On representation, Phi Palmos, who plays the role of Ada in Ateneo Blue Repertory’s sold-out staging of Carlo Vergara’s iconic superheroine ‘Zsazsa Zaturnnah’, stands firm on the notion that there’s something intrinsically wrong when people call to ‘break the stereotypes’ when they refer to the queer community being represented in media because more often than not, they refer to and look the loud, effeminate, ‘baklang parlorista’ stereotype, as if this is a wrong representation of the LGBTQIA+ community. While he makes the case that it rings true that this should not be the only way to represent queerness, it is a “lazy advocacy” for representation when they say this and fail to recognize the realities and truths anchored on these stereotypes, thereby inadvertently erasing the existence and lives of those who are loud, flamboyant, and effeminate. To which, he points out, “Instead of saying ‘break the stereotypes’, why don’t we ‘humanize the stereotypes’ and not use them as a punchline, a joke, or worse, an insult?” Palmos, along with the cast of fresh and established movers in theater behind ‘Zsazsa Zaturnnah The Musical… Yun Lang,’ take us on the journey of bringing an iconic gay character to today’s audiences.
