Bindlestiff Studio proudly presents…

DARKHEART - A Concert Narrative

Script & Songs written by Golda Supernova Sargento
Directed by Michelle Talgarow
Co-Directed by Golda Supernova Sargento

A Message from Bindlestiff Studio’s Artistic Director

It all began with the song.

When I was a young eager Pinay trying to find myself, without the help of the internet, seeing Golda perform for the first time in my life was transformative. As I was beginning to learn about my history and find community, her music and poetry was the soundtrack to many BART rides. Her unique artistry and daring performances was inspiring and spoke to me so deeply.

I first heard about the Darkheart Project through the Bindlestiff artist grapevine. She was gathering artists to help with her vision but it wasn’t until much later that I would help Golda plot its production. It started with a “staged reading” which Thomas Paras turned into a whole 3 short play festival—Forbidden Futures in 2018. With 2 other writers who built stories within the Darkheart Pinxy punk sci fi world, Golda’s vision was finally staged. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the dystopian setting of Darkheart no longer seemed like a distant future. It was happening in real time and in the virtual Forbidden Futures show in 2020, it just hit different. I knew that Golda was the storyteller that we needed at this time.

In 2021 Golda and I met virtually to begin writing a grant for funding. It was my job to take her vision and make sure it was translated to grant speak. Unfortunately, we were rejected at our first attempt, but with the help of Oliver who polished our application we received funding from the Gerbode Foundation. We were so excited to learn that for the first time Darkheart would get the proper funding to bring it to life.

Living in this moment of US government funded genocide in Palestine, we resist in any way we can. Art is our way of decolonization and to speak out—especially in the belly of the beast. Darkheart is an invitation to experience, reflect, move, scream.

Like all Bindlestiff productions, it took an entire village to create and I am so proud of the work of every single cast and crew of this production. Shout out to all the folks who also volunteered their time with workshopping the script, and setting up the space. I’m especially grateful to Golda for her persistence in her artistry, for leading with love and care, and for her songs.

Welcome to Darkheart.

Aureen Almario
Artistic Director

Land Acknowledgment
We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone have never ceded, lost nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place.

To support local indigenous community efforts you can pay land tax to https://sogoreate-landtrust.org/

Photo of the Musicians and Actors of DARKHEART - A Concert Narrative (Seated L-R: Chris "Burd" Quines, Blair Switch, Golda Supernova Sargento, Carlie Mari; Standing L-R: Chuck Lacson, LO, Joe Cascasan, Lisa Hu, nic feliciano, Rob Trinidad, Sandra Criswell, Ed Mabasa). Photo by Paciano Triunfo @mopix926

The Musicians, Actors, Creative Team, and Crew

THE MUSICIANS OF NONSPACE
Golda Supernova Sargento: Writer, Vocals, & Guitar
Blair Switch: Drums
Chris “Burd” Quines: Guitar & Bass
Carlie Mari: Bass & Sound Design

THE ACTORS
Golda Sargento, Joe Cascasan, Sandra Criswell, nic feliciano, Lisa Hu, Chuck Lacson, LO, Ed Mabasa, Rob Trinidad

Producer: Melvign Badiola
Producer: Oliver Saria
Producer: Jud Ferrer
Assistant Producer: Jack Patena
Marketing Director: Conrad Panganiban
Social Media Manager: Tracy Keith Legacion

Writer, Co-director: Golda Supernova Sargento
Director: Michelle Talgarow
Stage Manager: Heather Kelly-Laws
Assistant Stage Manager: Tracy Keith Legacion

Tech Director: Dave Ragaza
Set Designer: Tracy Nguyen
Projections Designer: Joan Osato
Movement Director: Ryan Marchand
Costume Designer: Cir Sayoc
Costume Designer Assistant: Yaz
Shadow Designer: Aureen Almario
Light Designer: Dave Ragaza
Sound Designer: Carlie Mari
Sound Board Engineer: Hatuey Q Hernandez
Videographer: Tara Perez
Video Editor (for scenework): Matt Abaya
Prop Master: Thomas Paras
Prop Master 2: Nicolette Dionisio
Publicity Photographer: Paciano Triunfo
Poster/Graphic Designer: Fritz Aragon aka Zufos
Program: Conrad Panganiban

The Shadow Crew
Aureen Almario: Creator & Director

Carla Fajardo: Videographer & editor
Tracy Nguyen: Puppeteer & Puppet maker
Don Wood: Puppeteer & Puppet maker
Tracy Legacion: Puppeteer & Puppet maker
Colin Skerritt: Puppeteer & Puppet maker
Dave Ragaza: Puppeteer
Ava Tong: Puppet maker
Gwynn Cristobal: Puppet maker

The Musicians of NonSpace

Golda Supernova Sargento - Rebel Maria Golda Supernova Sargento is a multi-hyphenated artist, active in the Bay Area since moving from Alaska in the late-90s. Performing original songs solo, or with post-punks - The Soft Stars - Golda’s latest work as playwright and composer of DarkHeart: A Concert Narrative was recently excerpted in the literary magazine, Liwanag Vol. 3. The full-length world-premiere of DARKHEART is scheduled for May 2024 at Bindlestiff Studio, sponsored in part by the Gerbode Foundation 2023 Music Award.

