WRITING
Hanap
Theatre Development
Blacktown Arts Centre (2021-2023)
Writers: Rizcel Gagawanan & Mark Mariano
Dramaturg: Miranda Aguilar
Producer: Claudia Chidiac
Magnify presenters: Miranda Aguilar, Rizcel Gagawanan, Mark Mariano, Nova Raboy
Table read actors: Chrissy Mae Lacanilao, Juda Osbual, Nova Raboy
Hanap (to search, seek or find) follows siblings Ariel and Angel as they search for their missing mother, Agnes. The two must tap into the hyper-connected Blacktown Tita network to find her, but nothing prepares them for the lies and secrets they uncover along the way. In this vulnerable and confronting wild goose chase around Western Sydney, the siblings will need to put their differences aside for their Mum’s sake.
This work was co-created by myself and fellow Filipino-Australian writer, Mark Mariano during our artist residency for Blacktown Arts’ Magnify Festival.
Our collaboration started as a development project orchestrated by Sweatshop (a literacy movement in Western Sydney) and Blacktown Arts Centre during the Covid Lockdown in 2021. This lead to the creation of Hanap with further creative development in 2022 culminating in a presentation at the 2023 Magnify Festival.
To learn more about this project and our creative process head to Blacktown Arts or listen to our 4-episode podcast produced by The Western.
In photos: Magnify Photoshoot and Magnify Launch featuring resident artists
Photo credit: Liza Moscatelli, 2023 (Provided by Blacktown Arts)
In photos: Hanap development at Blacktown Arts Centre and presentation at Filipino restaurant Fiesta Avenue
Photo credit: Rizcel Gagawanan, 2023
Salt Baby
Theatre Development
CPAC, PACT (2020-2022)
Writers:
Miranda Aguilar
Annie Brockenhuus-Schack
Gloria Demillo
Rizcel Gagawanan
Jules Orcullo
This one’s for all the brown folks in the room. Are you tired of all the emotional labour you go through on a day-to-day basis? Are you sick of having to be someone’s teacher, therapist and mother all in one? Are you tired of white people asking you to fix them without any regard for your own hurt and trauma? Enter Salt Baby - a solo performance which asks the question: what if we could actually get paid for all the racist bullshit we deal with every day?
Salt Baby knows that we all want to “fix” racism. But as Audre Lorde says, the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. It is only by deeply investing in our communities, in kapwa, in each other, that we are able to rise up and heal.
This work was developed through the support of CreateNSW, Creative Australia (formerly Australia Council for the Arts), PACT Centre for Emerging Artists and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
In photos: Salt Baby showing at PACT Theatre in Erskineville, created and presented by Kallective, performed by Rizcel Gagawanan
Photo credit: PACT, 2021
Act Like A Filipino
Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry (Sweatshop, 2021)
Writer: Rizcel Gagawanan
Sweatshop is a literacy movement based in Western Sydney that is devoted to empowering culturally and linguistically diverse communities through reading, writing and critical thinking (Sweatshop). Racism: Stories on Fear, Hate & Bigotry (2021) is an anthology series showcasing thirty-nine stories by Indigenous writers and writers of colour. Each writer shares their personal experiences with racism, xenophobia and prejudice. My fictional short story ‘Act Like A Filipino’ explores what it’s really like being a person of colour in the entertainment industry.
Image credit: Jonathan Tumbel and Sweatshop, 2021
Double Debut
Online Series (In Development)
Creator/Writer: Rizcel Gagawanan
Double Debut is a coming-of-age short-form TV dramedy series about the Macatangay twins, Raquel and Reyna (Rey). As kids, the twins used to be inseparable, but everything changed when they started high school - now they’re constantly at odds with each other. Their fight at school provokes their mother Renita to reconcile her children before it’s too late. And with the twins’ 18 birthday approaching, what better way to reconnect than through a ‘debut’, a double debut.
A debut is a traditional Filipino party - a young woman’s formal introduction into society. Some say it is the most important event in a young lady’s life, second to her wedding. When I turned 18, my mother threw me a debut. For me it was a rite of passage and an excuse for a fancy party for my high school friends, but for her it was fulfilling a dream - she didn’t have the same privilege growing up. This story is for my mother and the mothers who live vicariously through their children. But it is also for the womxn in my community who are conflicted with the idea of what it means to be a “woman”, and the confusing messages our mothers and society tell us around how we should be more “ladylike”. This story is a conversation that explores these ideas, through the characters of Renita, Reyna and Raquel.
Note Taking
(Various Writers Rooms)
I am available as a note taker or writer for writer’s rooms. Contact me for my references.
Note Taking CV
Minority Report Mithila Gupta, Arcadia Films, 2021Deranged Marriage
Mithila Gupta, Guesswork Television, 2021The Unlisted: Season 2 Justine Flynn, Aquarius Films, 2019 Carpark Clubbing Monica Kumar, ABC iView, 2018
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