May 14 - 18, 2024
Vicky meets her estranged adult niece for the first time and must come to terms with grudges, memories, and regrets buried deep in her family’s past. Three generations of Filipina women hop between an ocean and time, memory and dreams. Set in Canada and the Philippines, Homecoming is a visceral show with moments of magic that reach into the afterlife, exploring cultural identity, familial duty, and delicious Filipino food.
Homecoming asks, what is home for those of us who are displaced, who are stuck, or who have never known a home? And more importantly, can we ever make our way back?
In this world premiere, Sediego tells a complex story of home that is raw, intimate, and full of humour.
Urban Ink would like to acknowledge support from:
Aaniin friends to Homecoming,
We are proudly producing this work on the traditional, and unceded Indigenous territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We honour the past and future caretakers of this beautiful land.
We are so thrilled to welcome you to this very special performance. We’ve been working with playwright Kamila Sediego since 2016, and this world premiere production of Homecoming is a celebration of this unique and beautiful story she has to share.
We’re so grateful to Kathara Society, a Philippine Indigenous Arts Collective that we have been working with to realize this production in relationship with the community.
If this work is meaningful to you and touches your heart, please consider becoming a donor to Urban Ink. This work is only possible because of so many invaluable donors and supporters. Miigwetch for being here and supporting live theatre,
Corey Payette & Cindy Reid
Artistic Director & Managing Director, Urban Ink
Corey Payette, Artistic Director
Cindy Reid, Managing Director
Amy Cornish, Operations Manager
Fabian Aspell Morales, Producer
Cheyenne Scott, Producer - Community & Outreach
Monice Peter, Khari Wendell McClelland, Artists in Development
Bonnie Allan, Publicist
Vanessa Yip, Graphic Designer
Sung Yang, Bookkeeper
Scott Tearle, IT Consultant
Amy Benson-Russell, President
Jorge Zylberberg, Treasurer
Kelsey Croft, Secretary
Francis Chang, Vice President
Donna Wong-Juliani, Director
Robin Dean, Director
Nick Peragine, Director
Kim Barsanti, Director
Lauren Duffy, Director
Lyle Dixon, Director
I was 24 when I started Homecoming. I grew up watching my parents make a new land feel like home. I heard the echo of lost communication to Piñas. I heard the stutter of my lost mother tongue in my mouth. I didn’t know what I was “supposed” to be, who I thought I was, and who I wanted to be. Homecoming sprung from an ache to connect, a yearning to find my path.
Now 10 years later, I feel grounded. I’ve been privileged to go home, and finally got to meet my family, absorb a little of Kinaray-a, and hear my mama and papa laugh– not as “my parents” but as Franco and Remy. I’ve looked outside my neurotic self and felt my hands lift at both sides, held tight by my community. I’ve learned that the only “supposed” to be, my main navigation, is what I want for myself as a woman, as an anak/ate/tita, as a Filipinx-Canadian, as a theatre artist, as a good person.
For those struggling with cultural identity, know that there isn’t a guide, or a “supposed” to do this, be that, look like this, sound like that. We are our own compass. We decide what hybridity, what complex identities, what diaspora looks like. With our ancestors by our side and with the generations hereafter waiting, we are living history.
Salamat to everyone who has been on this journey with me, to everyone here witnessing, and especially to those whose magnetic needle still shakes.
Kamila Sediego, Playwright
It is with immense honor and gratitude that I present to you the beautifully crafted play Homecoming by Kamila Sediego. This production holds a special place in my heart as it allows me to personally connect with the story I’m directing, a rare and cherished experience. Collaborating with Kamila and our incredible team of artists, designers, and storytellers has been nothing short of empowering. Each individual brings their personal connection to this work, resulting in a production that we can all take pride in. Homecoming delves into the intertwined generational depiction of the effects of migration: the journey of leaving home and the complexities of coming back. This narrative holds a mirror to the human experience, reflecting themes of identity, belonging, and sacrifice.
