Carlos Bulosan Theatre is proud to collaborate with Theatre Amihan and Theatre Passe Muraille to bring back the Tales from the Flipside festival featuring staged readings of new Filipinx plays, February 13th-15th. Six plays from across Canada will be read by emerging actors at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Backspace. We’re excited to invite the next generation of playwrights and performers to be a part of this exciting project.
SCHEDULE // If you are interested in seeing a particular play, please note that line-up changes each night. Each evening’s readings will run approximately 2.5 hours. All plays will be presented in English, with the exception of Sa Dakong Kawala, which will be read in Tagalog.
For more information on each play, just click on the respective tab link below:
Thursday, February 13th, 2020 | 730pm
THE WATCHDOG SOCIETY by Kodie Rollan
Amidst increasing criminal activity in their neighbourhood, five residents in a neighbourhood watch group are forced to come to terms with their own racial biases. The Watchdog Society is a piece that explores racial profiling in the digital age and poses the question, whose safety gets prioritized within diverse communities?
KODIE ROLLAN is Philippine-born, Scarborough-raised, Calgary-based playwright, actor, and producer. Kodie is passionate about telling stories that examine the socio-political environment of our world. Select credits include: Ya Burnt! (2019 IGNITE! Festival), Free from Phobia (2018 Body in Space: An Art Party), Funny Man (2018 IGNITE! Festival).
SA DAKONG KAWALA by Riley Palanca
Please note that this play will be presented in Tagalog.
Sa loob ng syam na eksena, naglalaro ang dula sa kahalagahan ng patuloy na pagalaala sa batas militar.
RILEY PALANCA is a multi-disciplinary artist. Though most known for their work in theatre creation, they have significant credentials as a novelist, spoken word artist, stand-up comedian, and actor. They sit as Artistic Director of Voices of Asia International, which will present their sophomore play in Montreal Fringe 2020.
COLLAPSE by Bryan Sandberg
“Maybe I deserve to get bombed. Maybe I do. Maybe that’s why God sent the terrorists.”
September 2007. Fifteen-year-old David was just like any other high school student at his international Christian school in Davao. Then, the bomb threat happened.
While everyone struggles in the aftermath, but for David, something comes even more undone. Already steeped in suicidal thoughts and depersonalization, the looming threat of terrorism sets his mind even more on edge. His greatest solace is a new boy, Eric, but David’s growing understanding of his sexuality feels like yet another dark omen when he looks to his deeply religious Christian parents. His mind is on the verge of Collapse.
BRYAN SANDBERG is a 27 year old mixed Filipinx-Canadian writer and actor based in Calgary, Alberta. Born and raised in the Philippines, Bryan came to Canada on his own at the age of 18. One of his proudest accomplishments is co-founding One TWU, the LGBTQ+ student group at his alma mater, Trinity Western University. When he’s not working his day job in the print industry, he plays tabletop games or performs stand-up comedy in Calgary.
HAPPINESS (a.k.a. the Art of Betrayal) by Marie Barlizo
Happiness is a dark comedy about the heartbreak of infertility and broken dreams. Since their debut, Gemma and Christina have been best friends who secretly envy each other. Unhappy at 40, they’re determined to get what they want. But are they willing to risk it all to get it?
MARIE LEOFELI BARLIZO, is a Filipino-Chinese playwright and dramaturg from Montreal. She’s a graduate of UBC’s Creative Writing MFA Program and the first visible minority to graduate from the National Theatre School’s (NTS) Playwriting Program. She is Black Theatre Workshop’s playwriting mentor, Imago Theatre’s Artist-in-Residence and instructor at NTS.
Friday, February 14th, 2020 | 730pm
Saturday, February 15th, 2020 | 730pm
THEN COMES MARRIAGE by Primrose Madayag Knazan
Alex and Bobby meet at a same-sex marriage rally. They fall in love and decide to get married… Then everything changes.
A two-handed theatre experiment where the cast changes with each performance – a man and woman, two men, two women – the script stays the same.
PRIMROSE MADAYAG KNAZAN is a Jewish Filipina-Canadian Playwright. Her work has been featured at the Winnipeg Writers Festival, Sarasvati’s FemFest, the Winnipeg Fringe, Prairie Theatre Exchange’s new works festival, and published in several anthologies. Her plays focus on cultural identity, women’s experience, and queer issues.
BIG QUEER FILIPINO KARAOKE NIGHT! by Davey Samuel Calderon
Big Queer Filipino Karaoke Night! is a Clown-Drag-Karaoke Extravaganza, serving up Filipino-Canadian identity shenanigans, queer insights, family epiphanies, and soul gratifying karaoke! Inspired by Davey Calderon’s visit to his family’s ancestral land, the Philippines, this show is an interactive celebration of the intersections found in oneself.
DAVEY SAMUEL CALDERON (he/him/his)- is a queer Filipino-Canadian, American born, theatre artist based on the unceded territories of the coast salish peoples: the hÉ™nÌ“qÌ“É™minÌ“É™mÌ“-speaking xÊ·məθkÊ·É™yÌ“É™m (Musqueam) and sÉ™lilÌ“wÉ™taÉɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh SnÃchim-speaking Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation). Co-Founder of New(to)Town Collective, an emerging theatre collective aspiring to provide accessible, experimental training workshops. He is an emerging director, producer, playwright, screenwriter, drag artist, and theatre maker.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Carlos Bulosan Theatre Artistic Producer // Leon Aureus
Festival Co-Producers // Theatre Amihan’s Maddie Bautista and Adriano Sobretodo Jr.
Outreach Coordinator // Keshia Palm
Stage Manager // Angela Mae Bago