PARTNERS will have its limited run at the PETA Theater Center Studios on September 30, October 1 and 2 and on October 21, 22, and 23, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices are Php800 (Regular) and Php1000 (VIP). Book your tickets through Ticketworld or directly at the venue. You may also call (725) 6244 or (0927) 3917379 for inquiries and reservations.
Manila International Book Fair happens every year on the month of September. Ever since I learned about this event back in 2013 (I think), I have always wanted to come to the event and be drowned by tons of books. The said event happened from September 14-18, and this year, I was there, though it was only the last day of 5 days still I was able to attend the fair. Another special thing about this event was having my latest self-published book, Chasing an Elusive Dream, available at the fair (Yay!). It was only 7 copies and I was glad they were sold out. I knew some who bought a copy or two through social media, thank you, thank you! ^ - ^
#AllTheFeels was held also on the last day of the event (another reason why I chose the 18th to attend the fair). Live readings happened and swooned all the readers and writers who filled in the entire room. Gio Gahol as always never failed to deliver kilig. Hehe. Migs, Gab and Gracielle were awesome.
Also the announcement of winners in Precious Pages Movie Making Contest was held at the stage event. Congrats to all!
Wait! There's more! Another event to look forward to this coming October is the #FeelsFest, which is set to swoon all of the humans with feelings.
And as planned, I will launch a new book, Once Summer Days, hopefully. ^o^
Aren't you excited? Well, I am nervous, really nervous! (sigh, hehe)
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