I dedicate this production to my mother, whose immigration journey echoes aspects of Tess’s story. She was the first to leave, carrying the weight of her dreams and challenges as she forged a new life in a vastly different world. This dedication is a tribute to all those who have embarked on similar journeys, highlighting the resilience and strength found in the face of adversity. Thank you for joining us on this ride of exploration and discovery. I hope Homecoming resonates with you as deeply as it has with all of us involved in bringing this story to life.
Congratulations Kamila! Maraming Salamat for this opportunity, Urban Ink!
Hazel Venzon, Director
Kamila Sediego (she/her/siya) is a Filipinx settler, child of immigrants, sister, auntie, playwright, and dramaturg privileged and grateful to live on the stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Her known ancestral roots are embedded in Manila, Cebu, and Iloilo, Philippines.
Through her writing and dramaturgy work, Kamila seeks the stories in the dark, waiting to be illuminated, and the silenced IBPOC voices, demanding to be heard. With a focus on community building, collaboration, decolonization, and spiritual/ancestor-informed practices, she strives to break theatrical and storytelling norms. She is a Playwrights Theatre Centre Associate, and is a Resident Dramaturg of Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre’s Creation Lab (formerly known as the MSG Lab). With the care and support of many, she is exploring trauma and its relation to Filipinx folklore, legacy, and spiritual safety in her new show, Engkanto.
Growing up within the Vancouver Filipino community has been a constant source of complex inspiration and curiosity. It’s because of the love, strength, and joy of Filipinos and Filipino culture that she is where she is today. Kamila is humbled, and so thrilled to finally share Homecoming.
Hazel Venzon was born and is based in Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg. A multi-faceted director, Venzon’s diverse experience working as a theatre artist has greatly influenced her current directorial practice. Early on, she found that conventional plays did not accurately represent the multicultural world she occupied. Since then, Venzon has created opportunities to collaborate with independent companies that bend the rules of character. Hazel is the co-creator, co-director of Everything Has Disappeared (supported by the National Creation Fund) which premiered at Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE), this February 2024. In collaboration with Mammalian Diving Reflex, this work anchors Venzon’s approach to theatre, fine-tuning her community outreach processes - creating pathways to demographics and audiences that would not typically engage with theatre - integrating community within the story.
Formerly the artistic associate at PTE and the associate director on By Grand Central Station and Bad Parent. Hazel’s digital work, Places We Go, was presented by PTE, Carousel Theatre and Stratfest @ Home. She continues to pursue directing and has made her RMTC Mainstage debut with The Mountaintop by Katori Hall, February 2024. Her acting, producing performing and directing work spans across Canada working with: Magnetic North Theatre Festival, PuSh, Luminato, Theatre Projects Manitoba, UofW Theatre and Film, Art Holm, Manitoba Association of Playwrights, Rainbow Stage, Young Lungs, Volcano, Cahoots, FuGen, Soulpepper, Nakai, Gwaandak, Yukon Arts Centre, vAct, The Chop, Theatre Replacement, Urban Crawl,The Belfry, Green Thumb, The Caravan Farm, Boca Del Lupo, Ruby Slippers and Rumble.
Independently, for the past dozen years, her focus has been on directing and producing Filipino-Canadian centred stories. Venzon co-founded U N I Together Productions (2016) which supports the evolution of Filipino storytellers across the country.
A Filipino-Canadian artist with a BFA in theatre and dance from Simon Fraser University. She has performed and toured in Europe and across North America, which brought her to Ontario, where she now lives. B.C will always be her second home. For the past 10 years she has shifted gears and focused on film/tv and plays in development through workshops and playreadings. She loves the journey of developing new work.
Selected theatre credits include People Power (Co-produced with CBT and Teesri Duniya Theatre), Future Folk (Sulong Theatre Collective), The Place Between (Native Earth Performing Arts), Tiger of Malaya (Factory Theatre). Selected film/television credits include Titans (HBO), The Book Club (BravoFact!), Workin’ Moms (CBC), Suits (USA Network).
