Okay, after some considerable thought, among my current writing projects I am trying my hand as a playwright. My 2-act dramatic stage play, a Filipino kitchen is always OPEN, is based on my novel, UNFOLDING, As It Should.
The challenge is employing different writing techniques than employed to craft the entirety of a novel. Stage plays depend heavily on captivating character arcs and clever interacting dialog to keep the story moving in a way to engage and entertain an audience. My joy comes from revisiting the story it took me eight years to write and reconnecting with the characters I created, a sort of family reunion.
It takes place in 1989 West Los Angeles at a family kitchen after a Filipino pagdiriwang gathering on the first-year anniversary of their father Manny’s death. Each Paruparo adult sibling; Thomas, Pete, Auggie, Sam and Teesa must face their obligations to decide on the long-term care of their mother, Marita in her declining health. Each confronts their repressed childhood memories of physical and mental abuse she inflicted as they were growing up.
Teesa, the youngest and only daughter is determined to resolve their toxic family dynamic, not only for the sake of their mother, but to also honor their father’s memory. She slowly reveals uncomfortable private truths of Marita’s childhood. As a young orphaned war refugee in the Philippines, she was forced to endure the horrors of WWII. Teesa exposes many of Marita’s caterpillar facts that her brothers never considered, that ultimately guided her flight as a butterfly.
Understanding leads to uneasy resolutions and ultimate forgiveness, not only of their mother but of themselves as they all discover that things are not always what they seem.