can i touch it?

SEASON 26

Learning How to Read by Moonlight

a new play by Gaven D. Trinidad

directed by Natsu Onoda Power
dramaturgy & tour direction by Michelle M. Aguillon
music direction by Jeffrey Song

a CHUANG Stage & Company One Theatre co-production

May 16 - Jun 8, 2025

Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Theatre (May 16 – 25)
Pao Arts Center (May 29 – June 1)
The Umbrella Arts Center (June 5 – 8)

All tickets are Pay-What-You-Want!

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

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.

 

Learning How to Read by Moonlight is spoken in English and Tagalog with subtitles.

Producing Partners

Community Narrators

At each performance of Learning How to Read by Moonlight, a new Community Narrator will join the ensemble on stage to guide the audience through the play, integrating their unique voice and perspective into the story in real time. These narrators will include artists, community organizers, elected officials, and more.

We’re excited to announce a few of our Community Narrators, with many more to come!

mica rose

mica rose

Liyang Network member; Co-director, Arts Connect International

Saturday, May 17 at 7:30pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Trish Fontanilla

Trish Fontanilla

Co-Founder, BOS Filipinos

Sunday, May 18 at 2pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Lani Asunción

Lani Asunción

Artist

Thursday, May 22 at 7:30pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Jireh Calo

Jireh Calo

Artist & Educator

Friday, May 23 at 7:30pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Panethnic Pourovers

Panethnic Pourovers

AAPI-focused 501(c)(3) café

Sunday, May 25 at 2pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Dianara Rivera

Dianara Rivera

Director of Narrative Strategy, AARW; Malaya MA Member

Sunday, May 25 at 7:30pm
Boston Center for the Arts

 

Suzanne Lee

Suzanne Lee

President Emeritus, Chinese Progressive Association

Saturday, May 31 at 2pm
Pao Arts Center

 

Ashley Ting Yung

Ashley Ting Yung

Lighting Designer; Performance Program Manager, Pao Arts Center

Saturday, May 31 at 2pm
Pao Arts Center

 

Candace Persuasian

Candace Persuasian

Drag Artist; Community Advocate

Saturday, May 31 at 7:30pm
Pao Arts Center

 

Myra O. Liwanag

Myra O. Liwanag

Executive Director, Iskwelahang Pilipino

Thursday, June 5 at 7:30pm
The Umbrella Arts Center 

Sergio Mauritz Ang

Sergio Mauritz Ang

Actor & Educator

Sunday, June 8 at 7:30pm
The Umbrella Arts Center

 

COMMUNITY NARRATOR BIOS

Sergio Mauritz Ang (he/they) is a NYC bred Queer creative, Actor and Professor of Acting and Public Speaking at CUNY Hostos Community College. Originally from Manila Philippines, he is former Undocumented Immigrant and DACA Recipient and is passionate about community- building, uplifting Immigrant and Underrepresented Communities. Select New York: Learning How to Read by Moonlight (Leviathan Lab),Colman Domingo’s The Brother[s] (Out of the Box Theatrics), Cafe Utopia (Notch Theatre Company), Joker (National Queer Theater), Summertime (Between Two Boroughs) Regional: The Far Country (u/s Yale Rep), Pride and Prejudice (Hartford Stage), The Skin of our Teeth, Yoga Play, I am not Batman, Julius Caesar (PlayMakers Rep), Flowers of Hawaii (Chautauqua Theatre Company), Bruise & Thorn (PlayPenn), Peter and the Starcatcher (Kitchen Theatre Company). Film/ TV: Relay (Thunderoad Films) The Other Two (Max), Law and Order SVU (NBC).Upcoming: Crutch (Paramount+) MFA: UNC Chapel Hill. BFA: Brooklyn College. @yoizsergyo. www.sergiomauritzang.com

Lani Asunción (they/she) is a Filipinx interdisciplinary artist who uses transmedia storytelling and research to create socially conscious work that explores aspects of cultural identity and climate change through public art, performance, and multimedia video. Asunción received the 2023 Kala Fellowship from Kala Arts Institute and was a 2022 Future Frequencies Fellow at Mass MoCA Studios. Asunción is a visiting lecturer at MassArt and the curator of the Un-monument Initiatives at Pao Arts Center in partnership with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, supported by the Mellon Foundation. 