Thank you to Adam and Alvy for being my biggest fans and all the support. Jackson, Tracey, and my little nephews for hosting me. Mom and Dad for making that leap and we all moved to Canada. Also, maraming salamat to Urban Ink for giving me this opportunity. Homecoming has been a full circle moment, a wonderful re- set, and ignited that excitement to play on stage once again.
Rhea leads a double life. By day she is a recruiter, business owner and kids fitness instructor. By night, she is an actor with dreams of producing a FilipinoCanadian centered series. Training in many studios around Vancouver, Rhea has been able to learn under some fantastic teachers and mentors and is ever expanding her own community of friends and fellow artists. Starting out as a child singer and performer, Rhea has been able to find a real love for both stage and screen. Participating in plays such as Cashless and Pieces of 8 [Publius Productions and Vancouver Fringe festival] and Carrots, Baby? [Tomo Suru Players]. And an assortment of short/independant films and web series. A few notable projects are Artistahon [Bulan Productions], Come Around [VFS - Featured at VQFF shorts lineup and streaming online], Totally Normal [Purple Jacket productions]. Rhea is always keen on working on projects that speak to her roots and experience. To bring this story and character to life is such an honor and will forever be a highlight of her career!
Lissa Neptuno is grateful to be part of Homecoming, and can confidently say that Vicky is the role of a lifetime for her. Lissa is an award-winning actor, writer, and producer who was born in Brunei, raised in Western Canada, and is currently based on the unceded territories of the Qayqayt First Nation. With her classical theatre and film training, she has been able to work all across BC and Canada, and in Europe. Notable credits include originating the role of Ms. McToria in Division Infinity Saves the World! (Neworld Theatre), Mara in Lili Robinson’s Kindling (Neworld Theatre), and playing memorable characters in The Five Vengeances (Affair of Honor); bad eggs (unladylike co); B (Rumble Theatre); and The Nether (RedCurrant Collective). Lissa has successfully produced a handful of short films and plays, and can be heard next in the award-winning video game 1000xRESIST. She credits her parents for her lifelong love of acting and is grateful to have their support.
Malaking karangalan at pasasalammat ni Lissa Neptuno na maging bahagi siya ng Homecoming, (Ang pag-uwi sa Tahanan). Ginampanan ni Lissa ang papel na Vicky nag sasalaysay ng buong kasaysayan ng palabas na ito. Isang award-winning na aktor, manunulat, at producer si Lissa na isinilang sa Brunei at lumaki sa Kanlurang Canada. Sa kasalukuya siya ay tagapagtaguyod at tagatangkilik ng teritoryo ng Qayqayt First Nation. Sa kanyang klasikal na teatro at pagsasanay sa pelikula, nakapagtrabaho siya sa buong BC at Canada, at sa Europa. Masasaabing kabilang sa mga kilalang kredito at tagumpay ni Lissa ang pinagmulan ng papel ni Ms. McToria sa Division Infinity Saves the World! (Neworld Theatre), Mara sa Lili Robinson’s Kindling (Neworld Theatre). Siya ay gumanap din ng mga di malilimutang karakter sa The Five Vengeances (Affair of Honor); bad eggs (unladylike co); B (Rumble Theatre); at The Nether (RedCurrant Collective). Matagumpay na nakagawa si Lissa ng mga maikling pelikula at dula, at susunod na maririnig sa award-winning na video game na 1000xRESIST. Pinasasalamatan niya ang kanyang mga magulang na nagbigay ng daan sa kanyang mga tunghayin sa buhay. Ang kanyang mga magulang ang unang nagbukas ng kanyang mga nais nia sa buhay. Kasama na rito ang kanyang pagpasok sa pag aartista.
Carmela Sison (she/her) is a Filipina-Canadian artist living and working on the stolen land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA in Acting program and has been working in theatre and film since 2010. Select theatre credits include Miss Bennett: Christmas in Pemberley (Arts Club), Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice (Bard on the Beach), Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Calgary), Are We There Yet?, Consent, Under Cover (Concrete Theatre), Cowboy Vs. Samurai (Chromatic Theatre).
