CHUANG Stage & Company One Theatre Celebrate World Premiere Of Learning HOW TO READ BY MOONLIGHT

Boston Center for the Arts has announced the co-produced world premiere of Learning How to Read by Moonlight by BCA Launchpad Resident CHUANG Stage and Company One Theatre. This is a new play by Gaven D. Trinidad, directed by Natsu Onoda Power, with dramaturgy by Michelle M. Aguillon and will run at the BCA Plaza Theatre (May 16–25), Pao Arts Center (May 29–June 1), and The Umbrella Arts Center (June 5–8).

A poignant, playful, and deeply personal story, Learning How to Read by Moonlight follows six-year-old Eddie, who learns English from his imaginary friend while navigating the complexities of growing up in an undocumented family. This multilingual journey with music—performed in English and Tagalog with subtitles—examines the timely resilience of an undocumented Filipino family, weaving a tale of wonder, love, and unspoken truths.

This production further highlights Boston's community leaders and activism: a special guest narrator will join the storytelling each night, featuring local artists, community organizers, and elected officials. Playwright Gaven D. Trinidad shares: “American stories like this are threatened with erasure in today's cultural and political climate, and the humans for whom I've written this play are told they have no home. I believe deeply that the performing arts are essential in all our lives. Even in the brief time we share in a theatre, we can help satiate souls in need of care and comfort, remind people how to love, and rekindle our limitless capacity for compassion toward strangers. This is no easy feat, and I am deeply honored that Boston's CHUANG Stage and C1 will be the artists to usher in this world premiere.”

This production intentionally moves between venues—the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre (CHUANG Stage's residency home), Pao Arts Center, and a third venue to be announced—to meet Boston's communities where they are. By traveling between these spaces, Learning How to Read by Moonlight creates deep engagement with audiences in community spaces in service of neighborhood belonging.

“At C1, we deeply value our partnership with Boston's rising Asian American theater company, CHUANG Stage and its Executive Director, former C1 staffer Alison Yueming Qu,” says C1 Artistic Director Shawn LaCount. “Partnering to produce the world premiere of Gaven D. Trinidad's wildly imaginative and all too timely new play is just the right kind of exciting work we want to be investing in. And bringing back one of our favorite directors and artists, Natsu Onoda Power (Astro Boy and the God of Comics) is just the cherry on top!”

As part of CHUANG Stage and Company One Theatre's joint mission to make theatre accessible to all of Boston—especially working-class immigrants of Asian American descent, Learning How to Read by Moonlight will use a Pay-What-You-Want ticketing model. This approach empowers audiences to select a ticket price that best reflects their socio-economic status, ensuring equitable access to theatre for all. 

Alison Yueming Qu, Executive Director of CHUANG Stage, adds: “We are thrilled for this timely world premiere to set stage in and across Boston, helmed by a Southeast Asian American acting ensemble. This experience encapsulates everything CHUANG Stage stands for—joyful, radical, and multilingual storytelling that centers the lives of Asian American immigrants, where every night is a unique communal activism experience with a curated narrator leading the storytelling. Learning How to Read by Moonlight is a testament to our collective resilience, imagination, and the power of our neighborhoods.”

While his mother struggles to earn money in New York City and his father waits alone in Manila for their daily phone calls, six-year-old Eddie learns English from his imaginary friend. Between the War on Drugs in the Philippines and the anti-immigrant movement in the United States threatening their humanity, will this undocumented family be able to pursue their dreams and address unspoken truths? A musical and multilingual journey of childlike wonder, Gaven D. Trinidad's Learning How to Read by Moonlight is equal parts playful, poignant, and hella Pinoy.

To spotlight Boston's own community leaders and activism, a new narrator (a fellow artist, community organizer, or elected official) joins the storytelling every night. Learning How to Read by Moonlight is spoken in English and Tagalog with subtitles.

Learning How to Read by Moonlight is produced as a part of CHUANG Stage's LaunchPad theatre residency at Boston Center for the Arts.

Company One Theatre and CHUANG Stage are producing Learning How to Read by Moonlight to AMPLIFY:

The partnership between Company One and CHUANG Stage, and our shared value of activism through joyful, socially-engaged theatre that expands access through Pay-What-You-Want ticketing in Boston's neighborhoods and cultural hubs beyond traditional theatres.