Jireh Calo (she/her/siya) is a Filipina artist and educator who seeks to use art as a bridge between the seeming divides in our world. Approaching creative expression as a means for connecting to the spirit, she grounds in the energy of joy and play. Committed to deepening her practice as a songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, she also explores the intrinsic connections of music with dance, poetry, and visual art. Currently based in Boston, Jireh performs and collaborates with an eclectic array of artists while mentoring young musicians and being deeply involved with both her local and global community.

Trish Fontanilla (she/her) is the co-founder and Chief Energy Officer at BOSFilipinos, a community focused on celebrating and elevating Filipino culture in Boston. By day, she’s a community and customer experience consultant, and has with worked with startups and nonprofits on a global scale. As a passionate advocate for volunteerism, she’s also been a volunteer leader with Boston Cares for 15+ years and loves mentoring students and young professionals through STEAM programs at local high schools, colleges, and accelerators in Massachusetts.

Suzanne Lee (she/her) is an Education and Community Leader. President Emeritus of the Chinese Progressive Association, President of Chinatown Land Trust, and former principal of Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Suzanne has been organizing for Equality, Justice and Democracy for over 50 years. In both professional work for 35 years as a teacher and principal in the Boston Public Schools and volunteering in the immigrant communities the needs and interests of working-class immigrant families have always been the focus of her work.

Myra O. Liwanag (she/her/siya) serves as Executive Director of Iskwelahang Pilipino (Filipino School) now based in Watertown. She is a former theatre kid, who instead chose a path focused on cultivating community and building relationships across difference. A firm believer in the arts as a unifying force, Myra is excited to be a narrator for Learning How to Read by Moonlight. She and the rest of the IP team are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Chuang Stage to share this production with the Filipino American community.

Panethnic Pourovers an AAPI-focused 501(c)(3) café library based in North Quincy, MA. We’re a third space, a place of community, and a place of radical love. We’re also run by everyday people, and we’re a charity with a focus on solidarity.

Candace (she/her) is a proud vietnamese trans woman born and raised in Dorchester. Candace is widely known for her drag persona, Candace Persuasian. She has been deeply involved in queer advocacy through organizations like BAGLY, MAP for Health, Fenway Health, Mass General Hospital and now City Hall. Candace was featured in Beyonce’s Renaissance film after a viral moment holding a Trans is Beautiful sign garnering international attention from Pinknews, Billboard and Gaytimes. 

Dianara Rivera (she/her) is a queer, mixed race Pilipina Puerto Rican woman who is committed to supporting Asian American communities in narrative organizing. She currently serves as the Director of Narrative Strategy at AARW, building out storytelling projects that build power and advance our campaign goals. Dianara credits the fight for collective liberation as the catalyst for learning how to heal herself and others. Outside of AARW, she also organizes with the Pilipino community through Malaya Movement MA. 

mica rose (they/them) is a gemini gust of slumber-party who trains in ancestral medicines. Their teachers include lola Nellie & Laguna, manong Wayne & pangalay, Márquez Rhyne & story circles, and taiko with sensei Karen Young. Chosen and blood families shape mica’s commitment to international solidarity. They are a member of Liyang Network: a local to global advocacy network amplifying calls to action of grassroots communities in the Philippines. Living between Boston and their maternal home in the Philippines, they organize with masses for land, water, and self-determination. Currently a co-director at Arts Connect International, they resource artists towards collective action. Instagram: @micaxrose

Ashley Ting Yung (she/her) is a Chinese-American lighting designer and arts administrator in Boston. Her lighting design credits include Nüwa in Fairyland (CHUANG Stage), Fortune Teller (CHUANG Stage), Party Bots (Lyric Stage), and SKINLESS (Found in Translation). She works as the Performance Program Manager at Pao Arts Center. She also serves on the Board of the Theatre Community Benevolent Fund.

AMPLIFYING ACTION

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.

Connectivity Partners

Check back later for more!

RESOURCES & ACTION STEPS

Check back later for more!

