Allan and Joyce Manalo as Desi Arnaz and Lucielle Ball.
Sixth and Howard is just a few blocks away from San Francisco’s theater district, but it’s home to what may be the ONLY Filipino American performing arts space in the country: Bindlestiff Studio. Here, actors, comedians, and musicians have honed their craft and built a multi-generational community of performing artists.
Lorna Velasco as Audrey Hepburn.
The ‘Stiff (as it is affectionately called) has hosted a range of events like Pinoise Pop, a music festival of Asian Americans in rock; Pinoy Midsummer’s Night Dream, where Bindlestiff’s largely Fililpino membership performed Shakespeare; and the current show, Stories High, which is the culmination of a one-act festival built up from a series of workshops that develop the next generation of theater artists. But what’s not always talked about is the visual art on Bindlestiff’s walls.
Jed Parsario as Charlie Chaplin.
Contributor Robynn Takayama met with photographer Nina de Torres Ignacio and Roczane Enriquez to talk about their exhibition, Icons, which is up in the Bindestiff Studio lobby and mezzanine and features Bindlestiff volunteers styled as celebrity icons.