Homey theater

It’s Friday night and I’m headed off to a stranger’s private home in an equally private subdivision in the heart of Ortigas Center, to what my friend promises will be a fun night. Uncertain about what to expect, I half-dress up, and half-dress down in hopes of blending into whatever crowd awaits me.

From the outside of this grandiose home I can already feel it’s going to be “one of those nights,” the ones I can recount to my friends with great enthusiasm and adventure-like narrative. The chatter from the inside of the house can be heard on the streets, and as I enter the home, we are given an all-too-extravagant welcoming. A spunky, energetic and lovely Michelle Washington, president and founder of the MMQ Theatre and Events Group, welcomes me. “Everyone is a very special guest!” she says and invites us inside to eat and drink. Inside, there is an overflowing supply of wine and cocktails, guests walking barefoot, an ongoing assortment of different conversations and people of multiple cultures gathered under one roof. As I’m reaching out to get my first glass of Manny O., I’m assessing the situation and thinking, my, this is quite different!

The event is a Theater Salon, an intimate gathering inspired by the Parisian Salons of the 18th century. MMQ’s Theatre Salon series presents “The Four Fridays In February,” where four short comedies of love are performed. The traditional concept of the “salon” revolves around the idea of people gathering under the roof of one gracious host (thus the private home) to share, impart and amuse each other with personal knowledge, like a philosophical endeavor of some sort. On this night, the four short theatrical presentations are staged in the different parts of the living room of the house. Everyone is bound to meet someone new, and people huddle around a small area to watch the plays, some sitting cross-legged on the floor, some lounging around.

A hearty welcome: President and founder of MMQ Theatre and Arts Group Michelle Washington gives a heartfelt and personal welcome to the guests of the theater salon.

The salon series is an event done by MMQ annually, every Friday for the month of February. The MMQ Theatre and Events Group is a multicultural non-profit organization that uses theater and other arts events to contribute money to different charities and advocacies in the Philippines, with a focus on education, women and children. This Salon series will benefit the E.V.A schools that support the endangered Aeta people displaced by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo.

The four short comedies are adapted from American vaudeville writers. The first short, Nice Tie, is about how a man and a woman envision totally different consequences if she lets him buy her a drink. Bride and Gloom is a dialogue between a couple before marriage, and how the bride’s fear of divorce gives her cold feet. Paradise Proper is about a new angel’s arrival in heaven, not quite how we might picture it, and the last, Eve & Adam: The Untold Story tackles the story of the creation for a slightly skewed point of view (think feminist Eve).

At the end of the event, Michelle urges me to whisper to her my favorite play, in order to avoid eavesdropping. I tell her I like the story of the feminist Eve the most, and she agrees with a very enthusiastic “Me, too!” I lean into her once more and tell her, “I feel like there is a little bit of feminism injected into all of the stories.” She throws her head back with a satisfied laugh, nods her head, and looks at me with a slightly mischievous and victorious twinkle in her eyes.

Four short comedies for love: Intimate gatherings as four short performances unfold in various locations of the house. The plays adapted are Paradise Proper, Nice Tie, Eve & Adam: The Untold Story and Bride & Gloom.

It’s the cherry on the top of four short comedic plays with a decidedly feminist bias, a recurring reference to a female god and the reminder that “Woman — without her, man is nothing!”

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To help out MMQ and for inquiries on tickets and future events visit www.mmqtheatre.com or contact Michelle Washington at shecoinc@aol.comor 0917-8837171.