Conrad A. Panganiban

Daryo’s All-American Diner is about resilience seen through the lens of a Filipino family who struggles to keep a family business open at the height of the pandemic. May, a daughter in her 40s of the late founder, Augusto Daryo, manages the diner and is torn between keeping the business afloat despite mounting expenses or selling the business altogether. As she tiptoes on navigating these choices, her mother April and her African American surrogate aunt Alberta suffer the brunt of racial hatred. May is forced to revisit her decision as family and friends redefine what binds them together as a community. The play sets the tone for how a traumatic act of violence can lead to an act of grace when the Daryo’s family and friends find new joy in honoring the legacy of the Diner's founder, the late father whose culinary prowess makes Daryo’s All-American Diner all American.

The play finds its strength through a multiracial assembly of characters creating a montage on which to view the ongoing anti-Asian hate from a perspective that engages cross-cultural healing and understanding.

FULL-LENGTH: High school senior, Johnny Montalban, is a part of the exuberant world of street musicians in San Francisco. As Johnny sets a plan in motion to drop out of school to pursue a music career, his mother, Carmelita, only has dreams of him graduating and keeping a roof over their heads in their ever-changing SOMA neighborhood. When faced with losing their home due to rent increases and decreased wages from a scheming boss, a history assignment based on the true story about how a group of Filipino Americans began the biggest agricultural labor strike in the United States inspires him to fight for the wages owed his mother and the apartment they call home. Through the help of a caring teacher, his love of music, and the strength found in the Filipino American Community, Johnny finds the strength to not only take action in saving his mom’s job, but he also finds the fire to not be another statistical drop-out.

FULL-LENGTH: Esperanza Means Hope is a moving and emotionally charged family drama with original music about the journey of Filipina-American songwriter, Espy Cojuanco-Tan, as she battles domestic violence and the indifferent stance of her father while she tries to save the local Asian American Community Center.

FULL LENGTH: As a single mom and immigrant, Beverly Marie-Spencer will stop at nothing to reach the “American Dream” for herself and her son, Walter. She's worked to remove her accent, changed her name, and attained a comfortable amount of wealth by teaching new United States Citizens how to become “better” Americans through a series of successful home lectures. Think TedTalks meets a Tupperware Party for U.S. Immigrants.

Today, in the middle of America, she auditions to be the host of a new TV show in front of a live audience. In a sudden turn of events, through unexpected visits by a fun-loving grocery clerk from Kyrgyzstan and a blues musician from her past, Beverly is forced to fight for her son, her shot at television glory, and in the process, redefines what it means to be an American.

New American Order is a comedic-tragedy that explores the question: What would a person sacrifice in order to obtain the American Dream?

TEN-MINUTE: River is faced with a dilemma of whether or not to help her best friend, Kennedy, with testing her computer science final project, a Facebook App to communicate with her mother who has recently passed away.

TEN-MINUTE: INAY'S WEDDING DRESS is an intimate portrait of two Filipino American sisters separated by coasts, age, class, and sexual orientation as they clash over a traditional Filipino Wedding Dress left to them by their mother.

In a case of robbery gone tacoliciously wrong, MARCEL's attempt of robbing BELLE turns into the job opportunity of a lifetime where gifted taste buds rule this day on the streets of Oakland, CA.

After being locked in a basement with another suitor, an early 40s-something MELISSA and her unsuspecting accomplice, a mid 40s-something STEPHEN, hatch a plan of becoming Social Media Ninjas where they'll finally be able to escape the parental question, "When are you getting married?" in the 10-minute Romantic Comedy, BEING CAREFUL.

TEN-MINUTE: Hired assassin Agent Kilikili plots his next hit with a sexy Russian colleague only to have his best-laid plans foiled by a surprise visit from his Filipino mom.

TEN-MINUTE: A homeless man fights to keep his park bench from being taken away through the use of broken Old-English from a city worker desperate to keep herself and her own home together.

TEN-MINUTE: A comic book writer on the brink of losing her job comes up an idea of a new Superhero based on her Asian mother.

SHORT ONE-ACT: Some wedding guests cry, some get too drunk, and some run into their ex’s. Former-flames Harper and Noah deal with their first encounter since breaking up, with their new plus-ones in tow.

A one-minute play where Quinn and Skyler discuss what's given up by avoiding going to a concert headlined by The Cure.

A one-minute romantic comedy that addresses an actual elephant in a room.