ABOUT THE TEAM

CAST

Elijah Estolano Punzal

Elijah Estolano Punzal

Player 1/Eddie

Jude Torres*

Jude Torres*

Player 2/Jimmy

Christine Armenion

Christine Armenion

Player 3/Nanay

Alfredo Reyes

Alfredo Reyes

Player 4/Tatay

Nicholas Papayoanou

Nicholas Papayoanou

Player 5/Missus Josie, Jason, et al

Jenine Florence Jacinto

Jenine Florence Jacinto

Understudy for Player 1/Eddie, Player 2/Jimmy

PLAYWRIGHT AND PRODUCTION TEAM

Gaven D. Trinidad, Playwright

Natsu Onoda Power, Director & Scenic Designer

Michelle M. Aguillon, Dramaturg & Tour Director

Jeffrey Song, Music Director

Becca Cottrell, Production Stage Manager

Mikayla Reid, Costume Designer

Ashley Yung, Lighting Designer

Anna Drummond, Sound Designer

Kelly Smith, Props Designer

Grace Kroeger, Projection Designer

BIOS

Elijah Estolano Punzal they/hi/siya

Elijah is incredibly honored to make their Boston acting debut and join the CHUANG family with Learning How To Read By Moonlight! Elijah is a S25 Company One Volt Lab alum where he wrote and developed Duma-Dara-Ting, or The Arrival for the Reshaping the American Theatre Showcase. Elijah is also a PhD student at Tufts University in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies researching contemporary Filipinx American theatre and performance. Elijah gives special thanks to the graduate students and faculty at Tufts TDPS, Prof. Ian Jay Sunio, and his family for all their love and support.

Jude Torres* he/him

Jude returns to C1 and CHUANG Stage having worked previously as an actor (Vietgone, Last Ship to Proxima Centauri, Acts of Joy, Ghost of Keelung, Chosen Family), songwriter (Resolve and Stories of Our Streets), teaching artist, and emcee! Other credits: actor (Dracula, Middleton Heights, and White Rabbit, Red Rabbit – Umbrella Stage), singer-songwriter/musician (Boston Symphony Hall, The Bowery Electric, The Big E!), voiceover artist (My Blood The Ink and The Legion Tapes), stage operator (Moby Dick – A.R.T), cultural consultant (South Pacific – Reagle Music Theater), Emerging Artist (DUNAMIS), Speech Language Pathologist (Spaulding Rehab), and Doctoral Candidate (MGH Institute of Health Professions). Love to Kuya Gaven, the ensemble + crew, his pamilya, and his wife + life, Kelly.

Christine Armenion she/her

A proud first-generation Filipino-American, Christine was raised by two resilient and inspiring immigrant parents. She is honored to join Chuang Stage and Company One for the first time in such a powerful and meaningful production, and to share the stage with this incredibly talented and passionate ensemble. Select credits include Serena in Legally Blonde (Actorsingers), Miss Sandra in All Shook Up (Majestic Theater), Cheryl in Evil Dead the Musical HD (Roshi Entertainment), Frank-n-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (LALT), and Miriam in Hummingbird (Teatro Paraguas). Offstage, she is a Licensed Massage Therapist passionate about nurturing wellness, storytelling, and connection.

Alfredo Reyes he/they

Atlantis Theatrical: Waitress (Dr. Pomatter), In the Heights (Sonny), The Bridges of Madison County, The Band’s Visit, Spamalot, Aladdin. Tours: Avenue Q (Nicky/Trekkie), Saturday Night Fever. New York: Matawan, 12 Angry Men (Juror 3). Boston: Learning How to Read by Moonlight (Company One/CHUANG Stage). Film: Somewhere All the Boys Are Birds (Apa Agbayani). Alfredo was a lead in the original cast of the hit original Filipino musical, Ang Huling El Bimbo, which has spawned numerous reruns. A graduate of Atlantic Acting School’s 2.5-Year Acting Conservatory, he received their Practical Aesthetics Full Scholarship Award upon acceptance. Currently in New York City.

Nicholas Papayoanou he/they

Born and raised in Singapore, Nicholas currently attends Emerson College [BFA Theatre and Performance]. Boston credits: Moonbox Production’s Mermaid Hour (Jacob), Boston New Works Festival – The F&L at 1330 (Ensemble); Apollinaire Theatre’s The Suppliant Women (Men/Citizen’s Chorus). Emerson College credits include: I Love XXX (Ensemble Cast), 16 Winters… (Ghost of Dead Prince). In Singapore, he’s received training at the School of the Arts, Singapore (SOTA), Singapore Repertory Theatre’s The Young Company, and SAF’s Music and Drama Company (MDC). Select credits: The Tempest (Caliban/Alonso), The Fall (ONE/A), and The Three Questions (Co-Director; Asian Youth Theatre Festival).

