‘No Filter’: Millennials without pretense

Paolo Abad

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‘No Filter’: Millennials without pretense
The experimental theater troupe, The Sandbox Collective, serves up a new play about millennials

MANILA, Philippines – “Lazy, shallow, abomination, self-centered, entitled, naïve… The list goes on, but ‘young’ is always there. Always young.” So opens No Filter, from experimental theater troupe The Sandbox Collective, against the tirades launched towards so-called millennials.

Joel Stein called us the “Me Me Me Generation” on a cover story of Time, and made a valid point up front: that whatever flak our young set is getting, shows history merely repeating itself. Old folks will always tend to grumble about the younger ones being obnoxious. No Filter flaunts thought pieces like these in the opening chorus like a press release for millennials. Crudely putting it: haters gonna hate. But the play also asks: what’s the difference and why does it matter?

‘5 MILLENNIALS, 1 INSTAGRAM PHOTO.’ ‘It’s no wonder that people get stuck living out their lives through VSCO filters and Thought Catalog retweets. I mean if life was so awesome and full of these amazing, wonderful things I could still become, then why are we all stuck living out our Insta-lives?’ – written by Sam Lee

It’s convenient to roll the eyes when it comes to the topic of millennials – or sneer at the prospect of listening to endless self-talk – as if on the defense. On the surface, No Filter appears to be a little apologetic due to many preconceptions – some of them valid, but some don’t even hold water. For the Sandbox Collective, the appropriate response was to keep it real. Unlike some hashtag-riddled Instagram posts you come across, No Filter isn’t begging for your attention. It’s unapologetic and raw.

“To merely defend would be dishonest. The larger goal is to be authentic, or at least try, in articulating a generation’s strength and weaknesses, and all the nuances in between,” notes head writer Jam Pascual in the show’s program. He adds, “Attempting to depict that means being critical about history moves, how technology and culture evolve with it, and how people born into a certain point in time adapt to, and are formed by these liminal conditions.”

‘SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGE.’ ‘Call me crazy an idealistic, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s never been a more exciting time to be young and Filipino.’ – words by Anna Oposa

‘They are their own text’

No Filter‘s cast includes Cai Cortez, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Mikael Daez, Sarah Facuri, Kahlil Kaimo, Saab Magalona-Bacarro, Micah Muñoz, and Lauren Young. They play a motley crew of characters, but the show certainly goes beyond flat archetypes such as your garden variety hipster or a workaholic modern-day Peggy Olson from Mad Men.

“It’s so great because they’re all millennials, so they are their own text. So if it’s about the millennial experience, and whatever spews out of their mouth… actually informs or maybe transforms the play even,” says director Toff De Venecia.

Cast member Jasmine Curtis-Smith reflects on the play’s approach, “[It’s] also a way to mirror ourselves with the past generations in a way na although, yes, we are going through the same thing with different gadgets or – I guess – pastimes or activities, we’re still discovering the same thing that they were trying to discover when they were our age.”

‘BEST CHANCE.’ ‘I found out that in the original [Icarus and Daedalus] myth, the warning had two parts. One, don’t fly too high or the sun will melt the wax, and two, don’t fly too low, or the waves will weigh you down. […] Don’t cut off the wings of children. They were meant to fly.’ – words by by Jace Espino

Millennials, without pretense

No Filter takes an episodic approach; monologues form its backbone. Some of the writers who worked on this play include Jam Pascual, Wanggo Gallaga, Anna Canlas, Jace Espino, Jonty Cruz, B. P. Valenzuela, Paolo Lorenzana, Don Jaucian, Audrey Carpio, Anna Oposa, Luigi Gonzales, Ayana Camille Tolentino, Sam Lee, Regina Bemonte, Petra Magno, and Gabbie Tatad.

Set to music by Similarobjects, No Filter has multimedia and improvised elements as well. For instance, Silly People’s Improv Theater (SPIT) co-developed segments in the show, and it’s always fun to see the actors caught off-guard and stretching their imagination.

Sign of the times: when asked to “Paint me a picture of millennials eating their feelings,” the cast doesn’t depict themselves ungraciously stuffing their faces. Instead, they hover over the table with their smartphones, attempting to emulate Kinfolk in an Instagram #foodporn post. A video shows how retrograde we can be, when an emoji conversation can be perfectly intelligible – just like ancient hieroglyphics.

No Filter has its light-hearted moments – at least before you realize that you’re actually laughing at yourself (if you’re not part of the Titos and Titas of Manila, that is). You’re likely to cringe at how painfully familiar the characters are before you even get the chance to express your annoyance.

