‘My Lolo Screamed at Me: Why Are You Telling the Family Stories?’

kilusan Bautista

Performance artist Kilusan Bautista. (Via TheFilAm)

This interview was originally published in TheFilAm.

I first met performance artist and activist Kilusan Bautista backstage at the Bowery Poetry Club several years ago. That night, he rapped and recited poetry about his family’s immigrant experience wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with sun-rays from the Philippine flag. The vibe was positive, educational, and the audience bobbed their heads in recognition. A performance like this is part of Bautista’s personal brand of hip hop theater, combining poetry, storytelling and martial arts to describe the history and identity politics of the Filipino community in America. His latest work is Universal Filipino, a solo theatrical piece which debuts in New York this weekend at Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Although onstage, he radiates with bold lyrical energy, in person, Bautista is soft-spoken and reflective. I sat down with him to find out more about his background and artistic career.

JG: How would you describe Universal Filipino to someone who is coming to your work for the first time?
KB: Universal Filipino is a hip hop theater production which explores second-generation Filipino Americans growing up in the hip hop generation of the ‘80s and ‘90s. It explores a number of identity issues.

JG: Were the stories collected from your own or others’ experiences?
KB: It’s a combination of personal narratives of my life growing up, of specific influences, but there’s also a very imaginative part of it, which helps me with the storytelling, and the weaving of how it all connects together.

Read the rest of the interview at TheFilAm.net

AboutJocelyn Gonzales
Jocelyn Gonzales, Technical Director and Senior Producer, is a freelance radio producer in New York City. Her work has been featured on WNYC News, Studio 360, Soundcheck, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money, Radiolab, Musicians Radio, Ear Studio, the Bowery Poetry Club, Minnesota Public Radio, Strange Music and Re:Sound. She was part of the team that created Studio 360, and she was the producer for DishNow Hear This! and The Conversation on WNYC. Jocelyn is a full-time faculty member at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in the sound design department, and was the principal advisor to the campus radio station, WNYU AM/FM, for several years. She is also a podcast producer at The New York Times.