Jenine Florence Jacinto they/them

Jenine Florence Jacinto is a nonbinary California raised Filipino-Chinese American actor/creative now turned New England native. Most notably found on stage playing Luna Jaffe in The Interrobangers (Company One), Izzy/Boy in Middleton Heights (Umbrella Stage Company), Green in Skinless (CHUANG Stage), and Kit/Ellery in Lyric BackStage (Lyric Stage Company). Their voice can be heard in various audio dramas like The Bastard Presents, Beyond the Furthest Stars, and Thank You D6. When not on stage, you can find them producing Thank You D6, playing board games, or crafting! @jenine.florence jenineflorencejacinto.com

Gaven D. Trinidad they/he/siya

Gaven D. Trinidad is a first-generation Filipinx American dramaturg, playwright, director, and educator from NYC. Their artistic work explores the intersections of race, language, immigration, queerness, ritual, community, and futurity. They have collaborated in artistic and administrative roles at New York Theatre Workshop, The Juilliard Drama Division, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, National Queer Theater, Breaking the Binary, and more. Selected plays: Learning How to Read by Moonlight (BAPF Finalist 2021), novena (Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist 2024). Selected dramaturgy credits: The Duat (Philadelphia Theatre Company, PlayPenn), PreP Play, or Blue Parachute (National Queer Theater, NCTC), June is the First Fall (Yangtze Repertory Theatre), Collidescope 2.0 (Ping Chong + Company). Selected directing credits: Joker (National Queer Theater), Are You There Truman? (Pride Plays, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Parsnip Ship, Leviathan Lab), Sa Aming Puso (Global Forms Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York Theatre Salon). Gaven holds a B.A. in American Studies from Dickinson College and an M.F.A. in Dramaturgy from UMass Amherst. They were named a 2021 Rising Leader of Color by Theatre Communications Group. Playwriting Groups/Fellowships: Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab, Ma-Yi Writers Lab. As someone living with bipolar disorder, Gaven is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness. In these challenging times, they encourage folks to support organizations like Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, United We Dream, and Make the Road NY. www.gaventrinidadtheatre.com

Natsu Onoda Power

Natsu Onoda Power specializes in adapting texts into new works of visual theatre, using techniques of comics/graphic novels, animation, and kamishibai (Japanese paper-placard storytelling form). Original works include Postcards from Ihatov (1StStage Tysons), Thumbelina (Imagination Stage), The Lathe of Heaven (Spooky Action Theater, Helen Hayes Awards for Best New Adaptation and Best Scenic Design), The T Party (writer/ director, Forum Theatre/ Company One), Astro Boy and the God of Comics (writer/ director, The Studio Theatre; Company One Theatre; Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Production Design). Favorite directing credits include Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone (The Studio Theater), David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face (Theatre J) and Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage), and the world premiere of Tennessee Williams’s lost play The Lady from the Village of Falling Flowers at Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival.

Natsu holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and is the author of God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post World War II Manga (The University Press of Mississippi, 2009).

Michelle M. Aguillon she/her

Michelle M. Aguillon has directed, acted, designed, and produced in the Boston area for over 25 years. She is thrilled to be collaborating with the Learning How to Read by Moonlight production team and ensemble. Michelle has worked with Plays in Place, Footlight Club, Hope Rep Company, The Umbrella Stage Company, Chuang Stage, Company One, Central Square Theater, Emerson College, and Theater Uncorked, among others. Directing credits include The Kittie Knox Plays, Yellow Face, Natural Shocks, Middleton Heights (World Premiere), Dracula – A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Fences, The Joy Luck Club, Disgraced, Passion, Augusta and Noble, Vietgone, and Proof,  among others. Michelle is a playwright/producer/director for the Annual Asian-American Playwright Collective Annual Play Festivals (2020-2025). Michelle is the Executive Director at the Creative Arts School in Reading. She studied acting and theatre at San Francisco State University and the National Theater of London.

Jeffrey Song he/him

Jeffrey Song is delighted to return to Company One – and reunite with longtime friend and collaborator Natsu Onoda Power – as Music Director for Learning How to Read by Moonlight. Jeffrey is a musician, composer, music director, actor (AEA), and New England Foundation for the Arts grant recipient. Credits as composer/music director include Vietgone (Studio Theatre, DC) and Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake (Baltimore Center Stage). He composed original music for Wild Goose Dreams (SpeakEasy Stage) and has been a music consultant for Imagination Stage (DC). Regional acting credits include work with American Repertory Theater, SpeakEasy Stage, Lyric Stage Boston, Fresh Ink Theatre, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Company One, Greater Boston Stage Company, Central Square Theater (CST), Revels, and the NPR storytelling podcast Circle Round. Jeffrey has performed in theater pits (recently for the Front Porch/CST production of Next to Normal), and at music festivals around the globe. He appears on over a dozen recordings – his original music featured on radio, television, stage, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. As touring bassist for Ute Lemper, Jeffrey performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, L’Opéra de Vichy, and The Palermo Festival Di Verdura. He is also a passionate advocate for social justice in both corporate and performing arts spaces, and works as an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) consultant. www.jeffreysong.com

Becca Cottrell they/them

Bio coming soon!