Beyond acting she has also taken on producing, arts administration, and coaching for young actors. She is a past participant of Workshop Theatre Montreal’s Glassco Translation residency in Taddousac, Quebec, rice & beans theatre’s DBLPSk program and recently completed a two-year translation and adaptation development of A Taste of Empire by Jovanni Sy titled Lasa ng Imperyo. For the immigrant parents and others before us who sacrificed so much so our lives could sing.
Lisa is an interdisciplinary artist working as an actor, choreographer, intimacy director, and producer. Select acting credits include Volare (Prairie Theatre Exchange), Sedna (Caravan), Les Filles du Roi (Urban Ink), and Busted Up (Open Pit Theatre). Other recent credits include Associate Movement Director and Intimacy Director for Choir Boy (Arts Club) and Movement Consultant for Red Velvet (Arts Club).
In 2018 Lisa was Resident Choreographer with the Filipino folk dance company Kababayang Pilipino, and has performed with KP throughout Italy (Latium Festival), Portugal (FolkMonção), and at pretty much every Filipino wedding in town. Upcoming: Intimacy Direction for Guys and Dolls (Arts Club), as well as Twelfth Night and Hamlet (Bard on the Beach). She is a graduate of Studio 58. Daghang salamat sa pagsuporta sa live theatre!
Melanie Thompson (she/her) is a freelance stage manager and arts administrator based in Vancouver, BC. Selected theatre credits include Starwalker (Urban Ink), Carmen (Pacific Opera Victoria - ASM), S’effondrent les vidéoclubs and Nos repaires (Théâtre la Seizième), Berlin: The Last Cabaret (City Opera Vancouver), SRO (Urban Ink), Away With Home (MISCELLANEOUS Productions), The Full Light of Day (Electric Company Theatre – Appr. SM), La bohème (Vancouver Opera – Appr. SM), Les Filles du Roi (Fugue Theatre/Urban Ink – ASM), Rock Legends (Chemainus Theatre Festival –Appr. SM), Sonic Elder (The Chop), The Out Vigil (FirePot Performance), The Last Five Years (LionFish Entertainment), Underneath the Lintel (Pacific Theatre), Shrek: The Musical (Theatre Under the Stars), and Arvaarluk: An Inuit Tale (Pangaea Arts).
Outside of the theatre, Melanie works as an administrator and communications manager for the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO), and also writes grant applications and other copy of all kinds for the VICO, DreamRider Productions, and other clients in the performing arts. She is a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Under the Stars.
Jennifer Anne Wilson is an Alum of the SFU Fine Arts Program, with a focus on Stage Management. After graduation, she spent three years with Princess Cruises working with the entertainment department. Following that, she stage managed many of the smaller stage productions in the Vancouver area, her favourite being Baccio Rosso. She also had the opportunity to travel across Canada with Canada’s Ballet Jörgen and it was a great way to broaden her knowledge in stage management and to see our beautiful country. She is very excited to be working in theatre again and hopes that you enjoy the show!
Jonathan, better known as Jono, is a Korean-Canadian lighting designer who currently lives and works on the unceded, stolen and ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories (Vancouver, BC). He is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s Theatre Production and Design program. Recent credits: Bright Half Life (Persephone Theatre); Empire of the Son (Pacific Theatre); Peace Country (rice & beans theatre); How Black Mothers Say I Love You (the frank theatre company); Zahak, The Serpent King (The Biting School); Into the Woods (Studio 58); CHILD-ish (Pacific Theatre); How to Believe in Anything (dreamphase productions); Jade Circle (rice & beans theatre); Red Velvet (Arts Club Theatre Company).
