Five performances explore mental health, memory, bodily agency, cultural identity, and the communities that carry us through life’s struggles.
What do we carry within ourselves, and what carries us when the weight becomes too heavy?
The
Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) brings back
“Control + Shift: Changing Narratives StudioLab LIVE” with the theme,
“Tangan, Tahanan, Tulay, at Tinig: Narratives of Care, Survival, and Collective Responsibility,” running for two weekends only, from
November 20-29, 2026 at the
PETA Studio Theater.
Building on the conversations and creative explorations established in previous editions, this year's StudioLab brings together five performances across music, movement, poetry, and theatrical storytelling. Against a backdrop of exhaustion, disinformation, conflict, ecological crisis, and emotional strain,
Control + Shift 2026 asks what becomes possible when care is reclaimed, not as a personal or private burden, but as a shared and collective responsibility.
While democracy is often understood through institutions, elections, and laws, its survival also depends on how people care for one another in their everyday lives. Through stories of vulnerability, illness, memory, displacement, and belonging, the StudioLab connects individual experiences to larger social realities, exploring how care can become a source of healing, protection, and meaningful change.
This year, audiences can experience the five performances through four thematic sets:
Tangan, Tahanan, Tulay, and
Tinig, each offering a different perspective on what we carry, what sustains us, and what happens when people are seen, heard, and supported.
SET A: TANGAN (What We Carry)Every burden begins in private. Three students each carry a weight they cannot say out loud. A woman is taught to apologize for her own body. A theater-artist couple faces illness: one carries it in shame, the other is made to erase herself. These works ask what it costs for a person to carry the unseen, the burden of grief and shame suppressed within.
“BYOB (Bring Your Own Baon)” is an interactive theater performance centering on issues of mental health and culture of violence manifesting in schools. The performance reframes mental health from an individual burden into a shared responsibility among peers, families, schools, and communities. Written by Michelle Ngu-Nario and directed by Johnnie Moran, the show features Sam Marasigan, Moi Gealogo, Jessie Huyo-a, and Air Paz.
“Paglisan” is a staged reading of a theatrical adaptation of Carl Joseph E. Papa's acclaimed animated film. As illness slowly erases memory, a theater-artist couple confronts what it means to remember, love, and care for one another when the stories that once held them together begin to disappear. Adapted by Yeyin de la Cruz and directed by Gio Gahol, the production features Rody Vera, Shamaine Buencamino, Ayla Garcia, Mico Esquivel, and Bene Manaois.
“Pagsilang ni Dimaya,” written and performed by Noelle Polack, with direction by Gold Villar-Lim, is a performance poetry and movement work exploring female sexuality, embodied power, and transformation. Through the story of a woman reclaiming agency over her body and creative life force, the piece challenges narratives of shame and silence, reimagining the body as a source of creation, healing, and change.
SET B: TAHANAN (What Carries Us)
The weight has to be set down somewhere. For many, that place is a community. Young artists from Pampanga bring their rich heritage to the stage. Beside them, a story of orphaned children in war shows what happens when no community catches them. Together, these works ask what belonging holds up, and what falls when it fails.
“Ding Parul Ning Bale-Balayan,” written by Felinda V. Bagas and directed by Raul Alfonso and the creative team of Anak Bale-Balayan, is a cultural performance from Bale-Balayan Museum for the Poor and Center for Transformation through the Arts, a youth arts collective from Pampanga. Through music, movement, and cultural performance, the group shares stories rooted in heritage, identity, and hope, demonstrating how arts and culture can become spaces of belonging, healing, and transformation.
“Baga ng Gumuguhong Langit” is a movement and devised theater piece about orphaned children surviving amid the devastation of war. As bombs fall and communities fracture, the work asks whether resilience alone is enough, and reminds us that survival depends on compassion, protection, and collective responsibility. Written by Anj Heruela and directed by Ian Segarra, the production features Zoe Damag, Rei Millete, Martina Parallag, and Wade Dizon.
SET C: TULAY (Who Meets Us Halfway)Not everyone has a place to set the weight down. Three students carry worries no one asks about. A woman learns that wanting is something to hide. Children in a war are left to fend for themselves. In these stories, we see how silence is not chosen. It is taught. These works ask who will cross to meet them, and what changes when someone does.
- “BYOB (Bring Your Own Baon)”
- “Pagsilang ni Dimaya”
- “Baga ng Gumuguhong Langit”
SET D: TINIG (Who Gets to Be Heard)Some stories remain unheard, not because they have nothing to say, but because the world has not made room for them. These works ask whose voices are heard, whose are silenced, and what it takes to make experiences long overlooked as part of our collective story.
- “Paglisan"
- “BYOB (Bring Your Own Baon)”
Together, these four sets offer different entry points into the same urgent conversation: that survival is never entirely individual, and that the burdens people carry are shaped by the relationships and systems around them.
At a time when many are asked to endure hardship on their own,
Control + Shift 2026 offers another possibility: a world where vulnerability is met with compassion, where communities take responsibility for one another, and where care becomes a shared foundation for meaningful change.
Because democracy survives not only through institutions, but also through the everyday choices people make to care for one another.
Show Schedule:
Set A: TANGAN (What We Carry) 7:00 PM on
November 20, 21, 28, and 29.Set B: TAHANAN (What Carries Us) 2:00 PM on
November 21, 22, 28, and 29.Set C: TULAY (Who Meets Us Halfway) 7:00 PM on
November 22.Set D: TINIG (Who Gets to Be Heard?) 7:00 PM on
November 27.Tickets are priced at ₱700 per set. Get your tickets through
bit.ly/PETACS2026Tickets or contact Irish at 0924 592 9883 via Viber or
legaspiirishshane@petatheater.com.
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