Mikayla Reid she/her

Mikayla is a Providence-based costume designer and craft artisan. She is excited to return to Company One after designing costumes for Hoops and Black Super Hero Magic Mama. Recent credits include Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Yellow Face, Thirst (Lyric Stage), Hamlet, Amadeus (The Gamm), Footloose (Theatre By The Sea), When the Mind’s Free (Real Live Theater), Orpheus in the Overworld, Shrike (Fresh Ink), and Fall Festival’s The Tempest, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet (Shakespeare & Company). Guest Artist work has been seen at Northeastern University, Merrimack College, Rhode Island College, and the University of Rhode Island. She holds an MFA from The University of Massachusetts Amherst. Website: www.mikaylareid.com

Ashley Yung she/her

Bio coming soon!

Anna Drummond they/them

Anna Drummond is a Boston-based sound designer specializing in live theatre and SFX curation for professional theatre companies and educational institutions. Credits Include: Front Porch Arts Collective – Chicken & Biscuits; The Huntington – K-I-S-S-I-N-G (Elliot Norton Award) and Dream Boston: 3 Miles; SpeakEasy Stage – BLKS and Pass Over; Company One (C1) – Leftovers, Black Super Hero Magic Mama, and can i touch it?; Fresh Ink Theatre – Shrike and Truth or Consequences; Trinity Repertory Company/Brown University – Eurydice, Prowess, soul tapes, and The Book of Lucy; Harvard University – Married or Made, Cells; Boston Conservatory at Berklee – Everybody, Machinal, and As You Like It; Northeastern University – Deferred, This Is Treatment, Problem Play, and Sisterhood of the Survivors; Emerson College – Paris. Anna holds a BA with Honors in Sound Design/Audio Post-Production from the Visual & Media Arts Department of Emerson College. Love to Dyl, Eleanor, Jeremy, and the Bad Luck Crew for everything, always.

Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith is a multi-hyphenate artist with a new work focus, having ushered in over 30 world premieres in New England. Selected credits include: Props: Company One/A.R.T. (GREATER GOOD, VIETGONE), Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING), Hub Theatre (WIT), Fresh Ink (SHRIKE, THAT TIME THE HOUSE BURNED DOWN), Legion Theatre Project (BREAK BREAK), Titanic Theatre, Sleeping Weazel, PF Pictures, and Brown Box among others. Writing: RESET, THE WHITE ROOM (Flat Earth Theatre), RAINING ALUMINUM (theatreKapow – Best Drama Finalist, NH Theatre Awards), ShotzBoston, StoryClub Boston, 1MPF, and others. Directing: Second Act Prod. (SISTER ANONYMOUS), Hub Theatre (ROBYN IS HAPPY), AKA Theatre (IN THE FOREST, SHE GREW FANGS), and shorts for Playbill Virtual Theatre Festival, Open Theatre Project, Boston Theatre Marathon, and 1MPF. In addition to stage managing all over, Kelly produced the raucous Irish backroom bar series Solas Nua, the heartwarming Grownup Storytime at Aeronaut Brewery, and founded Also Known As Theatre Theatre. www.kellyesmith.com `

Grace Kroeger she/they

Grace Kroeger is a Minnesota born, new to Boston engineer and designer in both audio and video. She earned her BA in German and Theater: Design & Technology at the University of Minnesota: Twin Cities. Their favorite aspects of theater are the puzzle of putting complicated systems together, creating system schematics, and (most importantly) programming within QLab.

Recent credits include – Projections Technician: Interrobangers, Company One. Video Programmer: La Voix Humaine, Des Moines Metro Opera; A Thousand Acres, Des Moines Metro Opera. Video Engineer, La Voix Humaine, Des Moines Metro Opera. Assistant Video Designer: Interstate, Mixed Blood Theater; Hometown to the World, Town Hall.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association