Stephanie is a Vancouver based costume designer and holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Production from UBC. Costume Design credits include: As Above (Belfry Theatre); Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Arts Club Theatre Company); Grease (Western Canada Theatre); Something Rotten! (Theatre Under the Stars); How the World Began (Pacific Theatre); Cipher (Vertigo Theatre). Film & TV credits include: DC’S Legends of Tomorrow (Head Cutter), The Magicians (Cutter). Other credits: Ovation and Jessie Award winner for Costume Design, CAFTCAD Award nominee in Excellence in Costume Building. Currently, Stephanie is the Assistant Costume Designer for a new Apple TV+ series.
David Oro is the Founder and Creative Director of Studio SariSari and Co-Founder and Visual Developing Director of U N I Together (UNIT) Productions. A Visual Developer for video games, film, and print media. He is an illustrator, painter, animator, storyboard artist, graphic designer, concept design artist, and set designer. Born in Manila, now based in Treaty 1 Territory, Winnipeg. His work can be found on SONY, Disney, CBC, Bell MTS Fibe TV1, Shaw Media, and Frontier games.
Cearamarie Noreen Sajolan is a Filipino-Canadian artist born and raised in Cebu, Philippines. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Victoria. Her work revolves around Set & Lighting Design, Drawing, Painting, and Scale Modelmaking. She aims to continue developing her artistic skills for theatre projects that demand new ways of thinking. Noreen hopes to do her share in uplifting those around her through the arts. Selected credits include: Would Virginia Woolf Contemplate Suicide If She Were Filipino? (Lighting Designer - rEvolver Festival), buto/buto : bones are seeds (Set and Lighting Designer), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Assistant Set Designer - UVic Phoenix Theatre), Amadeus (Assistant Set & Projection Designer - UVic Phoenix Theatre).
Spencer Ocampo of SEEKERSINTERNATIONAL (or SKRSINTL) is a Filipino audio-visual artist project based in Richmond, British Columbia with roots in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
SKRSINTL produces experimental electronic music influenced by Jamaican dub and sound system culture and all its diverse mutations. Their covert sound art experiments revolve around themes of manufactured landscapes and identities, invisible minorities, twisted timelines, multiplicitous realities and codified cosmology.
Previously known only in their own circles, peer-to-peer networks and Usenet newsgroups, SKRSINTL first debuted their recorded work to a wider global audience in 2008 and have since been consistently releasing music works on notable labels such as Sneaker Social Club, Bokeh Versions, Berceuse Heroique, No Corner and Warp Records in the UK; Diskotopia and Riddim Chango Records in Japan; Duppy Gun, Future Times and Boomarm Nation in the US; as well as their very own imprint, ICS Library Records.
Their music has also found a stable outlet in radio stations across the globe, most notably BBC Radio and NTS Radio, establishing their unique voice and unmistakable presence in contemporary electronic music today.
Nathania is a Filipino-Canadian actor, choreographer, director, writer and producer and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and Education from Concordia University of Alberta. She is grateful for the incredible opportunities to intensively train as an actor in different mediums abroad. Training with such Schools and Companies like the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art(London), SITI Company(New York), Zen Zen Zo (Melbourne), Diavolo Dance (Los Angeles), Rapier Wit (Toronto), DynamO Théâtre (Montreal) and Second City (Chicago). Nathania has a profound love for physical theatre. She is President on the Board of Directors and an apprentice with The Academy of Fight Directors Canada. Nathania is the Artistic Director of Affair of Honor(AOH), a Jessie nominated company she created with Jackie T. Hanlin. Catch her in the Vancouver debut of AOH’s new work Multi - Vs in the 2024 rEvolver Festival at the Cultch Historic in May. Nathania is excited to be a part of the Homecoming production team who are bringing Filipino stories to the stage.
