Coming from its debut season with “Mula sa Buwan,” Barefoot Theatre Collaborative launches its sophomore season with Pride Plays, a twinbill of “Unica Hijas” and “Laro'” for Pride Month.
“Unica Hijas” is a 35-minute one-act play about high school sweethearts Mitch and Nikki coming to terms with their relationship amid conservative school policies, parents, and themselves. “Laro” is a 90-minute two-act play following 10 unnamed gay characters from all walks of life traversing an interweaving circle of abusive relationships.
Cast members Joy Delos Santos, Ash Nicanor, Gio Gahol, and Phi Palmos sat down with CNN Philippines Life for an exclusive interview as they talk more about their plays and its themes, their process in internalizing their characters, and their advocacies as members of the LGBTQIA+ and artists of the theater stage.
’59’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:dce964fe-8c67-4247-bff1-824fa6f2fd42’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘The poster for Pride Plays “Unica Hijas” and “Laro.” Photo
Can you tell us more about “Unica Hijas” and “Laro?” What are the importance of these stories especially for Pride Month?
Ash Nicanor: Pride Plays is a platform for LGBTQIA+ narratives. It’s not just plays, may kasama ring talks with creatives. Merong mga nagbebenta rin ng queer books. It’s really a celebration with every queer creative that wants to collaborate with Barefoot. Balak sana ng Barefoot na every year yung Pride Plays. So next year, iba naman siguro yung productions and yung mga talks.
Joy Delos Santos: “Unica Hijas” was [staged] at last year’s Virgin Labfest. Sinulat ito ni Mikaela Regis nung student pa siya. I was with her sa Ateneo Entablado and it was staged with my students. It was a very different play before. Pat Valera was also the director last year. Mika and Pat worked together to revisit the script. Maraming na-discover not just creatively, but also personally for everyone involved. The process is very collaborative. They came with their own experiences. Lalo na when we were young girls — a lot of nostalgia was used para makuha talaga kung ano ba ‘yung feeling nang maging isang young queer girl trying to discover not just her identity, but her sexuality in the face of many external factors.
And then, na-realize namin, \”Alam mo, walang masyadong ganitong stories.\” Even outside theatre. Most of it ay mainstream lesbian stories na usually sad, may namatay, hindi nagkatuluyan. Parang napakaserious. Parang nakakainggit yung mga BL series na lumalabas. I want something like those na will heal my inner gay kid, na bibigyan ka ng hope.
We see the importance of these kinds of plays not just for young people to see that there is hope in it, especially for Pride Month, but also for older people who say, “I hope younger me had this. I hope I had that courage when I was younger. I hope young kids can see this now.”
Gio Gahol: “Laro” is pretty dark since it’s about power play and sexual morality. Floy Quintos adapted the play from Arthur Schnitzler’s “La Ronde” and he situated it in the milieu of homosexual males. The community is represented by a rainbow and you don’t see a rainbow unless there is rain, unless there are clouds hovering above us. You would only see a rainbow when the clouds start to clear. And I feel that’s the experience so far. Parang those 10 scenes in “Laro” are the darkest clouds and the heaviest rain that we could experience. And at the end of the show, all of that clears and it’s actually empowering for all of the audience to see it.
’60’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:b6d83029-5620-496e-bbc6-0a3c4231c352’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Gio Gahol (left) and Phi Palmos (right) star in “Laro.” Photo
That’s actually one of the worries of the cast the first time when we did a reading of the script back in Artist Playground 2019. We were like, “So what do we do after?” Are we just gonna leave the audience depressed and be like, “Oh yeah, all the struggles of our community, it never ends. And we’re just stuck there.” Pero I feel like the generation that we have now ay mas nangingibabaw na yung, “How do we find empowerment in seeing the struggle?” Maybe it’s because we survived the pandemic. Yes, we still lost a lot. But there’s a paradigm shift in terms of how we see struggles. We have so much will to fight now.
