Stage Review - Nanay
Presented By: Pork Filled Productions - Seattle, WA
Show Run: October 30 - November 15, 2026
Date Reviewed: Sunday, November 01, 2026
Run Time: 2 Hours (including a 15-minute intermission)
Reviewed by: Vid Hardt
Many years ago, a weekly ethnographic film festival revealed to me over the course of a winter an apparently universal truth of indigenous cultures: when the going gets tough, elders sing ritual songs of grief.
Pork-Filled Productions' excellent staging of Molly Olis Krost's world premiere play, Nanay, fits solidly in this tradition, playing at Theatre Off Jackson through November 14.
Any review of this profound and sad yet often funny play must entail some spoilers (which I'll keep to a minimum), so if you seek the tl;dr without any: Go see Nanay during its short run to take a deep dive into grief and myth, and support this venerable theater company as it steps into a new era of professionalism.
Eve (played by producer Alanah Pascual) and Angela (Ays Garcia) are fraternal twins who moved from the Philippines to California as children, apparently having eventually left their Nanay (mother) behind. Angela arrives unexpectedly at Eve's home following Eve's pregnancy, after a short flight, and the sisters are not just in immediate conflict; secrets both personal and mythological abound.
Lily N. Nguyen's and Adair MacCormack's set and scenic design aptly convey this blend of real and otherworldly by making the single set express both their childhood home and Eve's current one with a montage of mundane furnishings and abstract floor-length hanging mobiles that interrupt any sense of literalism.
Alyza Delpan-Monley's expert direction similarly straddles the real and spirit worlds in which the action unfolds with clarity and shifting focus, aided by Albert (Junfu) Chen's haunting-to-normal lighting design.
The plot unfolds with Angela (whose Instagram happy-hour postings hint at a dissolute lifestyle) having been been out of touch with her sister for many months following Eve's first trimester of pregnancy. Angela hopes belatedly to help her sister cope with the new baby, but her every mention of this intention sets Eve to rageful outbursts.
And then there's the matter of the knocking from inside the kitchen cupboard. The minimally necessary spoilers start here.
Inside the cupboard at the play's start is Ernesto, a timelessly ancient Manananggal (a mystical creature) and Babaylan (shaman) treasured by indigenous Filipino culture but demonized by Spanish colonizers. Mario Orallo-Molinaro's performance as this creature--in wonderfully vampirish makeup--is of singular brilliance and nuance all the more exceptional for creating the role from scratch for this world premiere. Ernesto is terrifying, helpful, mysterious, and frequently hilarious. They (the creature's pronoun) arrived to help heal Eve (unfortunately played at the matinee I saw almost solely with a scowl, draining this focal character of much of its scripted nuance) with multiple traumas I won't spoil here. Ernesto brings wisdom, knowledge of the sisters' dreams, and traditional songs of healing, put to music for this production by Drea Castillo.
A fire pit, an heirloom guitar, and a long-delayed ritual all play roles in leading Eve and Angela to reconciliation and Eve, especially, to healing. The second act has some moments of what Hollywood calls 'Moishe the Explainer', which can probably be trimmed, but this important new play will have plenty of opportunities for dramaturgy in further development toward what I hope will be its major success as an addition to the US and world-theater canon.
As Pork-Filled Productions now fundraises to establish its first full-time paid position after decades of existence, Nanay stands as a major achievement in establishing itself as a vital producer of innovative new work. It's spooky, moving, unpredictable, funny, and delightful.
Nanay, from Pork Filled Productions, runs on stage at The Theatre Off Jackson in Seattle through November 15. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://porkfilled.com/.
Photo credit: Giao Nguyen