Jackie T. Hanlin is an actor, fight choreographer and producer hailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She received her BA in Drama from Bishops University in 2015, and moved to Vancouver where she began her stage combat studies and work with her fight/producing partner Nathania Bernabe, co-founding Affair of Honor. Jackie is currently an apprentice with The Academy of Fight Directors Canada. Since 2015 she has had the pleasure of being an actor, choreographer, writer and producer within Affair of Honor, producing Qui Nguyen’s Soul Samurai (Vancouver Fringe festival 2017/18) in which the fight and movement design received a Jessie Nomination in 2018, Karen Basset’s Heroine (Edmonton Fringe Festival 2018), House of Arms: an improvised fight episodic (2018), Playthings (Edmonton Fringe Festival 2019/Presentation House Theatre 2021), Fairlith Harvey’s Kill The Ripper (Presentation House Theatre/Rio Theatre 2022) Jovanni Sy’s The Five Vengeances (Shadbolt Centre for the arts 2022) and Multi-Vs (Edmonton Fringe 2023).
Joanna Garfinkel is Dramaturg, Creative Engagement at Playwrights Theatre Centre and co-founder, with Yoshie Bancroft, of Universal Limited. Current dramaturgy: National Queer & Trans playwriting unit; UL’s To the Sea; Kamila Sediego’s Engkanto, José Teodoro’s Binary Star, Christina Cook’s PTMYTS, Tara Cheyenne’s Pants, and Anais West’s Tomboy. Co-creator, with Yoshie Bancroft, of JAPANESE PROBLEM, a piece about the Japanese Canadian Incarceration, performed site-specifically in Vancouver, at Soulpepper in Toronto, and more. Joanna is struck by the systemic inequities that repeat in Canada, and commits to trouble those patterns through performance. Other credits: Berlin: The Last Cabaret (PuSh), PQLB, (Passe Murailles) Nominated for three Jessie awards; Pure Research grant (Nightswimming), Sydney Risk award for directing. Joanna moved to Unceded Coast-Salish territory to get an MFA in directing at UBC, and focus since has been primarily in new play development, multidisciplinary, and site-specific work. She has trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in New York.
Sarah is a Filipina Canadian multidisciplinary artist, grateful to be living and working on the Unceded Territories of the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam Nations. Sarah holds a Theatre Diploma from Douglas College and a BFA in Acting from UBC. Selected performance credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Vertigo Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bard on the Beach), Mary’s Wedding (The Firehall Arts Centre), In Wonderland (Alberta Theatre Projects), Robinson Crusoe + Friday (Axis Theatre), and Pride and Prejudice (Arts Club). Sarah is also the Resident Festival Curator for rEvolver festival.
anata laylay is a trans nonbinary Filipinx ancestral medicine worker and curator from the rivers and hills. They are from Hagonoy, Bulacan and Catanauan, Quezon. Currently, they are living on stolen and unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, səlilwətaɬ land. They have curated for Luna Collective Film Festival, Sunstroke Magazine, Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and DOXA Documentary Film Festival. In June of 2023, they curated the exhibition, “bahay na babalik-balikan” which was showcased at The James Black Gallery featuring work from Sherine Menes, Milo Canlas, and Milan Franco Orosco. Other artistic practices that anata laylay partakes in can be found in their work as a film colourist for shorts such as “Sinvergüenzilla in First Kiss” and “Don’t Text Your Ex”, a graphic designer for Luna Collective Magazine, Collective 4891, and So Mayer’s 2023 TLC Podcast, and as a Digital Content Creator for It Gets Better Canada.
Outside of curating, anata laylay is focused on community organizing, activism, and continuing to learn and share knowledge as a Filipinx healer and ritual worker. Through continued learning with mentors such as Kai Delgado-Pfeifer, Angela B. Angel, and Apu Adman Aghama, anata laylay is deepening their ancestral medicine knowledge and continues to share food knowledge, Hilot (Filipinx bodywork and ritual), and ancestral altar spaces to their communities. They are committed to honouring their ancestors, community care, decolonization and fighting for national democracy and genuine liberation!”
