Every family has one. The one who fills the silence, laughs the loudest, and finds a reason to celebrate an ordinary Tuesday. The one who insists that everything is fine, and makes almost everyone believe it. But what happens when keeping up appearances becomes a way of avoiding the truth? This November, “I Am Normal,” a...
Category: Culture
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Humanizing the villain: Joaquin Pedro Valdes earns raves for ‘Rent’
For any Filipino performer aiming for the world stage, securing a spot in the ensemble of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s “Miss Saigon” or Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” is a staggering achievement in itself. But Joaquin Pedro Valdes was never one to just keep a foot in the door; he intended to walk right through it and claim...
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The Ayta Ambala and their slipping language
SUBIC FREEPORT—“Who are the people closest to nature?” This was the prompt given to the creators of “Ha’antu Ka Maku? (Where are you going?)” when tasked with creating a short documentary. For Emiliana Quinto, one of the film’s producers, only one thought came to mind: the Indigenous community of the Aeta (Aytá/Agtá) people. The Filipino...
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The stage is set for ‘Last Dance – Hubo’t Hubad’
Japs Collectives and World Theater Productions Guam /Manila proudly present “Last Dance – Hubo’t Hubad” this September-October at Halxyon Club, the premier LGBTQ+ nightclub in Poblacion, Makati. Written and directed by theater actor, writer and producer Jojo Urquico, “Last Dance” is a queer ensemble play set in the dressing room of a struggling male revue...
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Engage in a tender meditation on memory, love, and the choice to remain
CEBU CITY — 2TinCans Philippines Inc. presents Stay a Little Longer, a full-length drama written by Sarah Mae Enclona-Henderson and directed by Shifrah Bouchikhi-Enclona on Aug. 29 and 30 at The Kabilin Center. The play follows a woman whose memory moves fluidly across the many stages of her life — a child grieving the loss...
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This artist-storyteller is more than her father’s daughter
“Unscripted, intimate, not publicized, not orchestrated. That’s the original form of theater!” says Lynette Carantes Bibal, this year’s Philippine LEAF (Live Entertainment, Arts and Festivals) awardee for Outstanding Performance Art for Heritage Practices for Storytelling. Lynette is a daughter of Geoffrey Carantes, artist, educator, statesman, and the first Ibaloi graduate of the University of the...
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On fringe and found spaces
Last February, enthusiastic ex-members of the Tanghalang Pilipino Actors Company banded together to stage a performance in what they have come to call a found space. They called the new troupe Kolaborador Co., or Kolab for short. They chose as performance space a huge lot that bore the remnants of a restaurant later repurposed as...
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An exploration of the joys and contradictions of growing up
BAGUIO CITY — What does it mean to grow up in an age shaped by online culture, inherited traditions, and ever-shifting ideas of adulthood? In her first solo exhibition, Gorls Gorls Gorls, illustrator and visual artist Ja Amores reflects on these questions and the emotional landscape of girlhood. Opening on Aug. 8 at Indigo Gallery, BenCab Museum, the exhibition...
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Ateneo Rizal Library to host Philippine launch of ‘Culturally Intelligent Storytelling’
The Ateneo de Manila University (Admu) Rizal Library, in partnership with Areté, will host the Philippine launch of “Culturally Intelligent Storytelling for Southeast Asian Creators” by author, educator and speaker Ned Legaspi on July 23 at 10–11:30 a.m. The launch to be held at Areté (The Loft) is by invitation but will be live-streamed to...
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Intersex: ‘I’ve always been Jeff’
Paete is a small town in Laguna built on woodcarving and faith. For a child growing up in the community, there was very little room for questions. Jennifer Cagandahan was born on Jan. 13, 1981, in the neighboring town of Pakil, with an “F” for gender written on the birth certificate. The child grew up...