Presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of the 25th Annual United States of Asian America Festival

“Pickles! The Bindlestiff Kid Show”

First Story

“Espiritu”
by Jojo Rosquites

Puppets design/make: Cir Sayoc

Puppet Voices:
Paulo Asuncion
Chuck Lacson
Thomas Paras
Nikki Nutterfield

Second Story

“Out of this World”
by Mayari Duca

Puppets design/make
Ramon Abad
Nicolette Dionisio
LO Ordesta 

Puppet Voices:
Paolo Asuncion
Nikki Nutterfield
Sakura Yoshida

Third Story

“Ana’s Investigator Service”
by Maharlika Soleil Ignacio

Puppets design/make
Sofia Chanco
Nicolette Dionisio

House & Cat Design: Tracy Nguyen

Maker: Sofia Chanco

Moving Background Painter: Nicolette Dionisio

Puppet Voices:
Chuck Lacson
Nikki Nutterfield
Thomas Paras

Ed Mabasa Puppet

Design/make: Sofia Chanco

Parade Puppets

Big Bird and Dog
design/make: Julie Kuwabara

Kid Puppets
design/make:
Aureeen Almario
Sofia Chanco
Nicolette Dionisio

…and many volunteers who came to Puppet Making Day December 2019

Writers

Mayari Duca
Maharlika Soleil Ignacio
Jojo Rosquites

Dramaturg

Li-Leng Au 

Puppeteers

Aureen Almario
Nicolette Dionisio
Chuck Lacson
LO Ordesta
Thomas Paras
Sakura Yoshida
Yato Yoshida

Voice Over

Paolo Asuncion
Nikki Nutterfield
Sakura Yoshida 

Musicians

Musical Director: Joshua Icban
Preseley Asuncion

Video Artist

Paulo Asuncion

Lighting/Sound/Tech Booth

Dave Ragaza

Tech Director

Darius Muñoz

Designers/Makers

Sofia Chanco

Nicolette Dionisio

Julie Kuwabara

Tracy Nguyen

Cir Sayoc

Stage Management

Ed Mabasa

Mayari Duca is a nine year old, bright eyed girl, living in the Outer Sunset of San Francisco with her mom, dad, older brother, and chubby cat, Rocket. Energetic, with a contagious smile and strong will, she enjoys playing soccer with SF Girls Unite, reading BabySitters Club books, playing Roblox with her friends, scootering and skateboarding. She loves mango slushies with boba, bansilog and ribeye steak. Her first experience with theater was in Ramon’s last production, “The Party '' as the character MarMar, a young playful lumpia making chef. Her inspiration for the story in Pickles, “Out of this World '' was her interest in mythical “monsters” of Filipino folklore. She hopes to send a message about identity and that even when things look scary or different, not to judge them for what they appear to be. 

Maharlika Ignacio (they/them) aka Harley is a 10-year-old artist who was born in SoMa and moved to Seattle when they were 4. They love to draw, play/design video games, write stories and make slime. They love hanging out with their mom, dad, and 3 cats. Harley enjoys a warm chai latte and playing Roblox. They want to be a designer when they grow up. They are very thankful and inspired to be collaborating with Uncle Ramon and the Bindlestiff artists.

Joven “Jojo” Rosquites is 9 years old and lives in Burlingame. He loves listening to rock music like Metallica, KISS, Rage Against the Machine and Green Day. He enjoys collecting Funko Pops, comics, masks and learning to play his guitar.

Salamat! Thank you!

 Oliver Saria
Joe Cascasan
TJ Basa
Diana Li
Melanie Elvena

Julie Kuwabara, Oliver “O-Dub” Wijaypala, Sofia Chanco (part of the original 2019-2020 crew)

All the volunteers who attended the Puppet Making Day December 2019

Jud Ferrer
Ava Tong
Paula Sison
Marylynn Ordesta
Rio Hernandez and family
…and many more! 

Winnie Chien
Fred C. Reilly III 

Chrystene Ells (Bindlestiff founder and the person who FIRST brought puppetry to Bindlestiff)

Lorna Velasco (the very first Filipina puppeteer at Bindlestiff)

Special Salamat for GoFundMe Donations

Dino Ignacio
Trevor “BMFITW” Jones
Desi Danganan
Allan Silva
Maria Newhard
Conrad Panganiban
Christine Balance
Herna & Scott Cruz Louie

Ramon would like to also personally thank…

Larry Reed (my teacher)
Agelio Batle (my mentor)
Wendy Morton (my puppet-making teacher)
Allan Samson Manalo (my kili kili tickle instructor)
Joyce Juan Manalo (my jazzercise instructor)
Anila Jain (my purveyor of endless patience over the past few years of this project) 

This show is dedicated to ALL Bindlestiff volunteers Past, Present…and Future!

The Story of How “Pickles!” Came to Be

Once upon a time…

a long time ago in 2019, before anyone had even uttered the words COVID or Fauci, Filipino American puppeteer Ramon Abad was bestowed a Youth Arts Grant from the CA Arts Council to create from scratch a theatrical production dedicated to kids on the hallowed stage of Bindlestiff Studio.  

He gathered a swarthy crew of merry Bindlestiff artists and ventured forth to make Bindlestiff’s first live kids show. Trumpets blared out a call for volunteers. And from all the hills of the Bay Area ambled out kindhearted gentlefolk who spent hours cutting, painting and sewing puppets and stage sets. Their enthusiasm matched their generosity in this endeavor!

And, hence, the swarthy crew of merry Bindlestiffers proceeded forth, devising and rehearsing the very beginnings of the kids show.

Alas, when the first cherry blossoms took to bud in early 2020, a mischievous Water Demon decided to halt the proceedings by releasing a flood that engulfed the hallowed stage of our beloved theater! Poor Artistic Director Aureen Almario and Managing Director Oliver Saria were all in a tizzy! And the show had to be paused to repair the havoc wrought by this unfortunate turn of events. Oh, no!

A few month later, just as the kids show was about to leap back on its feet, another bigger, meaner, uglier demon appeared out of nowhere: COVID-19! It slammed its spikey hand in the path of the kids show and blocked it from moving forward! Oh, my!

Thus, all of the puppets had to be tucked in to sleep on the shelves at Bindlestiff where there they waited…

…and waited…

…and waited…

…and waited until they could all spring back to life again.

Behold, a magic fairy named the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) descended down from the heavens and touched its wand on the forehead of the show…and was thus able to revive it for a Spring show in early 2022!

Three young, talented progenies were summoned to appear on Zoom and worked with the dramaturg Li-Leng Au on writing stories for this revamped production. Mayari, Harley and Jojo weaved magic from these encounters with this wise specialist. Then a new, revised swarthy crew of merry Bstiffers assembled and dedicated countless hours rehearsing the new stories for the planned world premiere this past May.

But then, just four days before the show was about to open, that pesky Water Demon returned! And leaked open the pipes above the stage and yet again put the show on pause! All the puppets had to be tucked in to sleep once more! Oh, dear me! 

So, now, in the time of year when the Sun is starting to go to bed earlier in the day, the show is restored with fresh blood, reinforced with stronger supports and renewed by a fierce dedication…and you, dear friend, are so fortunate to see it presented to you today!

As the ancient, revered Bindlestiff slogan goes, “Never give up!” so, indeed “Pickles!” has NOT yet either!

…but we do keep an umbrella very close at hand!