Jerom Canlas debuts as playwright in VLF XXI
MANILA, Philippines — Three years after his youngest brother JM passed on, actor-playwright Jerom Canlas admitted the pain of losing someone still lingers.
“The pain is never gone,” Jerom said. “I think the pain is recurring. Maybe it’s there forever.”
He acknowledged that every kind of art, like his debut as a playwright in Virgin Lab Fest (VLF) XXI, “Hubo’t Hubad,” helps ease the pain. “The loss of my brother, processing the grief, the trauma, the healing then (on) my own terms, through art,” Jerom said.
He started writing the script of “Footprint” in 2024, a year after JM passed on. They were still doing director Kip Oebanda’s “Bar Boys 2: After School” at that time.
The story of “Footprint” hews closely to JM’s death, according to Jerom. “I wrote the script from my stream of consciousness,” Jerom said. “I only wrote about a story that I can tell. Then, I’ve forgotten about it. I didn’t want to expect.”
“Footprint” is about grief, mental health, losing someone and suicide. Fortunately, the story was selected to be a VLF entry this year for the “Hubo’t Hubad” theme on its 21st year XXI.
Jerom started casting for “Footprint” and got Mikko Angeles as director. The cast includes his brother Elijah Canlas, Jojo Cayabyab, Meryll Soriano and Omar Uddin.
“We know Mama Meme (Meryll) even before,” said Jerom. “She worked together with Jelo (Elijah) and JM in the Netflix drama, ‘Unconditional’ (2022). I thought about Ate Meme. She really wanted to do VLF ever since. She regarded JM as her ‘anak-anakan.’”
Meryll was on tenterhooks when critiquing for “Footprint” happened.
“She hadn’t memorized her lines yet at that time,” Jerom recalled. “In fairness to her, she didn’t miss a line in the play. She was very professional. Her rapport with Jelo (Elijah) was admirable. They really looked like mother and son.”
Meryll probably found delivering the Hiligaynon lines a challenge. But she previously starred in the film, “John Denver Trending,” written and directed by Arden Rod Condez (2019). She also did the play “Indigo Child” with Jelo.
Jerom acknowledged that depression remains a common topic these days.
“Before, it was not tackled seriously,” said Jerom. “That’s why we did this play, ‘Footprint.’ Before that, we put up Kulit Organization for JM. We did efforts to de-stigmatize mental health. When suicide becomes the topic, we talk about it seriously. With ‘Footprint,’ we want to show how grave is the loss when you lose a loved one through suicide.”
It took a while before Jerom brought up “Footprint” with his parents.
“I was nervous before I told them about the play,” he said. “I was worried they might not like the play. This is not our story, but it’s very close to what happened to our family.
“This was inspired by JM’s story. Our parents are excited to watch it. We’re all in a good place after everything. But it’s still an everyday struggle not to miss my brother.”
Jerom has acted in past VLF plays — “Birdcage” (2017) — and revisited the following year, “Student’s Handbook” (2023).
“Footprint,” which is a dramedy, is his first as a playwright.
He credited the commitment of the actors to stage “Footprint” for VLF.
“Meme (Meryll) and Jelo (Elijah) bring their star power to our play,” Jerom said. “They have a foundation in theater acting. They are really ideal for our play.”
He also gave credit to Ricky Lee’s scriptwriting workshop that wrapped up this year after 16 sessions. It helped him create the script for “Footprint.”
“Sir Ricky said when you have broken pieces, you can really start writing,” Jerom said. “(Those) broken pieces need to heal.”
“Sir Ricky is like no other. Aside from being a national artist, he can probably be a saint. He is really very nice, generous in his knowledge. He never gives any harsh comments. He’s really a mentor who guides you and teaches you. I am lucky that I became a part of his scriptwriting workshop. I think we’re Batch 30. The alumni even joined us, and now we’re really solid as a batch,” he added.
Included in the batch are composer-musical director Vince de Jesus, actors JC Santos, Kylie Padilla and Cristine Reyes, and broadcaster Kara David.
“We developed our rapport in class, even when we were merely throwing lines,” said Jerom. “We became friends. I didn’t expect that.”
“But I’ll cherish being with that batch forever, the Ricky Lee writing community. In fairness, there is no one to let go in our batch. There were 36 of us who took the workshop.”
Jerom proudly finished a full-length script being with the batch, a short script and a sequence treatment for a full-length script.
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