Phi Palmos: If you watch “Laro,” you will say that it’s tragic agad. It’s dark. But in one of my conversations with Sir Floy Quintos, I said that the show is important because it’s a cautionary tale. And kailangan nating makita ‘yun nang harap-harapan to confront us that these stories exist. Alam naman nating nangyayari siya but we shrug it off.
\”Laro\” is an ugly mirroring of the community. Hindi natin pwedeng kalimutan lang at isantabi ‘yung pangit, para lang umalsa ‘yung maganda. It works both ways. For us to appreciate the beauty and vibrance of diversity and equality na pinaglalaban natin, we should be able to acknowledge and accept the dark and ugly side of it.
The last time we did “Laro” in 2019, that’s also during the time na pang-ilang beses na namang hindi nakapasa sa House ang SOGIE Bill. It was a dark cloud during that time. And then I said, “Oh sige, sa kanila ang Senado, samin ang teatro.” Because there is where we can really say anything we want to say and have discourse on anyone. And now, oo, nakapasa naman siya [sa House Committee on Women and Gender Equality panel], pero hindi naman raw siya priority. So it’s a different dark cloud we are experiencing. Ang saya lang to see kung nasaan tayo before. It’s dark clouds but it’s different dark clouds. And we hope to see the rainbow after.
The 10 narratives are, in a way, connected. Pero yung struggles ay unique. And ‘yun naman ang laging pinaglalaban ng community — mas maintindihan, mas makita ninyo hindi ‘yung pagkakaiba, but ‘yung pagkakapare-pareho natin because at the end of the day, it’s our common humanity. Para sa akin, laging dun bumabalik. Na parang all these realizations, all of [the discourse], ano ba ang common thread satin? It’s being human.
By putting “Unica Hijas” and “Laro” as a twinbill, how do you think they go together? How do they form a coherent theme?
Ash Nicanor: After ng play naming “Unica Hijas,” may magbibigay samin ng balloon so happy happy kami ganyan tapos darating si Phi tapos puputukin niya yun.
Joy Delos Santos: Nung sinabi samin kung paano magiging ‘yang transition from this very hopeful and bright ending ng “Unica Hijas,” then you go into the gritty reality living as a gay man in the Philippines.
Ash Nicanor: Sinabi naming, “Paano yun? Ang saya-saya namin tapos babawiin lang ‘yung saya samin.” So binigyan na lang kami ng motivation na, “Okay, kapag pinutok yang balloon na yan, laban pa rin kayo.
Joy Delos Santos: Which answers yung doubt namin na, “Would this just take away the hope we just gave?” No. Actually, it gives more power to that hope. It gives validation na kailangan talagang mag-hope. Kailangan talagang lumaban kasi ganun ang realidad. We can’t just delude ourselves na everything will be fine and dandy because it’s not.
Nung umaarangkada na ‘yung show, we see na hindi na-miss ‘yung gustong iparating. Na there are two sides of the coin. We want to give hope pero at the same time, we have to remind ourselves na Pride is not just a party. It’s a protest. We have to remember what we’re fighting for — that struggle is not over unless everyone is equal.
Phi Palmos: Nung nalaman ko na “Unica Hijas” muna tapos “Laro,” para sakin ang ganda lang din niya na it’s a shift because it’s always the gays that gives you kilig or funny moments. But now, it’s the lesbians. Nag-change siya ngayon. So it shows how dynamic and diverse the community is. Hindi laging nagpapatawa ang bakla at hindi laging seryoso ang mga tomboy. Yes, there’s still a very tangible fight in “Unica Hijas” but at the same time, it’s so kilig and innocent. Ang sarap-sarap niya. There’s a line in “Unica Hijas” that goes like, “Hindi mo na kailangang magtago kasi naipinaglaban na siya ng mga nauna satin.” Eh kami yung nauna. Kami lagi yung maingay.
Gio Gahol: We’re not completely detached from each other na parang “Unica Hijas” is just happy and “Laro” is just the dark clouds. There’s still a fight there. It’s not all rainbows, cakes, and butterflies. It came to us as a surprise that in the process of creating the two plays, that [became] the effect — that damn, these people feel empowered.