‘LOVE ME TINDER.’ ‘Think of it as speed dating, but you don’t have to talk to the ugly ducklings.’ – written by Luigi Gonzales

Cai Cortez will leave you guffawing with her non-failproof-swipe-right exploits in “Love Me Tinder.” You’ll wish that an app like “Fake It” (based on Jonty Cruz’s Young Star article) was actually available on the iTunes Store or Google Play, so “you can carry on a fake discussion about The Goldfinch, or about how Leeroy New’s artwork has transformed over the years.”

At times, the witty comedy gets pitch black. In “5 Millennials, 1 Instagram Photo,” Mikael Daez plays a closeted gay person who resorts to self-mockery, “Some people call it being weak. I call it having a substance problem – a problem with having to be a person of substance.”

‘CONFESSION.’ ‘I think the problem is, if you have access to everyone’s version of events, you realize the source material is flawed.’ – written by Wanggo Gallaga
‘CONNECTION/DISCONNECTION.’ ‘All these little cyberspatial gestures tossed into a sea of data-like messages in bottles / On the off chance that they might reach the island you’ve made of your wallowing / But I don’t even reach the coast.’ – written by Jam Pascual

But No Filter carries a lot of punch as well, thanks to a cast who has the chops to pull through heart-wrenching material like Petra Magno’s “Moving Out,” or the cast favorite “Connection/Disconnection” by Jam Pascual.

‘MOVING OUT.’  'I’m not any closer to whatever it is I wanted – that’s the price of wanting nothing.' – written by Petra Magno
‘I SUCKED WHEN I WAS HAPPY.’ ‘Misery, I learned, is the ultimate creative currency.’ – written by Marga Buenaventura

‘Always beginning’

With No Filter, there’s no scroll down, fast-forward, or close tab to escape. You’re also handling a double-edged sword if you come to the play with premature judgments. Ultimately, it’s an exercise in a forgotten practice: listening.

“I think what people can take from this is, ‘Shouldn’t we just listen?’ It’s more on people just keep on talking and talking and talking, but they never take the time to just listen to someone and hear them out,” says actress Lauren Young.

‘LETTERS ACROSS SPACE AND TIME.’ ‘Whoever said it’s unhealthy to compare yourself to others has never gone through the trouble of putting their former and future selves like a line of possible suspects, and then selecting the most ideal person in the roster.’ – written by Audrey Carpio and Jam Pascual

In the end, No Filter gets a tad philosophical when it tries to answer whether ‘millennial’ is just a label. By hearing these stories out, whether you’re a tito/tita or a millennial yourself, you’ll find that ultimately, only time and circumstance separates the generations. Everyone goes through a coming of age or possibly even a quarter-life crisis.

From the get-go, however, No Filter doesn’t seek to be the voice of a generation. It’s very self-aware that the characters are an upper-to-lower middle class bunch. Head writer Wanggo Gallaga explains, “It’s not so much speaking about a full-on generational thing… apparently… this whole millennial phenomenon is really just a subset.”

‘INTIMACY.’ ‘I want you to know me, the real me, the one hiding under this chill and nonchalance and pretense to shy away from the possibility of pain and rejection!’ – written by Regina Belmonte

Toff de Venecia says, “I think the point really is that, sure, maybe the technology is very specific, and the language is specific – the hashtags, the YOLO’s, and the FML’s, and FMK’s, and all that. But there’s still a lot of universalities in the show that people can resonate with.” A conversation at the show’s close exactly makes this point:

“So we’re always beginning, always changing… That’s awfully millennial.”

“No, I don’t think it’s millennial at all.”

“I think it’s…

“Human.”

‘SO I’M A MILLENIAL.’ ‘I don’t think it matters whether or not it’s the same ship – no matter where the ocean you’re at. That’s not what the crew is thinking about. The only thing that matters is… Don’t sink.’ – written by Wanggo Gallaga, Jam Pascual, and Toff de Venecia (with excerpts from material written by Gabbie Tatad)

– Rappler.com

Remaining shows: August 1, 8 PM & August 2, 3 PM

Note: The photos that appear in this article feature the cast as a whole (without alternates) during preview night.

Paolo Abad is a film/television editor and motion graphic designer. He is also a self-confessed concert junkie – a perennial attendee at gigs of indie acts.

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Paolo Abad

Paolo Abad writes, edits, and shoots for a living. He is one of the founding partners of the online radio platform Manila Community Radio.