Carlie Mari is a SF based live sound engineer, API Futures Fund grantee, and award winning songwriter.

Follow @babymonstercake on Instagram for updates on her latest project.

Favorite line/line that resonates most: I was a fool to love you like I do I broke every rule

Roles: Bass & Sound Designer

Christopher "Burd" Quines has been an active participant of the music scene in the Bay Area for the last 21 years. Burd started playing his own solo projects, Dynamite Salesman & Burnt Thumbs, to house party hipsters in 2007 before expanding Burnt Thumbs to a five piece that included two drummers and three guitar players. In 2010, Burd then joined the freak out rock band, The Symbolick Jews, as their bass player. For three years, Burd has toured and released two full length albums with them. He also formed heavy-sludge band, Big Hurt and in between those two bands, has helped formed other projects, Cursed Words and Weird Church as well as collaborated with a few celebrated artists in the Bay Area. After the demise of both Big Hurt and Symbolick Jews, Burd formed post-punk noise band Hafner and has been running the band for 12 years. Hafner has been heavily involved with Aklasan Records which includes 2 releases under the label and has played Aklasan Fest numerous times. Hafner has been mentioned in the Business Mirror newspaper in the Philippines, and has received high praise from Raymund Marasign of the Eraserheads. Burd has also formed the punk band Toxic Culture with singer Rupert Estanislao of Aninoko, and played punk shows around San Francisco and Oakland. Currently, Burd has joined Simpsons theme D-Beat band, Dis-Marge, and formed a 90s alt-rock band named Bashful Bull. Burd has been known as the “Tone Master” to some small circles because of his obsession for guitar equipment, especially Fuzz Faces and aluminum neck guitars. Burd resides in Daly City with his armory of guitars and amps.

Much love to Mom, Dad, Mark and Steve Albini. Darkhearts Crew: we DA best. Tone Zone 2024.

Favorite line in DARKHEART: They'll say people crawl inside this little hole and show me the secret of your heart of gold you know me I've come to you before they'll say

Blair Switch is a San Francisco Bay Area musician and performer. Previously she provided drums for The Red Shades: A Trans Superhero Rock Opera at Z-Space. She currently plays bass for the Queer Punk band The Homobiles. She is proudly trans and has a really cute dog. Find her online @TheBlairSwitch

Favorite part of DARKHEART: The song Songsoaked

The Actors of DARKHEART

Joe Cascasan Blessings in all directions. Joe is humbly honored for the opportunity to be part of Golda's DarkHeart saga. Philippines born, Bay Area raised trying to navigate life and always thankful for Bindlestiff for allowance of creative exercise. Thank you Golda, thank you Michelle, thank you everyone! "We make space"

Favorite line in DARKHEART: 50/50

Sandra Criswell (they/them, she/her) is a non-binary Filipinx multihyphenate actor, writer, facilitator, and healing artist. They are a part of Queer as Fuck, a collective of QTPOC theater artists exploring Queer resistance and joy, and was most recently seen in 2023's "Our Villain Era" as a transphobic auntie, the worst bystander ever, the disembodied voice of an IVF recipient, and a leather dyke pirate (RANGE!). They joined the Bindlestiff family as an actor in Stories High XXII, and debuted their short play, "Closer to God" in last year's production. Sandra also taps into their deep roots of resistance as facilitator and healing artist for reproductive and racial justice movements, tracking the stars and finding divine alignment wherever they can.

Roles: Heart, Coal

Favorite line in DARKHEART: May the volcano of her history erupt on the cut tongue of her diaspora

nic feliciano is a storyteller, performer, and cook made in manila based in berkeley, ca. when she’s not feeding people in the streets with her food hustle Sup Streetfood, you can find her making art and music inspired by the filipino diaspora and telling stories at Bindlestiff Studios.

Roles: Artist and Lola

Favorite line in DARKHEART: your soul's on fire

Lisa Hu (she/her) is a queer AAPI creative, strategist, and policy wonk committed to love and justice work while centering womxn and nonbinary folx of color. Local affiliations include: Awesome Theatre, Bindlestiff Studio, FaultLine Theater, Killing My Lobster, Kunoichi Productions, Magic Theatre, Movement Generation, SFBATCO, SF Sketchfest, ShortLived, and QAF Collective. She is endlessly grateful for Golda and Michelle and the entire Darkheart crew - and hopes to see you in the freedom fight!

