Image by Mirko Stödter from Pixabay
Works by Conrad A. Panganiban:
Full-Length Plays:
ANG PALENGKE (THE MARKETPLACE)
DARYO’S ALL-AMERICAN DINER
ESPERANZA MEANS HOPE
GARDEN OF DREAMS
THE PERFECT AMERICAN
THE ACT OF CARE (WRITTEN WITH LAUREN ANDREI-GARCIA)
WELGA
One-Act Plays (Longer than 10 Minutes):
AMIHAN, THE TYPHOON SPINNER
DEVOTED (ONE-ACT)
OUR LAST DANCE
STANDING ABOVE PAJARO
THE FAMILY FRUCTUOSO
THE ROPE THAT BINDS
THICKER THAN WINE
WELGA (ONE-ACT)
10-Minute Plays:
B.A.D.A.S.S.
BEING CAREFUL
BORDERS
BOYS DON’T BAKE CAKE
CLICK, LIKE, AND MURDER: THE CASE OF THE KILLER LUMPIA
DEVOTED (10-MINUTE)
FLIPPED
HOLED UP AT THE DELTA
I’M HERE
INAY’S WEDDING DRESS
MAMASIHERO
MR. KILILKILI’S MOM AND HIS SECRET ASAWA
RELEVANT HISTORY (10-MINUTE SCENE FROM WELGA)
REMEMBERING THEM
RIVER’S MESSAGE
ROMERO AND JULIANNE
RYCE (WITH A Y)
STANDING ABOVE PAJARO (10-MINUTE PLAY)
SUNSHINE’S LAST WISH
THE CAT FROM IPANEMA
THE GIFT
THE INCREDIBLE INCENDIOS
THE INFINITE LINE BETWEEN ME, LOLO, AND LOCO
THE RUBY REDS
THE TACO BELLE OF FRUITVALE
THE TAIL OF THE SIREN
THE PROFESSION OF ONE MR. VALENTINE
THE ULTIMATE REVENGE FOR A MAN NAMED STAN
VAMPIRE SQUADRON 27
Synopses:
Ang Palengke (UPDATED 2024) – My very first script! PCN Script (CSUS 1995) – Story about the various people who live and work around the marketplace in the Philippines.
Daryo’s All-American Diner is about its struggling 40-something Asian-American co-owner, May Daryo, whose life and community are transformed after a violent attack on her family during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Full-Length Drama explores how something positive and hopeful comes out of a traumatic act of violence.
Esperanza Means Hope is a moving and emotionally charged Full-Length One-Act Play with Music about the journey of a Pinay singer/songwriter, Espy Tan, who battles domestic violence and the seemingly indifferent stance of her father and a community she once considered family. Commissioned work by My Sister’s House of Sacramento, CA.
Garden of Dreams explores the life of RJ as he learns to live again after the loss of his wife and child with the help of a herbal doctor, his off-the-wall best friends, and the lasting memory of a garden.
The Perfect American is about a Filipina entrepreneur, Beverly Marie Spencer, and her dream of teaching new immigrants how to become “perfect” Americans through her own television show. With the help of her teenage son, she seeks to make this dream a reality during a live audition from her Frankfort, Kentucky living room. In what was supposed to be a “flawless” presentation, a grocery store clerk from Kyrgyzstan and a cowboy from her past turns Beverly’s chance at stardom into chaos. Through the journey of this comedic play, it attempts to answer the question, “What ultimately defines The Perfect American?”
The Act of Care (written with Lauren Andrei-Garcia) – When an unexplainable virus begins to infect several patients and nurses at a local hospital, a reserved Filipina nurse, Olivia, is visited by creatures who lurk in the shadows of the illness. Are they the cause or the cure? The Act of Care is a horror drama that explores the humanity and inhumanity of the American Healthcare System.
WELGA is a Filipino American coming-of-age story of a high school teen, Johnny Montalban, whose dreams of becoming a famous musician is met with the dream of his mother’s for him to get his diploma first. Set in San Francisco’s SoMA Neighborhood, the play not only deals with this clash of dreams, but also with today’s educational system, community issues, and labor rights while being inspired by the Filipino agricultural workers who led the 1965 Delano Grape Strike.
