AN INTERVIEW WITH MIRANDA AGUILAR
Supplied (Image: Miranda Aguilar @mirandaaa831)
On a wet and cloudy afternoon at Parramatta, emerging Filipinx playwright Miranda Aguilar shines at Paper Planes Cafe. Donning a colourful striped long-sleeve and golden Philippine sun earrings to match, the up-and-coming Blacktown-based writer paves the way for the future of Western Sydney theatre in their theatre production, Let Me Know When You Get Home.
Directed by Valerie Berry and starring a cast of queer actors of colour - including Gloria Demillo (Titas and Tea) and Tommy Misa (Skin Deep) - Miranda’s play explores what it means for a queer person to leave home and find a sense of belonging. We follow queer Filipinx Val and their desire to depart from their Fairfield home to fit into the queer community in Sydney’s city centre.
Let Me Know… is a theatre work that had its humble roots in 2016. Miranda expresses a struggle for support in Western Sydney. ‘We don’t have a huge theatre scene,’ they tell The Western. ‘If you don’t know the theatre scene very well […] it’s a lot of work.’
Miranda’s search for support came in the form of applying to several platforms for dramaturgy support. A wave of support eventually rolled through to support Miranda’s piece, including Playwriting Australia, Q Theatre, and Blacktown Arts. Miranda also got in contact with creatives including Leila Enright (Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and Caitlin Newton-Broad (Shopfront Contemporary Arts), before settling in with Valerie Berry to direct the script.
As much as Miranda identifies with the experience of being a queer Filipinx in Western Sydney, they clarified that Let Me Know… is not an autobiographical work. ‘I am writing [from] personal experience - but this is not autobiographical.’ They recall spending a lot of their time hanging out with their partner and friends in Fairfield, but continues to live in the Greater West. ‘Just because you write about the area you’re in, doesn’t mean it’s autobiographical.’
However, Miranda understands the play will align with the experiences of other queer people. ‘I found that even though it’s not a universal story, there are obviously also still some things where, if you’re a queer person of colour, you’re like ‘Oh yeah I totally know what it’s about.’
Supplied (Image: Riverside National Theatre of Parramatta @riversideparra)
Miranda describes identifying more closely to Prince, the Pasifika non-binary character, than their Filipinx protagonist. 'Technically Prince’s character was a little more autobiographical than I am. But they were also in a way more braver.’ Miranda describes writing Prince helped come to terms with their non-binary identity, which according to them, ‘[was] not a thing I didn’t realise in myself until way later!’
As for the future of theatre in Western Sydney, Miranda recognises the lack of theatre spaces. ‘It’s not about finding talent […] because it’s already here. It’s all about ‘how do you keep people here?’’ Showing Let Me Know… in Western Sydney is thus important, not just because it is loyal to the story’s roots, but it also opens up the opportunity to invite city folk into the West.
Miranda has several other projects up their sleeve - all of which continue to to tell stories about the Asian-Australian experience. They hint at two solo theatre shows - one of which is a collaboration between Filipinx-Australians - and a Co-Curious work about a lola and an apo.
Let Me Know When You Get Home will be performed at Riverside’s National Theatre in Parramatta, from March 18-20. Tickets are available now at the CuriousWorks website.
