Multo: A Performance on the Representation of Undocumented Filipino Migrants and Overseas Workers through the Theatrical Form of Devising

• Main Author: Hechanova, Rigel Cassandra V.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Undocumented Filipino Migrants; Devising; Devised Performance; theatre; representation; Acting; Arts and Humanities; Theatre and Performance Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2022/arts_ta/1; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1128&context=conf_shsrescon
• Institution: De La Salle University

Undocumented Filipinos, often addressed to as “TNTs”, meaning “tago nang tago”, are people who resided in a foreign country against their established immigration laws. Although the matter of migrating and working overseas has been going on for a number of years, the matter regarding overseas illegitimacy has been rarely discussed through the Philippine art medium, specifically, the theatre arts. In line with this, the artist-researcher was inspired to create a multiple-act performance that provides representation to the lives of undocumented Filipino workers / migrants and their loved ones left behind through the theatrical form of Devising. In terms of the processes of study, the artist-researcher first held both pre-recorded and live Devised auditions for interested collaborators. After she had built her Devising company, the artist-researcher and her team conducted confidential interviews for former undocumented Filipinos and their loved ones left behind in gaining the necessary information for the curation of the Devised performance. Once the data gathering process has been accomplished, the artist-researcher, also known as the lead deviser, headed her collaborators in designing the production of Multo. All in all, the production of Multo is aimed to represent those Filipinos who have been in the experience of being Undocumented, as well as the families left behind in the Philippines through diverse artforms. Furthermore, it hopes to extend education and awareness through the use of the Philippine stage, emphasizing that these issues matter and exist.