Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
While sending in my “latest” bio for a festival that I’m truly honored be included in, I took a moment to realize just how Fililpino-American I want people to know about me. (quick note: I’ve been oscillating between using a hyphen or not between Filipino and American.)
Conrad A. Panganiban is a Filipino-American playwright representing the SF Bay Area. His plays include WELGA, ESPERANZA MEANS HOPE, and INAY’S WEDDING DRESS. Conrad’s work has been produced/developed by Bindlestiff Studio, San Francisco Playhouse, CIRCA Pintig, MaArte Theatre Collective, the Sinag-tala Filipino Theatrical Performing Arts Association, and the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA). Playwriting honors include the James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (SFSU), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist. Member: Dramatist Guild of America and Theatre Bay Area. MFA: Creative Writing – Playwriting, San Francisco State University. @consplayspace
Believe me, I wanted to add more (i.e. He is also a co-screenwriter (with Drew Stephens and Emmanuel Romero) for the Award-Winning Short Film, PRINSESA) but there was a 100 word limit, which I totally understand. But even if I could add my lone screenwriting credit, I still represent the culture I was born into as I’ve listed all of my Filipinx-American plays; with the exception of SF Playhouse, all are Filipino and Filipinx-American Theatre Companies (and one more that I’m not at liberty to publicize yet).
I think it’s because as I’ve matured into my voice as a writer, one of the mantras that I’ve attached myself to as a Playwright is, “Write the play that only YOU can write.” Going through the ranks with the belief that I am my own writer, my own being, I don’t really feel like I’m a human first and then a Filipinx-American second. I’ve come to understand that in my art, and in the playwriting and theatre worlds… everyone else is human and has very valid arguments about why they should write about the human condition. But when my writer voice transferred to writing the stories that only I can write, it’s created more focus and more me, my parents, my community.
Even though my bio isn’t as “worldly” as other writers with having more non-Fil-Am theatre companies listed, I’m truly honored to list the ones that have made me, me. Without any apologies for it… how un-filipino / asian / catholic / nice of me.