A big part of producing my dissertation was producing Diwang Pinay in 2011. Diwang Pinay (Spirit of the Filipina) is an annual performance event in New York City showcasing Filipina/ Filipina-American performers, writers, and visual artists. This FiRE (Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment) event is one of the few venues solely dedicated to providing Filipinas and Filipina-Americans a platform to display their triumphs and struggles through art, linking history to the narrative of todays Filipina.

Last year FiRE collaborated with Kabalikat Domestic Workers Support Network, a program of the Philippine Forum, in Woodside, Queens to write, produce and direct a series of plays about the lives, migration and motherhood of Filipino domestic workers living and working in New York City.

The FiRE and Kabalikat collaboration used Theater of the Oppressed methodology and BITAW cultural exercises to engage intergenerational dialogue between Filipino immigrant and Filipino American women and produce this play.

The narratives used for this play production was based from the interviews I collected for my dissertation. The participatory analysis portion of my dissertation research was braided into this beautifully moving theater program that resulted in the play.

WATCH a scene below:

The videos below were the trailer and some snippets of our participatory research methods, theater of the oppressed games and just plain fun:

I’m still working out how to write my methodology appendix for my  because this method is a bit atypical but this research process is inspired participatory research, movement-building politics, social investigation/class analysis spirit and it feels right and meaningful for all of us involved in it. And I got IRB approval for it, so boom.

Not only was producing this year’s Diwang Pinay a huge, community-building effort between Filipino American women across immigrant generations (recently immigrated, first generation, 1.5 and second generations) and age and across class and professions, it also helped tremendously with sorting out and analyzing the data I was collecting through interviews and group interviews along the way. This is a video that will be playing at the talkback portion of the Diwang Pinay plays about the different methods we undertook to build a well of stories of migration and work and then whittle it down to scenes to a play. CLICK HERE. It has no music, so keep your Pandora on.

Diwang Pinay: Kasaysayan sa Likod ng Kababaihang Migranteng Mangagawa or Spirit of the Filipina: The Story Behind the Woman Migrant Worker will be playing this week and next.

Sunday, March 6, 2011 – 2pm matinee and 7pm
and March 13, 2011 – 2pm matinee and 7pm

DIWANG PINAY: Kasaysayan sa Likod ng Babaeng Manggagawa
The Story Behind the Woman Worker

Hunter College-Lang Recital Hall
WWW.FIRENYC.ORG
Hunter College-Lang Recital Hall
695 Park Ave.
New York, NY.10065

Buy your tickets now!!!
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/148331

Since February 2010, a group of Filipino women across generations, both age and migration, have gathered weekly to create an original staged play about migration, family and resilience. Diwang Pinay follows the story of Maria, a domestic worker in the NYC area who left the Philippines to support her family by migrating only to face challenges in a new city and figure out a way to survive. See the world through her eyes as a migrant and mother.

The process of creating this original work has bestowed a multigenerational group of Filipinas, immigrant and American-born, a unique experience to write, produce and direct stories about the lives of Filipino domestic workers living and working in New York City. This production is a collaboration between Kabalikat Domestic Worker Support Network, a program of the Philippine Forum and Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE)-Gabriela USA.