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    Dogeaters
    Dogeaters
    Dogeaters
    Ebook192 pages1 hour

    Dogeaters

    By Jessica Hagedorn

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Jessica Hagedorn has transformed her bestselling novel about the Philippines during the reign of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos into an equally powerful theatrical piece that is a multi-layered tour de force. As Harold Bloom writes, "Hagedorn expresses the conflicts experienced by Asian immigrants caught between cultures . . . she takes aim at racism in the U.S. and develops in her dramas the themes of displacement and the search for belonging."

    Jessica Hagedorn is a performance artist, poet, novelist and playwright, born and raised in the Philippines. Her novels include Dogeaters (Penguin 1990) which was nominated for a National Book Award and The Gangster of Love (Penguin 1996); a short story collection, Danger and Beauty (City Lights 2002).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTheatre Communications Group
    Release dateApr 10, 2015
    ISBN9781559368254
    Dogeaters
    Author

    Jessica Hagedorn

    Jessica Hagedorn was born in Manila and now lives in New York. A novelist, poet, and playwright, her published works include Toxicology, The Gangster of Love, and Dogeaters, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. She also edited both volumes of the groundbreaking anthology Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction. She directs the creative writing master’s program at LIU Brooklyn. For more information, visit www.jessicahagedorn.net.

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    Reviews for Dogeaters

    3.5/5

    80 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      After putting this book off for nearly five years, I finally picked it up and found myself enjoying it even more than I expected. The novel is fast-paced and rich with imagery from Philippine pop culture and 20th century history, filled with a well-realized cast of characters. I felt so at home reading the book!
    • 4/5
      Fascinating, multifaceted, episodic, complex, confusing, dark, depressing.
    • 2/5
      I found this book difficult to read. It is made up of a series of short stories / vignettes which slowly (clumsily) come together to form the novel. Set in 1950s Manila where the Marcos regime is in full swing, we hear from members of a number of privileged families and their associates, who include prostitutes, actors and drug addicts. In fact there were so many characters, so many points of view that I found myself completely lost at times and wishing for some sort of family tree diagram so I could keep track.Hagedorn’s Philippines is one where bureaucracy has gone wild, and the entire population are either corrupt or on the make. There is not one sympathetic character amongst the many in the book and I only just managed to read on despite the fact that I did not care about any of them.
    • 3/5
      An interesting mix of voices, languages, and stories. Rio's is the most compelling voice, but other characters fill in the mosaic that Hagedorn creates.

    Book preview

    Dogeaters - Jessica Hagedorn

    Dogeaters is copyright © 2003 by Jessica Hagedorn

    Dogeaters is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc.,

    520 Eighth Ave., 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156.

    All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights including, but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative, Harold Schmidt, Harold Schmidt Literary Agency, 415 W. 23rd St., Suite 6F, New York, NY 10011, (212) 727-7473.

    Twilight Time: Lyric by Buck Ram, Music by Morty Nevins and Al Nevins. TRO copyright © 1994 (Renewed) Devon Music, Inc., New York, NY. Used by permission.

    All production photos are from The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival production, and are copyright © 2001 by Michal Daniel. Reprinted by permission.

    This publication is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

    TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, 1045 Westgate Dr., St. Paul, MN 55114.

    LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

    Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata, 1949–

    Dogeaters: a play about the Philippines (adapted from the novel) / by Jessica Hagedorn.

    p. cm.