How do you prepare for your roles in the play? Where do your personal experiences and advocacies fit in with your internalization?
Joy Delos Santos: For Nikki, part ng preparation is yung pag-alala ng context kung bakit ko siya ginagawa. Kasama siya sa pag-drop in ng values ng sarili kong character. Nikki has internalized homophobia. She’s scared of coming out because she fears that her parents and society would judge her. And as someone who’s comfortable with my sexuality, kailangan kong i-tap yung dark past when I was still afraid of facing who I am. I have to be very forgiving with the character and myself who was young then. And then I try to remember that I’m not doing this just to heal my inner child, but also to provide [for those] who are also going through or have gone through the same story a kind of visibility onstage and hope na it gets better.
Nung June 2, I found an article of a news report from Hong Kong of a lesbian couple. Many news reports were denying they were a couple even though it’s well known they were a couple. One was butch, the other was femme. Na-stab sila sa mall at pareho silang namatay. Unang inatake ‘yung butch representing sa couple and prinotektahan siya until the end ng girlfriend niya. It was so heartbreaking and it made me angry, scared, and very sad. And everytime I utter yung last lines ng play, which is, “We’ll fight and love, and fight and love, and never ever die,” I think of them. It gets very emotional for me when I try to prep for that. This is my way for me to fight against that erasing of the identities and experiences that actually do happen within the LGBTQIA+ community.
‘ ’61’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:0bf1936f-1327-485f-9380-b9bff9546f5b’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Ash Nicanor (left) and Joy Delos Santos (right) star in “Unica
Ash Nicanor: For me naman, si Mitch ko kasi ay di na siya bago sakin pero hindi naman sa play. ‘Yung “Ang Highschool at si Olive,” isang thesis film nung 2014. Nung naging role ko na siya dati, nagkaroon na ako ng mga researches. Dun nga sa mga nababasa naming news and things na nangyayari. Pero di naman siya malayo sa karanasan ko at sa mga malapit sakin so humuhugot din ako from their experiences. Gusto lang din naming ipakita na may kakampi kayo. Nandito kami, di lang namin ito kwento. Kwento ito ng lahat. Bibigyan natin sila ng justice at ng push na lumaban din kasabay natin. Pag nagpre-prepare kami, sige tahimik lang bago show. Tapos after nun, give na natin ito sa kanila.
Gio Gahol: The role I played this time around, which is Batang Pulis, is different from my role then in the 2019 version and my initial thought was, “Oh my gosh, I don’t think I understand this character very much.” Back in 2019 when I did “Manggagamit,” I knew exactly what experiences I was gonna pull to put together this person. But for “Batang Pulis,” I don’t. But because of the rewrite, there are aspects about the character that were added that I’m well aware of now. Mas naiintindihan ko na ‘yung issues that surround the character at dahil dun, I knew how to put his character together.
My preparation always is that I have to remind myself that unless stated otherwise, it’s a human being. There are limitations. There are certain line deliveries and emotional peaks. If I take the character this far, tao pa ba siya? Am I just making it theatrical and too dramatic? It’s always important to bring humanity to it because that’s what makes it relatable. I don’t transform into the character, I breathe the same air. I’m still there, the character is still there, and we just have to co-exist in our moment on-stage.
Phi Palmos: Hindi ako naniniwala na you go into a character blank. When you approach a character, meron ka nang kaagad na dala-dala. And para sa akin, mas nakakatulong siya because it makes me accountable in taking care of that character. Because at the end of the day, like what we said, it’s human. The character may not be real, but all of the experiences of the character, it’s based on lived experiences. Natatapos yung internalization ko kung malinaw na sakin kung sino yung character.
Ang pinakagusto kong naa-achieve other than the reviews ay yung masasabi ng audience na, \”May kakilala akong ganyan.\” O, \”Ganyan ako.\” Because I’m so tired of watching queer characters being portrayed on-screen, on-stage, commercials na parang, \”Wala naman akong kilalang ganyan! Bakit ganyan kayo magsisikilos?\”