The Tagalog/English experience of this play as a way to center immigrant visibility in the arts and celebrate authentic, communal storytelling that speaks to people of all language fluencies and cultural backgrounds.

Ongoing relationships with local and national community partners and organizations that support immigration and refugee justice, fight to end deportation, and work to build spaces of sanctuary for our neighbors who are navigating this country's volatile immigration system at a time of mass deportation and separation.

The imaginative and playful perspective of an immigrant child, which can inspire creativity, joy, and responsibility for the next generation in our collective work toward a better future.

The voice of first-generation, gender non-conforming, moreno Filipinx American theatre artist Gaven D. Trinidad, whose community-centered work ritualizes civic responsibility, cross-cultural and intergenerational perspectives, and racial healing. 

CAST

Elijah Punzal (they/he/siya) -— Player 1/Eddie

Jude Torres* (he/him) — Player 2/Jimmy

Christine Armenion (she/her) —  Player 3/Nanay

Alfredo Reyes (he/him) -— Player 4/Tatay

Nicholas Papayoanou (he/they) — Player 5/Misc.

Jenine Florence Jacinto (they/them) — Understudy for Player 1/Eddie, Player 2/Jimmy

*Appears courtesy of Actors Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Production, Creative, and Design Team

Playwright: Gaven D. Trinidad (they/he/siya)

Director & Scenic Designer: Natsu Onoda Power (she/her)

Dramaturg & Tour Director: Michelle M. Aguillon (she/her)

Music Director: Jeffrey Song (he/him)

Production Stage Manager: Becca Cottrell (they/them)

Costume Designer: Yao Kuang Lee (she/her)

Lighting Designer: Ashley Yung (she/her)

Sound Designer: Anna Drummond (they/them)

Props Designer: Kelly Smith (she/her)

Projection Designer: Grace Kroeger (she/they)

ABOUT BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community, and has for over five decades engaged the creative community for public good. While the organization's physical residence is in the historic South End, BCA touches every part of Boston's cultural ecosystem. A leading force in the city's cultural community, BCA has supported thousands of individual artists, small organizations, and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the Boston arts ethos. Through residencies and programming, BCA serves as an epicenter for an expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking. To learn more about Boston Center for the Arts visit bostonarts.org.

ABOUT BCA LAUNCHPAD REISDENCY

BCA Launchpad Residency supports the artistic and organizational growth of an emerging Boston-area performing arts company—a theatre, dance, or music company or ensemble. This multi-year residency provides resources to further develop artistic excellence, organizational growth, and audience engagement. The residency invites artistic risks and interdisciplinary creativity to challenge, provoke, and move audiences. 

ABOUT CHUANG STAGE 

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is Boston's Asian American professional non-profit theatre company, cultivating joyful and radical pan-Asian stories that pioneer translingual activism in the arts. CHUANG Stage envisions a future in the American theatre moved forward by theatre artists and audiences of Asian descent through innovative theatrical productions that focus on the diverse language needs of the pan-Asian immigrant community. We are nationally recognized for curating Asian American new plays and performances that advance the translingual aesthetic.

A resident company at the Boston Center for the Arts in the heart of South End, CHUANG Stage has become an artistic home for pan-Asian theatremakers in Greater Boston. Our Dynamic Productions engage audiences in Boston Chinatown and underserved Asian immigrant neighborhoods through impactful community engagement.

ABOUT COMPANY ONE THEATER

Founded in 1998, Company One has situated itself as a home for social justice and artistic excellence by connecting Boston's diverse communities through live performance, the development of new plays and playwrights, arts education, and public engagement programming. By establishing a dedicated space for marginalized and alternative narratives to thrive and working with partners and collaborators across the city, Company One has become a local leader in the ongoing conversations that continue to define the era of social change in contemporary America.

Company One Theatre's work falls into four main areas: Productions, Education, New Play Development, and Connectivity. Over its 20+ year history Company One has produced over 80 productions, employed over 1500 local artists, and has been awarded over 30 Boston theatre awards. We have served over 100,000 audience members and 15,000 students.