Theater review: Youth unfiltered in ‘No Filter’

In "No Filter", an unstructured, disjointed series of monologues from theater upstart The Sandbox Collective, millennials dissect what it means to be, well, a millennial. Directed and executive produced by Toff De Venecia, the stage production is written by local creatives from diverse disciplines headed by Wanggo Gallaga and Jam Pascual, and stars eight PYTs (pretty young things), all of whom are themselves members of the demographic they are attempting to demystify.

"No Filter" opens with cast members entering the stage with their faces buried in their mobile phones. Right away we assume that this is going to be either a celebration or an indictment of this generation’s obsession with online connectivity and social media. Happily, the production does neither; what it does is merely acknowledge the starring role the internet plays in the lives of the first generation that truly grew up with it.

One after the other (and sometimes together), cast members reflect on the affairs and travails of the Filipino twentysomething. Highlights include Jasmine Curtis-Smith projecting a confident graphic designer and illustrator trying to bury deep-seated insecurities during a job interview; Micah Muñoz and Cai Cortez acting out the soul-sucking sport of modern dating (and yes, it IS a sport, with clear winners and losers); Lauren Young commenting on social advocacy in the age of so-called “armchair activism,” Mikael Daez delivering a contemplative, if somewhat moralizing speech about religion’s place in the hectic life of a millennial; and Khalil Kaimo railing against the irony of increasing detachment and disengagement in a supposedly more “connected” world in an impassioned spoken word piece.

There is also a hilarious segment on the phenomenon that is Tinder, an improv skit featuring the game F**/Marry/Kill, and a chuckle-worthy exchange entirely in emojis.

If any of these mean squat to you, you’re clearly not the target audience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t worthy of your attention. While it’s a mirror to the selfie-obsessed faces of the millennials it claims to portray, it’s a lifting-of-the-veil for everybody else outside of the primary demographic. (That means you, parents, titos and titas of millennials).

The trouble is that any attempt to document and demystify the youth will invariably end up falling short. Because if there is one thing this or any other generation, for that matter, hates, it’s being thought of as part of one homogenous mass devoid of unique traits and personal idiosyncracies. In other words, however much "No Filter" thinks it is accurately exposing the lives and loves of today’s youth, there will always be someone out there who will inevitably assert, “That’s not me at all.”

Still, to paraphrase Celine in “Before Sunrise,” the answer is in the attempt, and in this regard, No Filter is an unequivocal triumph. The writing hopscotches between self-aware and thought-provoking to hysterical and irreverent. Although painfully insular at times (I wonder how many can relate to the segment of a young woman who elects to fly to New York to live the dream of her mom), the dialogue for the most part drips with wit and crackles with truth.

The actors all do a fine job of being the poster kids of the Pinoy millennial, although the standout for me is Curtis-Smith, who seems to transcend her almost-ethereal beauty and actually earn the privilege of being called an actress.

No Filter is a visualization of what goes on in the heads of (some of) today’s youth in bite-sized pieces. I only wish the writers didn’t have to tie everything up with a neat little ribbon towards the end. The “this-is-who-we-are” message is clear and didn’t need to be drilled into audiences with a barkada-hanging-out, moral-of-the-story finish. But it’s a small gripe for a truly groundbreaking piece from The Sandbox Collective, a company I have come to admire for continuously pushing the conversation of what theater ought to be. — BM, GMA News

"No Filter" will have a limited run at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City from July 25 to August 2, 2015.  For tickets and other inquiries, call The Sandbox Collective at 585-6909 or 0917-8996680. Tickets may also be purchased through Ticketworld at 891-9999.

Paul John Caña is a magazine writer and live music geek. He is also co-founder of libreto.org, an online collective of writers and artists. Email him at pjcana@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram @pauljohncana.