Babette Santos (They/Them/Siya) are a proud Decolonizing Queer Artist, inter-generational thriver, and a mother of 2. They’re 2nd generation Filipino/a/x born in Treaty 1 (Winnipeg) with maternal mixed ancestry that spans from western Bisayas of and to more recent findings to Southern Mindanao and on theyre paternal side in Northern Luzon in Pampanga, Spain and Southern China. Since 2002 Babette is the A.Director, Cofounder and Artist of Kathara Canada, mentored by Kathara in Davao Elenita Dumlao who created ceremony for Babette and JR to become adopted member of Bagobo Tagabawa tribe in 2012 in ceremony of building, dancing, playing music and feasting with Chief Datu Reynante.
In 2010, Georgia strait was awarded as Bright Lights of Vancouver and has passionately led spreading awareness of pre-colonial identity of Mindanaoan indigenous dance, and Filipino Martial arts-Arnis by presenting in festivals, workshopping in schools, community centres inspiring children and youth throughout Canada.
Since the pandemic they’re interested in greater explorations of movement and film, storytelling and bringing these indigenous knowledge systems into many spaces for healing. Babette is also anew BOD to Pinoy Pride to increase awareness and create programs to support LBTQ+ youth and families. Their 2024 visit to the Motherland visit brings depth to their ancestors and indigenous knowledge from T’boli.
Thank you to the artists who have been part of the Homecoming development since 2016, including: Rachel Ditor, Joanna Garfinkel, Spencer Ocampo, Ashley Noyes, Lisa Goebel, Lissa Neptuno, Jesse Del Fierro, Sarah Roa, Letitia Brookes, Seth Whittaker, Troy Emery Twigg, Kim Villagante & Jordan Waunch. Thank you to Chris Lam.
Kamila would like to thank everyone who has made Homecoming possible: the host nations of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TsleilWaututh whose land this work was created and now comes alive on, the Urban Ink team, Corey Payette, everyone at The Cultch and Evergreen Cultural Centre, Hazel Venzon, the cast, crew, and creative team, Babette Santos and everyone at Kathara, anata laylay and all the installation artists, all my dramaturgs including Joanna Garfinkel, Reneltta Arluk, Lindsay Drummond, Rachel Ditor, the UI Writers Group, the Playwrights Theatre Centre and Block A with mia.amir, every fellow playwright who has given her feedback in the years of writing groups and programs, and the many talented Filipinx artists who have workshopped with her throughout the years. She would also like to thank, forever and always: Mama, Papa, Noelle, Francis-Rae, Miss Soledad, Eli, CK, all her family back home, and her ancestors gone but not forgotten.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the territory that we travel through and share our stories on. To the Traditional Owners, Elders, Ancestors, and Young Leaders of these territories: We acknowledge, with full respect, the strength of Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) and communities who are continuing to practice culture, connecting and reconnecting to land; and we acknowledge the power and excellence of Indigenous peoples and communities fighting to protect and look after Land, Community, Language and Lore, in the face of ongoing colonial interruptions and cultural genocide. In particular we acknowledge and pay our respects to the sovereign peoples of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) on whose unceded land Urban Ink is based.
Always was, always will be, sacred Indigenous land.
Urban Ink’s mission is to uplift Indigenous and diverse voices through storytelling and performance. Founded in 2001, Urban Ink and its circle of artists have broken barriers, through groundbreaking story, performance, and media. Since 2014, Corey Payette has been the artistic director and has broadened the reach of Urban Ink’s work from large scale musical productions to festivals to feature length films. As we look ahead to the next 20 years to come, we continue an Indigenized practice that centres Indigenous and diverse voices, making space for our communities across Turtle Island.
We are an organization making art on the unceded and ancestral lands of the Coast Salish Peoples. This work is in solidarity with the Philippine Indigenous Peoples and our Coast Salish Kapwa. We envision the Pilipino/a/x diaspora as an interconnected and creative community. We honour the diversity of Indigenous arts and cultures. Through this, we bring forth the light of our ancestors. We carry their ancestral knowledge through our endeavors. We are the Philippine diasporic community that those may call home. SALAMAT mula sa Kathara Society since 2013.
