The son of singer Gary Valenciano, Paolo Valenciano, said his father loves to tell stories. And one of his favorites is the myth of Icarus—the tale of the adventurous youth who wanted to fly to the sun but, unfortunately, his wings caught fire and he plunged to earth.
“My dad loved that story because of the lessons it imparted,” the younger Valenciano told a recent press conference at Privato Hotel in Pasig City. “He told us that flying is not a bad thing as long as you follow the rules. Why climb the ladder (of success) if you’ll be pelted like a bird? So my parents’ advice was, don’t fly close to the sun. They didn’t want us to be burnt.”
The press conference was organized by The Sandbox Collective to announce the return of “No Filter,” a successful
series of monologues (as in “all about me”) and multimedia performances that ran last month. Direction is by Toff de Venecia, with Wanggo Gallaga as head project writer.
The project focuses on young people—“millennials”—and the issues that occupy them, such as social media, life after college, the woes of work and finding a job, pursuing one’s passion, love, success and happiness and—this was underscored during the press launch—relationships with parents.
“No Filter 2.0” will be staged this time at Power Mac Center Spotlight, Circuit Makati, from Oct 3-25, 2015. The previous staging was at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium of RCBC Plaza.
The eight original millennials in the first show were Cai Cortez, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Mikael Daez, Sarah Facuri, Khalil Kaimo, Saab Magalona-Bacarro, Micah Muñoz and Lauren Young. They will be joined for the new show by Sam Concepcion, Carla Humphries and Paolo Valenciano.
All 11 were present during the press conference and, during the free-for-all discussions, all had their big moment.
Curtis-Smith said that through the project, she and her parents were “able to understand what my mind is, why I acted the way I did and understand where I am right now.”
Cortez observed that “It’s a learning process for us (her parents and herself).”
For Valenciano, “the whole point of the project is to bridge the gap between generations, to understand my generation.”
The Sandbox Collective’s “No Filter 2.0” runs Oct. 3-25 at Power Mac Center Spotlight, Circuit Makati. Call 5856909, 0917-8996680 or 8919999.