Fil-Am theater groups with very weird names

SAN FRANCISCO - You’d probably expect Filipino American theater organizations to have such names as Bayanihan, or Mabuhay or Inang Bayan. But what’s up with "TnT?" Are they bragging about being undocumented? Or "Tongue In A Mood?" Hint: Say it really fast. Then there’s "Bindlestiff?" What in the world is that? A cocktail? A punk rock band? Well, believe it or not, these are Filipino American theater groups. One of them, Bindlestiff, the one with the weirdest-sounding name, is about to make history. The group is set to open a new theater in downtown San Francisco geared specifically for the Filipino American community. It’s an amazing achievement, although with the U.S. still reeling from a recession, the group needs help from the community. Bindlestiff certainly deserves the community’s support. The opening of the theater marks a high point in an incredible journey. Bindlestiff is one of several groups formed by FilAms – including immigrants and those who were born or raised in the US – that managed to engage audiences for more than 20 years with tales of the Filipino experience in America. "TnT" stands for Teatro ng Tanan, the now inactive, but once vibrant, theater company that attracted a sizeable following in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1990s. Disclosure: my wife was a founding member. From TnT emerged "Tongue In a Mood," co-founded by TnT alum Allan Manalo, which inspired a new generation of young Filipino American performers in the late 90s and early 2000s. It was around the late 1990s that "Tongue In a Mood" morphed into Bindlestiff. "Bindlestiff" means a wandering homeless person, and was first used to refer to hobos during the Great Depression. It was also the name of a small community theater founded by local artists in the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco in 1989. In 1997, Tongue In a Mood began performing at the theater which back then could seat less than a hundred people. "I thought it was an amazing space," Allan says. "It was located in a kinda sketchy neighborhood, but it was great." Sketchy because that section of the South of Market neighborhood is known as a hangout for locals with drug and other problems. But the SOMA also had a big Filipino community, many of them working class new immigrants. Manalo and his group were eventually asked to take over the space. It meant taking on a bigger responsibility, but the Tongue In A Mood saw an opportunity to have a space dedicated to Fil-Am performances. And the challenge involved dealing with city officials who wanted to tear down the building where the theater is located. After a long struggle, the city agreed to help create a new space for Bindlestiff. The economic meltdown caused the project to stall. But Manalo & Co. pushed on. Finally, the dream is finally about to become reality. Like for many non-profit theater groups, money remains a problem. Bindlestiff is trying to raise more money for seats and lighting equipment. "It’s tough all over," Allan says. "A lot of organizations are feeling the pinch now. And it’s harder for arts organizations... It’s going to be an ongoing challenge until we open and generate revenue for the theater." Fortunately there’s no shortage when it comes to ideas for engaging an audience. There’s a planned one-woman-show by a Filipina artist reflecting on her lola’s battle with Alzheimers. There’s a play that imagines Jose Rizal passing through Angel Island, the historic immigration center in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Asian immigrants, including Filipinos, were processed and detained. Bindlestiff will also feature the works of the group "Pinays Maintaining Sisterhood Through Art." Believe me, with Allan Manalo at the helm, Bindlestiff’s stuff won’t ever be boring. There’ll be a good mix of serious, deep dramatic material, and lots of fun theater. Allan is also a veteran stand-up comedian, after all. And he even spent a few years in Manila teaching a course on stand-up comedy. Tongue In A Mood itself became famous for off-beat takes on the Filipino American experience. Take the crazy sketch about how decorations commonly found in Filipino homes and banished to the basement come to life. The characters include a girl dancing the Tinikling, a naked man in a barrel and Jesus Christ. There was another memorable skit in which a young Filipino American wearing a tubao makes an entrance to gong music and introduces himself as Kali, a brown revolutionary against everything white. He struts and speaks like an African American homeboy as defends his having a white girlfriend. He declares: "She's as white as rice that be steamin' from my mama's cookin', white like the rosary beads my grandmother prays with every night, white like the rims on my Honda Accord." So expect fun crazy engaging theater from a group with a really weird name. "If everything falls into place," Allan says, "we will be one of the success stories for Filipinos Americans in the arts." And that’s one story worth supporting. For more information on Bindlestiff, check out their Web site at http://www.bindlestiffstudio.org On Twitter @KuwentoPimentel.