Amihan, The Typhoon Spinner – Amihan, the teenage princess of the heavenly kingdom of Kalangitán wakes up on Earth’s Philippines after causing a typhoon. With the help of a mother lost in the storm, she learns that her gift mixed with anger issues make a bad combination.
Our Last Dance is a play about an ex-pair Harper and Noah and their first encounter since their break up with each of their new partners in-tow.
Standing Above Pajaro – On a desperate early morning in 1930, Celestino Tobera, breaks into the Watsonville General store seeking refuge from an angry mob threatening to kill all the Filipino Immigrant workers there. Melissa Crawley, the store owner, must decide between helping Celestino or the person in charge of the mob–her son.
The Family Fructuoso – Penny Fructuoso needs a scholarship in order to go to her dream school, but when a person from the scholarship committee visits her, the only thing in her way from getting the award shows up… her family.
The Rope That Binds is a One-Act Horror/Drama about two desperate people trying to leave the infamous Aokigahara Forest of Japan in two very different ways.
Thicker Than Wine – The Jacinto-Basa brothers, spoiled by their aristocratic upbringing, meet resistance from their strong-willed maid. Set in 1870, the adaptation of Tess Uriza Holthe’s “Portrait of an Aristocrat” deals with a sixteenth-century curse, corruption in the church, and racism. Note: This is the play that got me admitted into the MFA Playwriting Program at San Francisco State University.
B.A.D.A.S.S. – A Zoom Meeting of the Aswang Social Society, San Francisco Division opens with debates of a new name and the dwindling supply of food as the pandemic hits the Bay Area a year after Shelter-In-Place. What’s an Aswang to do?
Being Careful – When Stephen’s parents lock him and Melissa in a basement hoping to get a daughter-in-law out of it (with a possibility of a grandchild), things don’t happen the way they expect.
Borders – A chance encounter at a bookstore leads to something more than a flirty discussion about dreams, the novel, Wicked, the ramifications of being too social through online media, and a very jealous boyfriend.
Boys Don’t Bake Cake – Cousins, Lauryn and Kasey, try to convince their cousin, Madison that her best friend is really in love with her. So, on her graduation day, she’s faced with either going out into the real world with a friend or with the person who may think of her as more than that.
Click, Like, and Murder: The Case of the Killer Lumpia – After Chance Bartholomew, the despised food critic and Food Judge of Fog City’s 40th Annual International Food Competition, mysteriously dies after eating one of 3 different lumpias, the small Bay Area Town’s detective, Vincent Premsirat, and a Vloggler/Influencer, Monica Pascual, piece together the clues in the short whodunnit, CLICK, LIKE, AND MURDER: THE CASE OF THE KILLER LUMPIA.
Devoted is a love story told in three different languages (English, Filipino, and Spanish) through three different time periods (Present, 1986, and 1896) in ten minutes. “Can true love stand the test of time?”
Flipped is more of a 10-minute scene than a play which is about a real estate developer, Billy, his mom, June, and his finacé, Steffanie, whose ambition in flipping homes gets personal when they visit Billy’s childhood home.
Holed up at The Delta – A Short Crime Drama Mystery Told Through Time in One Space. In the 1920s, the Fil-Am mobster, Ben Montes, hides a briefcase in a hotel room at San Francisco’s Delta Hotel. Decades later, a seasoned Pinay detective discovers the grisly truth of the briefcase’s owner and why it was left there for her to find.
I’m Here – Siblings on a gameshow scavenger hunt have a strange request for a Filipina tourist and discover a surprising truth about her identity.
Inay’s Wedding Dress – Distance, difference, and alienation are explored when two sisters gather around their late mother’s Filipino wedding dress.
MamaSiHero – Ever wonder what kinds of super powers a mother of Asian descent would have? Well, wonder no more when a comic-book writer is pushed towards a deadline to save her job as she creates the ultimate superhero based on her Filipina Mom!
Mr. Kililkili’s Mom and His Secret Asawa – During a meeting in an Italian Cafe where an Assassin is hired for a job, he is suprised by the entrance of his Filipina mom who is on a pilgrimage to find God so she can ask Him when will her son finally give her a grandchild.
