Mission and Vision| About Bindlestiff | Bios / Players

Welcome to the show between two shores. The FOB Show is a multi-performance genre production that captures the immigrant experience from a uniquely Filipino perspective.

For years, Bindlestiff has been very pinoy. Essentially pinoy. It’s what’s defined its existence and purpose as an artistic epicenter ever since the space was “colonized” in the 1990s. Now, however, as it grows as an organization it’s time to explore different facets of being Filipino. In the next two hours, we will tackle subjects that we’ve always known and experienced, and yet we rarely stop to think of or talk about them.

This show started over a year ago as a conversation in the old theater’s Smoke Room. Two idealistic dudes met, talked, and found that they had two things in common – they were both FOBs, and they were proud of it. They were proud to be Filipino and missed the Philippines very much.

Being away from home, they realized, crystallizes all the things that immigrants miss about where they came from. It also causes immigrants to unconsciously “pick and choose” the aspects of their old lives to bring with them to their new land. This process causes a collision of worlds, and produces….the FOB.

Sadly, the world tends to see only the surface of the FOB.

FOB is the odd accent and mispronounced words.

FOB is the funny clothes, funny smells, funny ________(fill in the blank).

FOB is the one who “doesn’t understand”

Yet, there’s a rich history in between those sentences. There’s the parents who sacrifice so much to provide a better future for their children. There’re the political refugees seeking out a better place for their beliefs. There’s the first generation child who returns to the Philippines to find out about their roots, and becomes a “reverse FOB.”

Maybe it’s less that FOBs understand their new world, and more that the world doesn’t understand FOBs.

FOB is where you came from
Ang inyong pinangalingan.
FOB is who came here before you
Ang mga nauna.
FOB is YOU
Pare-pareho tayo

After all, in the entire history of this nation, aren’t we all FOBs?

Thus, this show is meant for the world. For anyone who wants to laugh, cry, or relate with us. For anyone who’s willing to listen, learn, and see … through our transient eyes.

We hope that our stories might someday expand beyond this humble production. There is so much that even this ambitious show could not capture. If only we could pack in all in a Balikbayan Box……

Clare Adamos
Eric Fructuoso
Dino Ignacio
Ryan Morales

Mission and Vision| About Bindlestiff | Bios / Players