Roles: Superior Instructor & Bellows

Favorite quote: “my heart who keeps burning / burning / and will not stop”

Chuck Lacson doesn't want to be the authority, but he loves playing one on stage. Very grateful to be part of this freedom fight with the rest of the talented Darkheart crew. Thank you Golda for taking all us to someplace new! Unique work like this is what makes Bindlestiff magical. Come and create with us! Shout out to Julie. 143!

Roles: Master Authority / Forgeman

Favorite line in DARKHEART: What we need is more singers...more movers...more sound makers

Ed Mabasa is a San Francisco native who has written over a dozen short plays for Bindlestiff. His plays have focused on the occult, 1940’s San Francisco noir, science fiction, and horror.

* Golda, thank you for asking me to be in this piece. If not, I would have died that night.

Role: Lab Tech 1

Rob Trinidad began with the 'Stiff during the Natoma years. He has been involved with various shows -- comedy, drama, sketch, and now concert narrative! He is proud to have been able to work with so many awesomely talented OG Bindlestiff artists!

Rob would like to dedicate this performance to his very strong and loving mother. I love you Mom!

Roles: Lab Tech 2; Ox

Favorite lines in DARKHEART: “No more suffering . . . We already paid”

The Creative Team and Crew

Michelle Talgarow (Director) is a Kalmyk/Filipina performance maker in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Her most recent directing credits are, THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh with Capital Stage in Sacramento, MAN OF GOD by Anna Ouyang Moench with Shotgun Players in Berkeley, and BALIKBAYAN BOX by Jeffrey Lo with TheatreFIRST. Michelle is a proud member of Shotgun Players’ artistic company and a proud member of the all AAPI Bay Area theatre collective, Ferocious Lotus. Michelle is currently an adjunct professor at University of San Francisco.

Tracy Nguyen (Set Design) adventures in creativity. Paint…graphite…ink…pixels...buildings…words…paper…shadows…she finds not jack, not mastery, but joy in all trades. She has so much of so many kinds of appreciation to share towards so many here and in other realms. If you have crossed paths, she thanks you for something, so find yourself in this energy, or in these letters: AA, DR, JF, JM, GS, MT, NF, DM, OS, CS, SC, TP, JA, MG, SV, & + + + love, thanks, and spirit to y’all!

Favorite line in DARKHEART: Worlds are made and eaten here.

Dave Ragaza (Tech Director and Light Design)

Joan Osato (Projection Designer) has played a pivotal role in local and national theater for over two decades and is a committed local and national community organizer. A core member of Youth Speaks since 2001 where she produces live performance events and runs the programs of Narrative Change and Field Building, she is also Producer for The Living Word Project and the critically acclaimed theater group Campo Santo. As cultural organizer - she works on behalf of national networks, and sits on the board of directors of the National Performance Network, and the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists and has been recognized for her work as Cal Shakes Awardee for Community Engagement, and was named a recipient of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, YBCA 100. She is an awardee of prestigious grants from the MAP Fund, Creative Capital and the Creative Work Fund. She was the inaugural recipient of SFAC’s Artist and Communities Partnership Grant, Theater Bay Area Award for Excellence in Video Design and the Surdna Foundation’s Artists Engaged in Social Change Award. Currently she is working on producing plays and films for Campo Santo including Shelter by Ben Fisher, directed by Omar Metwally, The Travelers, by Luis Alfaro, Josephine’s Feast by Star Finch, Dirty White Teslas Make Me Sad by Ashley Smiley, Garuda’s Wing by Naomi Iikuza, Atlan by Luis Alfaro, the boiling by Sunhui Chang directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang, and Jerry Garcia in the Lower Mission by Richard Montoya. Recent work includes, EARTH SEED by People’s Kitchen, Plantation Remix by Cristal Truscott, Larry The Musical, Dugo with Sean San Jose, Patricia Barretto Ong and Rachel Lastimosa, Nothing Micro About Micronesia by Leilani Chan, and Tomorrow’s Memories with San Francisco Girls Chorus. She's thrilled to be working on Darkheart with Golda and the extraordinary cast and crew of Bindlestiff!

Favorite line from DARKHEART: With this I will make the Moon her mother, to teach her how light changes shapes as we move and that Time is for creating.

Aureen Almario (Shadow and Light Creator & Director) is elated to be the shadow and light player for Darkheart. She learned shadow puppetry from Lorna Velasco and Don Salubayba at Bindlestiff Natoma alley in 2005. After she was granted the inaugural BJ Alisago Fellowship in 2011, she traveled to the Philippines to research the Filipino shadow group Don co-founded–Anino Shadow Collective. She went on an international tour with Lorna from 2015-2017 as ensemble puppeteer for Hamid Rahmanian’s Feathers of Fire, with direction from Larry Reed of Shadowlight Production. She’s the artistic director of Bindlestiff, and co-founder of Granny Cart Gangstas. Catch her next shadow project, Bulong, at Bindlestiff Studio later this year.

