Invitation from the Playwright

January 2023

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy New Year! I invite you to the NYC workshop production of Learning How to Read by Moonlight this upcoming February 2023!

I wrote this play at the very end of 2019. I was inspired by an image that kept creeping into my mind: a little chubby, brown, 6-year-old boy named Eddie who doesn’t have the tools to navigate his own anger except when he pretends to be the Filipina superhero Darna. (He’s not too far from the child I was.)

As I was trying to understand Eddie's anger in my rewrites, U.S. President Trump's anti-immigrant policies and Filipino President Duterte's War on Drugs flooded the news. I witnessed how these global politics affected and threatened the lives of my friends here and in the Philippines. Even as an adult, I still didn't know how to express how I felt. This political turmoil became the backdrop to the story of Eddie and his family's search for sanctuary. It was then that Eddie and his family’s story started to piece itself together. I finally knew what to say.

Every play, poem, or song I write is an inquiry into whether or not love truly exists in this world of cruelty. Time and time again, I prove to myself that it does, to varying degrees. This play in particular has made me believe again in the kindness and the good of humanity. I want to share this love and generosity with you... also, the play is *hella* Pinoy and queer! With your help, the production will also raise money for an immigrant rights advocacy organization in the city. 

Thank you, and I hope to see you there!