it is for when you meet me
Artist: Anjela Magpantay
Mainstage Presentation
Russian Hall (600 Campbell Ave, Vancouver)
Wednesday, February 4 @ 7pm
Saturday, February 7 @ 2pm
Duration: 50 minutes
Photo: Anjela Magpantay
Credit: By Avyen von Waldenburg
Image description: A photo of a woman with long dark hair in front of many cardboard boxes, some with lights coming from them. The woman is leaning over one of the boxes, and her face is dark, so we can’t see her features. The lights are making white and purple hues in the photo.
it is for when you meet me engages with the Filipino cultural phenomenon of gift-giving and the human nature of acceptance. What does it mean to gift-give as a way of connecting with loved ones who we are separated or distanced from?
The English translation of the Tagalog word Pasalubong is: A gift for when you welcome me. It is customary for the one traveling to bring thoughtful gifts back home for loved ones, often packed in big cardboard boxes, called ‘Balikbayan boxes’. Overseas Filipino Workers have modernly adapted this custom in situations where they can’t go back home right away, stuffing large boxes with Tim Hortons ground coffee, Centrum vitamins; new and used clothes, cans of SPAM, unwanted things that could be of use to someone else among other items in order to express love as well as the sentiment: I am coming soon.
Intermingling autobiographical material, verbatim texts and personal family histories, it is for when you meet me will guide the audience through a process of a literal unpacking of a Balikbayan box.
Created and performed by Anjela Magpantay
Lighting, Set and Props by Alexandra Caprara
Animation by Ronnie Cheng
Projection by Andie Lloyd
Sound Design, Composition and Dramaturgy by Nancy Tam
Stage Management by Bernice Paet
Production Assistance by TBD
Produced by Avyen von Waldenburg
it is for when you meet me is developed through Theatre Replacement’s COLLIDER Artist Residency, and has been supported through space residencies at Morrow by Odd Meridian Arts, with in-kind support from rice & beans and Theatre Conspiracy. Created with support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
ANJELA MAGPANTAY is a multidisciplinary artist and is a graduate from SFU with a BFA in theatre performance. She has worked nationally and internationally as a performer and collaborator in Hong Kong, the Philippines, the UK and across Canada. Anjela was recently the interim Artistic Director of rice & beans Theatre and Theatre Replacement’s COLLIDER artist in residence on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
CONTACT
Anjela Magpantay
anjela.m16@gmail.com
+1 604 761-3223
@anjela_magpantay_artist