Ryan Marchand (Movement Director) is an actor, director, and theatre-maker. A Los Angeles native who moved to the Bay Area to attend San Francisco State University, Marchand completed his BA in French with a minor in Theatre. Since then Marchand has performed, directed, and taught in the Bay Area with particular focus on new and devised works, physical theater, as well as folk theater. He served as movement director for Kat Evasco’s Mommy Queerest. Most recently Marchand performed Theatre of Yugen’s A Noh Christmas Carol, and several of their classical Kyogen plays in English, as well as with local companies such as New Conservatory Theater Center, Crowded Fire and Shotgun Players. Currently Ryan works at San Francisco Opera as Director of the Department of Diversity, Equity and Community.

Favorite line in DARKHEART: To those of us with noisy hearts that split and

Cir Sayoc (Costume Designer)

Yaz / Yasmin Campbell (Costume Designer Assistant)

Heather Kelly-Laws (Stage Manager) is a San Francisco native and semi-retired stage manager who has been working in the Bay Area performing arts scene for nearly a decade. An artistic company member at Berkeley's Shotgun Players since 2017, favorite musical credits there include Vinegar Tom, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, and Passing Strange. She's stoked to be adding DarkHeart to that list.

Having immigrated from the Philippines and now based in San Francisco, Tracy Keith Legacion (Assistant Stage Manager / Social Media Producer) wants to represent her culture and stay close to her roots while pursuing Theatre and Film. She’s performed at Bindlestiff Studio, a theater which showcases Filipino artists, notably in “The Love Edition: Sprung Edition” and “Stories High XXIII.” Passionate about story-telling, she’s excited to have made her debut as a leading actress in the short film “Rude Awakening”.

She loves scary movies, Karl the Fog, her dog Peppermint Patty, and is ready for where her next role will take her, both onstage and offstage!

She would like to thank her mother Tet, Colin, family, and friends for their unconditional support. To the entire Darkheart cast and crew, thank you for bringing me along this beautiful journey! All love, always.

Favorite line in DARKHEART: 50/50

Thomas Paras (Prop Designer) is a Filipino-American wasteland boy scout and Bindlestiff volunteer since 2006 who's served in every theater role outside of the tech booth. A self-proclaimed duct-tape savant, Thomas serves Darkheart as the show's prop designer alongside his girlfriend Nicolette, who is herself a hot glue guru. "We hope you like the shit we built to bring the world of Darkheart to life!"

Favorite line in DARKHEART: There's far too much of you and far too little of me

Nicolette Dionisio (Props) is a Filipina-American Tiefling Sorlock from the Bay Area and has been a Bindlestiff volunteer since 2017. She has contributed to prop-making, graphic design, and visual art; while dabbling in some on-stage acting, writing, co-directing, and puppeteering. She currently resides in San Francisco with her partner Thomas and their good dog Andor, scouring video games for future game ideas. For research, of course.

Favorite line in DARKHEART: Time-tender and song-soaked we arrive.

Melvign Badiola (Producer) is a producer, Brava’s Director of Education, production manager, film, and stage actor based in Oakland California. A Bindlestiff Studio resident artist, he’s been featured at SF Sketch Fest, 96 Hours, Young Playwright's Foundation, Palace of Fine Arts, and California Academy of Science. Producing credits include Larry The Musical: An American Journey (Brava Theater), Hope in The Mission (Brava Theater), Stories High XIII (Bindlestiff Studio). SF/Bay Area acting credits include Allegiance (Contra Costa Civic Theatre), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Town Hall Theater), Dogeaters (Magic Theatre), The Oldest Boy (Marin Theatre Company), Brothers (American Conservatory Theatre), There’s The Moon and Then There’s You (Bindlestiff Studio), and A Pinoy Mid Summer Night’s Dream (Bindlestiff Studio). Film credits include Prinsesa (Scary Cow & RDM Productions),VDA: Tape 96 (Scary Cow & RDM Productions). Production Stage Management credits include Spiritrials (Kennedy Center, MACC), Chasing Mehserle (Z Space), and Tree City Legends (Philadelphia). Maraming Salamat! IG: m3ltot

Favorite line in DARKHEART: Freedom Fight!

Jud Ferrer (Producer)

Oliver Saria (Producer)

Jack Patena (Assistant Producer) says, “I am a wandering son of a gun.”

OUR SPONSORS:

Gerbode Foundation, SF Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, SF Arts Commission, SF Grants for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, Biller Family Foundation, and Fleishhacker Foundation