    eISBN 978-1-55936-825-4

    1. Philippines—Drama. I. Title

    PS3558.A3228 D64 2003

    812’.54—dc21

    2002015510

    Book design and composition by Lisa Govan

    Cover image copyright © Bettmann/CORBIS

    Cover design by Pentagram

    Author photo © 2001 by Michal Daniel

    First Edition, September 2003

    Contents

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    NOTES ON THE PLAY

    PRODUCTION HISTORY

    CHARACTERS

    NOTES ON SETTING

    LIST OF SCENES

    ACT ONE

    SCENE 1

    RADIO

    SCENE 2

    FUN AND GAMES

    SCENE 3

    HOMECOMING

    SCENE 4

    UNCLE AND JOEY

    SCENE 5

    BEAUTY PAGEANT

    SCENE 6

    ROMEO AND TRINI

    SCENE 7

    SENATOR AVILA / THE MANILA FILM CENTER COLLAPSE

    SCENE 8

    SERENADE

    SCENE 9

    RIO AND PUCHA

    SCENE 10

    STUDIO 54

    SCENE 11

    GIRL TALK

    SCENE 12

    GOLF

    SCENE 13

    OPENING NIGHT

    SCENE 14

    STUDIO 54 / BAD GIRLS

    SCENE 15

    SEX SHOW MONTAGE

    SCENE 16

    DAISY AND PAPA

    SCENE 17

    THE ASSASSINATION

    ACT TWO

    SCENE 1

    LOLA’S GARDEN

    SCENE 2

    A MOVIE MOMENT

    SCENE 3

    UNCLE AND JOEY

    SCENE 4

    BETRAYAL

    SCENE 5

    STUDIO 54

    SCENE 6

    DIRTY MOVIES

    SCENE 7

    TRINI AND ROMEO BREAK-UP / ROMEO’S SHOOTING

    SCENE 8

    THE VIP LOUNGE

    SCENE 9

    DAISY AND PAPA’S GHOST

    SCENE 10

    THE PALACE INTERVIEW

    SCENE 11

    SAFE HOUSE

    SCENE 12

    TRINL’S LETTER TO HER MOTHER

    SCENE 13

    LAST DANCE

    SCENE 14

    DAISY AND JOEY

    SCENE 15

    PRAYER

    SCENE 16

    FINAL PAGEANT

    GLOSSARY

    THE PHILIPPINES

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    This play would not have been created had it not been for the help of many people along the way. I have been exceptionally blessed to have worked with amazing ensembles of brave, astonishing, funny, intelligent, lovely and generous actors from the very beginning. A very special thank you to director Michael Greif, who first suggested I adapt the play from the novel, and whose passion and love for the material saw me through the more difficult parts of the play’s creative process. Another very special thank you to Shirley Fishman, my dramaturge extraordinaire. For early development and workshops I need to thank Robert Blacker, Philip Himberg, Ken Brecher, Loretta Greco and Shirley Fishman at the Sundance Theatre Lab; the folks at New York Theatre Workshop, East West Players, La Jolla Playhouse and The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. Loretta Greco’s guidance during those delicate, early stages at Sundance deserves a special mention. The play’s critical and popular reception in New York made the 2001 Public Theater production a deeply rewarding and memorable experience. A special thank you to producer George C. Wolfe for his support, sharp insights and critical feedback. I also wish to thank the awesome design team that made the world of Dogeaters such a visual and aural treat on both coasts: John Woo, Mark Bennett, Loy Arcenas, Brandin Barón, Ken Posner, Michael Chybowski and David Gallo. Last, but not least, thank you to the editorial staff at TCG for their care and commitment to the publication of this play: Terry Nemeth, Kathy Sova and Todd Miller.

    NOTES ON THE PLAY

    Dogeater is a pejorative term for the Filipino, which, according to my maternal grandmother, Lola Tecla, and other good sources, was coined by American soldiers during the Philippine-American War. It seemed a fittingly harsh, confrontational title for the novel which I later wrote in 1990. As a novel, Dogeaters seems to have struck a chord and has had quite a life (translated into several languages and happily still in print). But how in heaven’s name did this multi-layered, little epic—with its complex narrative which mixes fact, fiction and a vibrant, tropical landscape populated by hundreds of characters babbling in English, Spanish and Tagalog—ever make it to the stage?

    In 1997 I was persuaded by dramaturge Greg Gunter and director Michael Greif (who was then Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse) to adapt my novel into a play. I was reluctant, but intrigued enough to say yes, thanks to Michael’s persistence and obvious commitment to the project. We began developing the script with a core group of actors at the Sundance Theatre Lab in Sundance, Utah. Other workshops and readings followed. The world premiere of Dogeaters took place at La Jolla Playhouse in 1998. The New York premiere took place at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival in 2001.

    Like the novel from which it is adapted, the play tells a many-layered story of urban Philippines as seen through the eyes of its disparate and often desperate characters—from a privileged mestiza schoolgirl named Rio, who dreams of one day becoming a writer, to Joey, a junkie-hustler from Tondo, born from the union between a prostitute and an African-American soldier; from Andres, an Ermita drag queen who reinvents himself as Pearl of the Orient, to Daisy Avila, an unhappy beauty queen, who is the daughter of the doomed Senator Domingo Avila; from a manipulative, weepy and powerful First Lady named Imelda, to the praying woman named Leonor and her tormented torturer of a husband, General Nicasio Ledesma.

    The 1998 La Jolla Playhouse production differed from the 2001 Public Theater production in several ways. At La Jolla, the 1959 sequences of the novel were incorporated into the script. Rio was a much more central character, as were her parents, before their separation. Rio served as the play’s observer and sometime narrator; in the 2001 production these roles were filled by the wacky and omniscient soap opera stars, Nestor and Barbara. My 2001 version can be construed as

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