Relevant History – An adapted Zoom script written from a scene from my Full-Length Play, WELGA and performed by students from Cosumnes Oaks High School’s Wolfpack Performing Arts Program.
Remembering Them – A tourist discovers her Filipino-American past when she sees her granduncle’s barbershop chair in a museum.
River’s Message – River is faced with a dilemma of whether or not to help her best friend, Kennedy, in testing her computer science final project, a Facebook App to communicate with her mother who has recently passed away.
Romero and Julianne – A tale of woe between an unhoused person named ROMERO, and his foil, a city worker named JULIEANNE, as they battle over the possession of a home, aka a bench, in Golden Gate Park.
Ryce (with a Y) – is a short fantasy action comedy about the journey that engaged scientists Ernesto and Nanako go on when they invent the special low-carb rice alternative called Ryce. When they are confronted by a group of ethereal superbeings sent from the Rice Gods to stop them from going on a TV show to gain investors for Ryce, they are forced into making a decision that could either save the world or end their lives. Are you in… or out?
Standing Above Pajaro (10-Minute Play) – The 10-Minute version of my one-act, STANDING ABOVE PAJARO. This is a re-imagining of what could have happened on a dreadful night in Watsonsville, CA during the 1930 Racial Riots against the Filipinos there.
Sunshine’s Last Wish – Bas, the playwright, tries to convince Max, the producer, to fund his new play about a homeless girl named Sunshine and her Genie in a Barrel.
The Cat from Ipanema – A short comedy featuring a couple about love, marriage, and a cat traveling to Ipanema.
The Gift – On the quest to find out the source of her power to feel what others do, Ysa finds the donor of her heart and something more sinister that she can use this power for.
The Incredible Incendios is a 10 Minute Play about a pair of orphaned fraternal twins, MAX and ZOE, and their childhood friend, DIO the spark, who use their extraordinary gifts to wow audiences by igniting and bending fire until Zoe is presented with a once in a lifetime solo opportunity by a scheming RINGMASTER forcing Max to combust all of their dreams into flames.
The Infinite Line Between Me, Lolo, and Loco – While trying to take care of his grandfather, Rizal sees not only the make believe world of his Lolo, but also the dark past he’s desperately trying to escape from.
The Ruby Reds is the Noir Play that spins everyone’s favorite movie and musical on its head as The Wicked Witch of the West stops at nothing to get Dorothy’s Ruby Reds.
The Taco Belle of Fruitvale – When Marcel tries to mug the Taco Belle of Fruitvale, he’s offered the chance of a lifetime!
The Tail of the Siren – A tale of revenge about an old sailor who travels the wide ocean blue in search for the Mermaid that stole his lover and his heart.
The Profession of One Mr. Valentine – Anthony’s search for his soul mate almost disappears when he questions the abilities of Mr. Valentine’s job.
The Ultimate Revenge for a Man Named Stan – One of the NBA’s best players, Amadi Brooks, gets trapped in an elevator with one of his rabid twitter followers, Mojo510. Turns out that they have more in common than a shared experience in an elevator and a High School State Championship game – a man named Stan.
Vampire Squadron 27 – A squadron of Vampires discover their shared history as they begin a mission to take back land from their mortal enemies, The Wolves.
Biography:
Conrad A. Panganiban (he/him/his) is an award-winning Filipino American playwright representing the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays include Daryo’s All-American Diner, WELGA, and River’s Message. Conrad’s work has been produced by Bindlestiff Studio, The Chikahan Company, CIRCA Pintig (IL), the MaArte Theatre Collective, and CATS (Contemporary Asian Theatre Scene) . Awards include: Best Play of 2023, Daryo’s All-American Diner (BroadwayWorldAwards Chicago), Best New Play, Daryo’s All-American Diner (Chicago Reader, Best of 2023), Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund Awardee (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), 2023 New Voices in Comedy Writing Fellowship (Killing My Lobster), James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (SFSU), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist (Playwrights Foundation). Resident Artist: Bindlestiff Studio. Member: Dramatist Guild of America, and Theatre Bay Area. MFA, San Francisco State University. @consplayspace