Pure Hybrids, Normal Aberrations explores what it
means to be Filipino
To seek what is purely Filipino to the exclusion
of all that is foreign and modern is futile. A melting pot situated
in the heart of Asia composed of more than 7000 islands, our nation
is intrinsically multicultural. We are one of the few peoples that
look favorably upon interracial relationships, hence such local
archetypes of beauty as mestiza and morena. Being Filipino has got
nothing to do with race, religion or even residency. We are a
migrant culture founded by seafarers. Filipino culture, by nature,
is inclusive. To a fault, we bear no grudges against our many
invaders and oppressors. Instead we accept every foreign influence
and subvert it into something uniquely Filipino—from American war
jeeps turned into folkloric jeepneys to Santo Niños and Nazarenes
worshiped fanatically as mestizo bulols. With Filipinos, mutant is
normal.
Ma-Yi Theater Co., the multiawarded ensemble based in New York City
whose previous productions of Lonnie Carter’s “The Romance of
Magno Rubio,” and Ralph Peña’s “FLIPZOIDS” received
critically acclaimed productions at the Cultural Center of the
Philippines, returns to Manila to launch its new ground-breaking
anthology “Savage Stage.”
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