News — Erica Miguel

When survival means self-sacrifice, the only option for some women is to become a mail-order bride and marry a stranger from a foreign land. Inspired by true stories, Export Quality: A Theatrical Exploration Based on True Stories of Mail-Order Brides from the Philippines traces the harrowing journeys of four mail-order brides from the Philippines, as they experience hope and despair, love and loss, death and renewal. The play explores the complex phenomenon of the international mail-order bride industry. Does the business benefit or harm women? How does gender inequality and stereotypes feed the business? For a country like the Philippines, how does colonialism play a role? What are the power dynamics at play? Export Quality also bears witness to women’s courage, their resilience in the face of violence, and the healing power of being in community and of storytelling.

Written by Erica Miguel, Carolyn Antonio, and Dorotea Mendoza
Directed by Sonoko Kawahara
Featuring: Myka Cue, Cat Grey, Jill Jose, and Arianne Recto

Set Design by Joey Mendoza
Costume Design by Siena Zoë Allen
Lighting Design by Reza Behjat
Sound Design by Chai Tamayo
Projection Design by Stefania Bulbarella

Production Stage Manager: Debora Porazzi
Assistant Stage Manager: Erin Mittman
Assistant Director: Skylar Lerose
Dramaturgy: Jeremy Stoller
Producer: John Breen, Loose Change Productions
Production Manager: Lauren Parrish

Tix: HERE Arts,

Sari-Sari, Loose Change Productions

After binging on “Stranger Things,” Netflix’s immersive and irresistible mash up of science fiction and 80s nostalgia, I began to wonder how writers and artists might engage a similar theme by tapping the otherworldly, the underbelly, the world of opposites. You’re saying, “We’re already there!” I hear you. Consider this an invitation to find your bearings, to witness a reply to chaos through the creative. The work in this issue captures the disorientation and destabilization we experience in our relationships with others and ourselves, through time and space, and in this acute (ass-backwards) moment. Yet, I hope in these pieces, like the young characters in the TV series chasing after missing friends, fleeing dangers, and unraveling mysteries, you find palpable connection to accompany you through these topsy turvy times, wherever there may be.

-Nita Noveno, Editor