learning how to read by moonlight
A CHUANG Stage & Company One Theatre co-production
a new play by Gaven D. Trinidad
directed by Natsu Onoda Power
May 16 - Jun 1, 2025
BCA Plaza Theatre (May 16 – 24) | Pao Arts Center (May 29 – June 1)
While his mother struggles to earn money in New York City and his father waits alone in Manila for their daily phone calls, six-year-old Eddie learns English from his imaginary friend. Between the War on Drugs in the Philippines and the anti-immigrant movement in the United States threatening their humanity, will this undocumented family be able to pursue their dreams and address unspoken truths? A musical and multilingual journey of childlike wonder, Gaven D. Trinidad’s Learning How to Read by Moonlight is equal parts playful, poignant, and hella Pinoy.
To spotlight Boston’s own community leaders and activism, a new narrator (a fellow artist, community organizer, or elected official) joins the storytelling every night. Learning How to Read by Moonlight is spoken in English and Tagalog with subtitles.
tickets coming soon!
At CHUANG Stage, tickets are "Pay-As-You-Are" to provide radical access to theatre for those who identify as working-class immigrants of Asian American descent, a population in Boston underrepresented in arts and culture patrons. When you "Pay-As-You-Are," we empower you to select the ticket price that best reflects your socio-economic status and take action in community accountability to make arts accessible for all.
CO-PRODUCING PARTNER
Founded in 1998, Company One has situated itself as a home for social justice and artistic excellence by connecting Boston’s diverse communities through live performance, the development of new plays and playwrights, arts education, and public engagement programming. By establishing a dedicated space for marginalized and alternative narratives to thrive and working with partners and collaborators across the city, Company One has become a local leader in the ongoing conversations that continue to define the era of social change in contemporary America.
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
Gaven D. Trinidad (they/he/siya) is a first-generation Filipinx American dramaturgy, playwright, director, and educator from NYC. Their artistic work examines the intersections of race, language, immigration, queerness, ritual, community, and futurity. They taught undergraduate courses on the work of contemporary BIPOC playwrights at the University of Massachusetts Amherst under the mentorship of Dr. Priscilla Page. They’ve had the privilege to collaborate with folx in various artistic and administrative positions at places such as New York Theatre Workshop, The Juilliard Drama Division, Musical Theatre Factory, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Roundabout Theatre Company, 2nd Stage, and National Queer Theater. Selected plays: Learning How to Read by Moonlight (BAPF Finalist 2021), novena (Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist 2024), Mercury Makes the Skin Glow. Selected dramaturgy credits: The Duat (The Philadelphia Theatre Company, PlayPenn), PreP Play, or Blue Parachute (National Queer Theater, NCTC), June is the First Fall (Yantze Repertory Theater), Collidescope 2.0 (Ping Chong + Company). Selected directing credits: Joker (National Queer Theater), Are You There Truman? (Pride Plays, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Parsnip Ship, Leviathan Lab), Sa Aming Puso (Global Forms Theatre Festival, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York Theatre Salon). B.A. American Studies, Dickinson College; M.F.A. Dramaturgy, UMass Amherst. Proud former public-school teacher in Memphis, TN with Teach for America. Theatre Communications Group named them a 2021 Rising Leader of Color. Playwriting Groups/Fellowships: Orchard Project Greenhouse Lab; The Shelter NYC; Playground NYC; Ma-Yi Writers Lab; The Parsnip Ship Play Club. As someone living with bipolar disorder, they are an advocate for Mental Health Awareness. www.gaventrinidadtheatre.com
