 I’m so excited to see the talented original cast reprise their roles and to see their synergy with two newcomers.
It will be staged in UP-MASA PGH Science Hall on March 6, 2009 (7 to 9 pm). For ticket inquiries you can contact 09229758815 and 09164842662.
Bathroom Voices is a play about the lives of six teachers, who while waiting for their turn in a school presentation, find themselves exchanging their sentiments and thoughts on politics, society, jobs, education, religion and womanhood. Susan is an Economics and History teacher who fancies over theories and conventions and who defends the status quo. Maritess lives in with her boyfriend and maintains a very active sex life. Yayo is the naïve one. She longs for her prince charming and hopes that she meets her one true love soon. Katrina is a single mother and a thespian. She stays with her family and together with Yayo and Susan also nurtures affection towards Lando, the school janitor. Ilda is separated from her husband and tries to raise her children on her own. Poying is a lesbian. She is the most radical of all the six. Each keeps a secret. As much as possible, they try to shield their personal lives from the prying eyes of the school administration that, upon learning their respective plights, might summarily dismiss them from their posts.
Susan, Maritess, Yayo, Katrina, Ilda and Poying represent various types of women while the school administration stands for the society where they belong. Note that distributed in various parts of the play are morals, metaphors and subtle personifications.
When the six leave for the school gymnasium to perform, Imbestigador Heneral, a shrewd detective who was all the time hiding in one corner of the bathroom reveals himself and begins his quest for the murderer he suspects to be among the protagonists. A man was killed a day before the show and he believes that his initial information, preconceived ideas and typecasts of a woman will lead him to the author of the crime. While making his logical inferences, Lando, the heartthrob unwittingly discovers him. A philosophical intercourse then ensues. Later, he becomes instrumental in catching the alleged felon. Note that in this part, the postmodernist underpinnings of the play are fully threshed out.
The teachers return to the bathroom after their performance. The anger, the passion and the sentiments are higher this time. The characters realize many important problems with respect to the role that they portray in the society. It is deeply rooted in tradition, value systems, culture and social structures that are in the first place based on some mistaken notions of power and patriarchy. The discernment engages them to decide to deconstruct, break the apathy and go against conventions. Some of them are indeed agitated; while the others remain thoughtful and grounded in reality.
Just when the heat and the angst are about to increase again, Imbestigador Heneral, together with Lando and Miss Reyes, the school principal enters the bathroom. He is now convinced that Katrina is the killer. Confrontation between him and the other teachers follows. While he is explaining, Susan cuts him short and asks that she be arrested instead. Everyone is surprised.
The unseen gazes and facial expressions which only the mirror in the bathroom sees dispel the confusion. The Imbestigador Heneral might have ingenious ways to discover and capture the perpetrator but the smallest yet most important details have escaped his so-called very sharp senses.
Tanging banyo lang ang nakaamoy. Tanging salamin lamang ang nakakita. Ang dami. Sari-sari. Punum-puno ng kahulugan. Ang galing ng banyo. Parang alam niya lahat…
