Bloodletting

I find few stories more affecting than psychological horror tales. Bloodletting exemplifies the best of the genre: it explores family and community trauma, feeling disconnected from your origins, the pain of otherness.

Filipinos have powerful familial bonds, and that means there is an equally powerful fear of rejection by family or community, and that fear of rejection often festers into a sense of internalized monstrosity.

I keep coming back to the line: “You tell them they are evil, you think they will not want to hurt you more?” It’s a cruel thing. When we tell a person that they are evil or wrong, inherently and irrevocably, we speak it into truth. We eliminate their potential to do or be better. Sometimes we tell this to ourselves.

This story reminds us that humans make monsters, and learning about our monsters makes us better humans.

Through this play, I also got to flex my creative direction skills by directing our film promo, photoshoot, and guiding the marketing images. I learned a great deal about Filipino folklore and creatures and my own history. I also had an amazing time devising the supernatural fights and effects with this team.