WHAT is it like to be a drag queen with a full-time job in a foreign country?
The musical Caredivas has been around for a while but it was only sometime last month that I finally got the opportunity to see this Philippine Educational Theater Association production.
I had high expectations, of course. PETA has consistently impressed me with the political and social relevance of its plays and the sheer talent of its performers. From recent memory there is Rak of Aegis, set amid the all-too-real context of extreme weather conditions, climate change and poverty. A girl dreams big—and finds love besides. The production uses the songs of the pop-rock icon Aegis band. Yes, they of the high notes and deep hugot.
Or you can have 3 Stars and a Sun, set in a futuristic society—what is left of the Philippines after a fallout, and where hegemony still exists despite, or because of, the controlled environment. If musicals could be dark and disturbing this—in rap, mind you—this would be it. It’s song and dance all right but not in a cheery way. And this is exactly why it works.
Earlier this year, there was Game of Trolls—about a group of Internet trolls working for a politician who does not have much respect for accuracy, and the ghosts of martial law.
And now, these five queens.
Chelsea, Kayla, Shai, Jonee and Thalia are Filipino caregivers in Israel. All of them saw working abroad as a solution to the grinding poverty they experience at home. Chelsea is lucky because she gets along with the old man she takes care of. Kayla—not so much. She has problems with her papers and the wife of his employer treats her like a slave. Shai is forever haunted by the words of her mother, alive and well back in the Philippines, always nagging her to send more money back home to take care of the extended family, including able-bodied siblings.
They try to put together a performing group—seeing how they all love to sing, dance, and doll themselves up—but encounter difficulties along the way: Chelsea’s patient becomes sick and eventually dies, leaving her hard pressed to find a new job before she is deported. She also falls in love with a Palestinian man who is evading authorities. Kayla does get sent home to the Philippines upon the discovery of her illegal status. Shai, the leader of the group, harbors resentment when they score a gig at a Tel Aviv bar but is prevented from performing.
Chelsea’s boyfriend also drives a wedge between her and her friends, as does the infighting and envy among them. In the end, Shai’s employer takes her to New York, the rest stay put where they are, and they manage to keep in touch through technology.
Caredivas is directed by Maribel Legarda and written by Liza Magtoto. Music and lyrics are by Vincent de Jesus, who also plays Shai. The July 9 staging was produced by lawyer Roy Allan Magturo.
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From popular culture, social media, and the experiences of family and friends, we know much about how it is to work abroad. The most common threads are stories of dire loneliness—everything is foreign, the old life seems so far away, and working conditions are difficult at the very least.
But not all employers are evil slave drivers, and not all Filipino workers are ill-treated. Chelsea’s Isaac, for instance, even teaches her Hebrew when he feels up to it. This is why she mourned his passing. Even in a foreign land, Filipinos are able to form connections with their employers, colleagues and other compatriots. Over time, these relationships can seem better than the ones they leave behind in their home countries, and provides all the more reason for them to stay. “Home” and “family” over time become relative.
The social and political situation of their host countries is also something we need to consider. Israel is a good example of how people have become accustomed to living amid conflict; curfews and searches are a fact of life and they carry on notwithstanding these. But just because you get used to such situations does not mean they become less threatening.
Finally, whatever the situation, one always needs an avenue to express oneself—it can be through a hobby, fellowship among compatriots, music, literature, art. The drag queens of Caredivas are no different. They take overseas jobs as a matter of survival, but they also need to achieve their potential and truly live.
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PETA will stage again, in September, Game of Trolls. I highly recommend it to millennials who will no doubt learn much, and be inspired much about what it was like during martial law, and how those memories and lessons spill over to where we are now.
Indeed theater is a reflection of who we are and what we aspire to be, individually and as a society. Carry on, PETA, and congratulations on the well-deserved Ramon Magsaysay Award!
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