A play nurtured by nature aims to help audiences heal

Filipino American disabled and transgender actor Elias Enguancho (left) plays Carmela’s son in Thelma de Castro’s “Where We Lay Our Sorrows Down.” CONTRIBUTED

SAN DIEGO — If you only heard soundbites from Filipino American Thelma Virata de Castro as she talks about her latest project, you might wonder what kind of esoteric discussion is going on.

“Be a lizard.” “Soil is alive.” “Seedlings are magic.” If you found out she is a playwright, then it might make more sense since she works with words and ideas.

These phrases grew from her desire to discover more about the gardening organizations in southeast San Diego and National City.

“I became involved as a volunteer and collaborator,” she says.

“Through Project New Village, I’ve become a hyper-local farmer by donating my homegrown tangelos and sapotes for sale on their mobile produce truck.”

“Paradise Gardeners provides gardening programs and maintains a free seed library at the Skyline Hills library. I volunteer at a native garden that they’ve established on a former landfill.”

From her experiences and interactions with these groups, including community garden and education center Olivewood Gardens, De Castro says she “learned how the many aspects of nature are connected with our communities.”

Healing

Now she wants to share the same insights, specifically the therapeutic benefits of nature, with more San Diegans through her new play “Where We Lay Our Sorrows Down.”

In the one-act play, De Castro shows how a garden helps the protagonist Carmela, who has suffered personal losses in her family, find healing. Fil-Am actor Jaena-Mae Caguiat plays Carmela.

“As poet Ross Gay noted, joy and grief are intertwined. I worked with writers in underserved communities to explore how nature heals and sustains.”

She says the play will use soundscapes and puppets to evoke the spirit of a garden where Carmela immerses herself in its [healing] magic.

The puppets and soundscape are designed by students from A Reason to Survive, a youth development organization that offers arts programs to “lift young people in San Diego’s South County region to become confident, compassionate and courageous community builders through the transformative power of creativity.”

Performances

Free performances will be held in Southeast San Diego, National City, and Paradise Hills, communities ranked in the lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index.

The first performance will be at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library, Sunday, April 14 at 3 p.m.

The next will be at A Reason to Survive, Friday, April 19 at 7 p.m.

The final performance will be at the Skyline Hills Library, Saturday, April 27 at 2 p.m.

Well-being

De Castro’s collaboration with the gardening organizations and the resulting play is part of her “Cultivating Joy” social justice and community engagement campaign, a series of activities where she aims to empower writers and audiences as they explore their relationship with nature.

Through “Cultivating Joy,” De Castro also offers free writing workshops and readings. “Cultivating Joy” is supported by Far South/Border North, a regional collaborative that supports artists and cultural practitioners working in service of the health and well-being of communities.

“Where We Lay Our Sorrows Down” is presented by Asian Story Theater, where De Castro’s previous collaborations include “The Fire in Me” and “Halo-Halo.”

Other Filipino Americans involved in the play include co-director Claudette Santiago and disabled and transgender actor Elias Enguancho.

For details, visit thelmaviratadecastro.com. Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater. Available at Amazon, Bookshop and other online booksellers.