Up in arms about underarms
MANILA, Philippines - Dove Philippines in cooperation with Upstart Productions present Unspeakably Yours: The Underarm Monologues, an outspoken comedy exploring … well, underarms.
Why do a show about something that no one likes to talk about? “Precisely because no one likes to talk about it,” explains Joel Trinidad, the show’s co-writer and producer (via his theater company, Upstart Productions). “We want to start the discussion.”
To that end, Trinidad, a recent Aliw Awardee for his performance in the Broadway-meets-Vegas extravaganza Kaos (a show he also wrote), spent several months collecting anecdotes, factoids, and observations about that much-misunderstood body part, the underarm. But how to shape all that information into a proper theater show? Enter veteran actor/singer/writer/director Cathy Azanza-Dy, who signed on as co-writer. “On the surface, the show is about underarms,” she declares. “But it’s really about women in general: our triumphs, our issues, our frustrations. Unspeakably Yours just uses underarms as a jump-off point.” And not just any jumping-off point, but a funny one. “We wanted to make it a comedy,” shares Trinidad. “People love to laugh.”
Rather than a straight theatrical comedy, which limits the action to just a few characters and situations, Unspeakably Yours employs the monologue format made popular by shows like Love, Loss, and What I Wore (which, coincidentally, featured Azanza-Dy and was also directed by her) and The Vagina Monologues. “With this kind of format,” shares Trinidad, “we can feature more situations, more characters, more anecdotes. It’s more relatable — and a lot more fun.” And fun, it seems, is key to the show. “We don’t want to preach to people,” explains Azanza-Dy. “We just want them to enjoy themselves, and to have a new perspective on something they thought they knew.” Co-director Jenny Jamora, another highly regarded theater veteran, has this to add: “All modern women have hang-ups about their underarms. We want tell them, ‘You are not alone!’” Azanza-Dy concurs: “We want to show women everywhere that their underarms can be their best friend or their worst enemy. It’s all up to them!”
Unspeakably Yours: The Underarm Monologues was written by Joel Trinidad and Cathy Azanza-Dy. It stars (in alphabetical order) Caisa Borromeo, Mayen Bustamante-Cadd, and Angela Padilla. The show, which starts its run in September, was directed by Cathy Azanza-Dy and Jenny Jamora.
