Anak ni Tapia: Leaving Mother at Potrero Stage

Chicago-based playwright Lani T. Montreal brings her acclaimed solo show, Anak ni Tapia: Leaving Mother, to San Francisco as part of Playground Experiment’s Free Play Festival this August. Following sold-out performances in Chicago in Summer 2024 and Spring 2025, this marks her fourth stop in her international tour after celebrated runs at FringeMI in Milan, Italy, the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and a fundraising performance in Toronto supporting ADHIKA, a 40-year-old Filipino-Canadian community organization.

Anak ni Tapia: Leaving Mother is a deeply personal and poignant exploration of identity, memory, and reconciliation. The show centers on the journey of an immigrant woman who grew up in the shadow of her celebrity mother in the Philippines. The title translates to “Child of Tapia,” a reference to the iconic character “Miss Tapia,” played by Lani’s mother, the late Mely Tagasa, on Philippine television from the 1970s through the 1980s.

In the play, Montreal blends traditional Filipino kundimans—folk love songs her mother once sang as a teenager—with multimedia elements, including vintage photos, video clips, and soundscapes that evoke the era of old-time radio, where her mother’s career began.

The performance charts Montreal’s migration from the Philippines to America, navigating the legacy of her mother’s fame, the pressures of cultural expectations, and her own identity as a queer Filipina immigrant. Through storytelling, humor, and raw introspection, Anak ni Tapia honors the complicated love between mother and daughter—highlighting a stern but passionate woman, a star whose presence loomed large, and the quiet strength of a daughter carving her own path.

Don’t miss this intimate and powerful theatrical experience that resonates with anyone who has ever sought to understand where they come from—and where they’re going. Tickets are by donation or pay-what-you-can. Please go to: https://playground-sf.org/boxoffice/