Gaven D. Trinidad’s LEARNING HOW TO READ By Moonlight Set For Benefit Reading At University Settlement
Ariel Estrada, Nicholas Polonio and Baba Israel join collaborators for one-night-only event supporting adult English classes.
Leviathan Lab, The Performance Project at University Settlement, The Sống Collective, Betterfly Productions, and New York Theatre Workshop will present a one-night-only benefit reading of LEARNING HOW TO READ BY MOONLIGHT, a play with music by Gaven D. Trinidad.
Directed by Nicholas Polonio, with puppets by Maria Camia, the reading will take place March 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Speyer Hall, 184 Eldridge Street in Manhattan. Tickets range from $5 to $100, with all proceeds supporting the Adult English Classes at University Settlement. No one will be turned away for inability to pay.
The play follows six-year-old Eddie and his Filipino immigrant family as fantasy and reality begin to blur. Set between the United States and Manila, the story incorporates music and multilingual storytelling in English and Tagalog, exploring questions of identity, migration, and belonging.
Each performance features a guest narrator experiencing the script for the first time alongside the audience. For this reading, the guest community reader will be hip hop theater artist and educator Baba Israel.
The work was previously developed with Leviathan Lab and premiered in Boston in 2025 in a co-production between CHUANG Stage and Company One, where it received a Critics’ Pick from the Boston Theater Critics Association Norton Awards.
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
The all-Filipino cast includes Sergio Mauritz Ang as Eddie, Vanessa Rappa as Jimmy, Kristian Espiritu as Nanay, Claro de los Reyes as Tatay, and Patrick Elizalde as Kuya.
The creative team includes projection design by Cinthia Chen and stage management by Sarah Samonte. The production is produced by Gaven D. Trinidad, Carolina Đỗ, and Ariel Estrada.
CARE ADVISORY
LEARNING HOW TO READ BY MOONLIGHT explores themes including mental health, racism, government-sanctioned police violence, and xenophobia affecting Filipino communities in the United States.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS
Leviathan Lab is a not-for-profit creative studio supporting Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander artists. The Sống Collective develops and produces work centered on Vietnamese American narratives. Betterfly Productions collaborates with artists from immigrant communities for stage and screen.
The Performance Project at University Settlement creates community-based arts programming, and University Settlement serves tens of thousands of New Yorkers annually through social services and education programs. New York Theatre Workshop supports artists through residencies, fellowships, and productions.
TICKETING AND INFORMATION
The benefit reading will take place March 26 at 7:00 p.m. at Speyer Hall in Manhattan. Tickets are available from $5 to $100, with proceeds supporting Adult English Classes at University Settlement.
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