Two Voices: How new co-festival director shapes VLF through trust and collaboration

For Toni Go-Yadao and Marco Viaña, the festival directors of Virgin Labfest (VLF), keeping the collaborative spirit of the country’s pioneering theater festival of untried, untested and unstaged one-act plays is the most important task they have to accomplish. They need to make sure that collaboration is not just a word thrown around, but is something infused in every creative decision they make, as it is the driving force that has sustained the festival for two decades.

The 21st edition marks Go-Yadao’s first time stepping into the role of festival director, alongside Viaña, who returns for his fifth. With their experiences both as actors and directors, the pairing displays a balance of fresh and seasoned creative perspectives. In practice, their partnership shows something more profound, a working relationship grounded in what they themselves describe as sabay (moving together) and tiwala (trust).

When Viaña first took on the role of directing VLF in 2021, he advocated for dual directorship, partly because he was not sure he could manage the festival alone, but also because he wanted to make sure that the festival’s mission will remain intact as it moves to a new direction. That commitment to collaboration continues to shape VLF as it prepares to open its new season. 

“I actually suggested having a dual directorship. Having two directors with different perspectives felt aligned with the festival’s core mission of championing diverse voices,” Viaña explained.

Working with Go-Yadao is not a new territory for Viaña, as he has already worked with her in the Artistic Committee of Tanghalang Pilipino (TP), one of the three organizations behind the theater festival, along with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the Writers’ Bloc. 
Their partnership felt like a natural continuation of something they have already established as colleagues. That familiarity allowed them to push the festival’s objectives and even expand its creative boundaries.

For Go-Yadao, this role carried both excitement and pressure. She came to the festival not as a newcomer, but as someone who had already spent years working with the TP’s Actors Company, and as someone who has directed VLF plays; her most recent would be last year’s Don’t Meow For Me, Catriona. 

Her experiences gave her a type of leadership grounded in an awareness of the many sides of the process — rigorous, but worth the toll it takes to successfully create it. 

The shift, she says, brings pressure knowing how impactful VLF has been for the last two decades. But she also sees clarity. She has come to understand clearly that directing the festival isn’t just about the act of vision alone.

“This role is not just about leading, it is about taking care of the process, the artists, the production staff, and the stories being told,” said Go-Yadao.

The shared sense of responsibility formed how the two festival directors approached the festival from the beginning. Instead of dividing the work immediately, the two allowed themselves to go through the processes together. From reading the scripts and meeting the playwrights to shaping the overall direction of VLF, they all do it as a unified tandem.

From those meetings of minds, this year’s theme Hubo’t Hubad emerged. Like the festival itself, it is inspired from convergence, a tambalang salita (compound word). Combining distinct ideas into something new, Go-Yadao and Viaña thought of how the theme mirrors the essence of VLF to give space where different voices, disciplines, and experiences meet, overlap, and transform.

While emphasizing the importance of collaboration, they infuse the festival with their own personalities and experiences, shaped by their respective journeys in theater. For them, their differences are not obstacles but assets that allow them to listen and understand each other better. 

“Our differences allow us to look at the work from different angles, ask better questions, and make more grounded decisions,” shared Go-Yadao.

Over time, they naturally settled into distinct areas of focus. Viaña worked on strengthening VLF’s regional and international connections, particularly through Theater Talks that engage with Asian collaborators. Go-Yadao, on the other hand, focused on rehearsal preparation and artist welfare, as one of her strengths is making the new playwrights feel comfortable in expressing their creativity.

When asked what word best describes their partnership, their answers sabay and tiwala perfectly capture the essence of how they work.
“Sabay,” Viaña explained, “because from the beginning, the goal was never to split the festival into separate territories, but to move through it together.”

“Tiwala,” Go-Yadao added, “because there’s a strong sense of trust in how we work, how we make decisions, and how we support each other through the process.”

In the end, neither is particularly concerned with being remembered as co-directors. What matters most to them is what stays with the audience. 

“More than remembering us. I hope people remember the plays they’ve seen and the experience of being part of the festival,” said Viaña.

Go-Yadao shares the same sentiment: “I hope that more than remembering us, people remember that this festival gave them a space to see things from a different perspective.”

If this year’s Virgin Labfest leaves a mark, it will not be because of a single vision imposed from above, but because of a shared one built from within, shaped by the many people who worked behind, guided by trust, and moved forward, always, sabay.

For more updates on the festival schedule and ticket-selling, visit the official pages of VLF, CCP, Tanghalang Pilipino Foundation Inc., and Writers’ Bloc across Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok.