ABSTRACT
The process of creating the play began by identifying research transcripts that seemed rich enough to sustain a monologue: because the interview was detailed, a person emerged off the page, or their experiences brought an important perspective to the issue. There is a peculiar scopic economy in the performing arts as compared to a written archive or other visual arts that heightens the attentiveness to intercultural reception. Memories and loss run through the testimonial stories and performance spaces. Domestic workers from the Philippine Women Centre of British Columbia took charge creating the installation: it was a model bedroom assembled from memories of their rooms. An exact replica of a domestic worker’s daily journal lay on the bedside table, inspirational and devotional religious passages interspersed with an unrelenting schedule of domestic duties. Nanay is a site-responsive play created to tell the stories of Filipino domestic workers and their families in Canada and of Canadian families in need of care.
