Wolfpack Performing Arts proudly presents Welga by Conrad Panganiban in November
Elk Grove, CA – This November, Wolfpack Performing Arts will present the high school premiere of Conrad Panganiban’s Welga, a Filipino American coming-of-age story of a high school teen, Johnny Montalban, whose dreams of becoming a famous musician clash with his mother’s dream of him first earning his diploma. Set in San Francisco’s SOMA Neighborhood, the play explores family conflict against the backdrop of today’s educational system, ongoing community pressures, and the legacy of Filipinos in the farm labor movement that sparked the 1965 Delano Grape Strike.
Welga means “strike” in Tagalog. While the story is centered around a teenage boy in present day, the play beautifully intertwines the story of Larry Itliong, a Filipino American leader who helped lead a farm workers revolution. When it comes to labor unions and farmers rights in California, most people know the contributions of Cesar Chavez and his leadership of the United Farm Workers. The United Farm Workers gained notoriety as the face of a strike of grape pickers in the 1960s that prompted an international boycott of table grapes. But the part of that movement’s history that’s rarely told is the contributions of Filipino farming organizations. It was the Filipino farm workers who were the catalyst for the Delano Grape Strike which lasted for nearly five years.
For more information about Larry Itliong and the Delano Grape Strike:
Grapes Of Wrath: The Forgotten Filipinos Who Led A Farmworker Revolution
How Filipinos Shaped An American Labor Movement In The ’60s
About the Author
Conrad A. Panganiban is a San Francisco Bay Area playwright. His plays include WELGA, INAY’S WEDDING DRESS, THE PERFECT AMERICAN, and ESPERANZA MEANS HOPE. Conrad’s work has been produced and/or developed by Bindlestiff Studio (San Francisco), CIRCA Pintig (Chicago), San Francisco Playhouse, MaArte Theatre Collective (San Diego), and the Sinag-tala Filipino Theatrical Performing Arts Association (SFTPAA). Awards include: James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (San Francisco State University), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist (Playwrights Foundation). Member: Dramatist Guild of America and Theatre Bay Area. MFA. San Francisco State University. conradpanganiban.com | @consplayspace
Wolfpack Performing Arts is the award-winning performing arts company of Cosumnes Oaks High School and Elizabeth Pinkerton Middle School. Each year, the company produces four instrumental and vocal concert series, a mainstage dance production (HYPE Dance Co), and four mainstage theatrical productions each year. Our company strives to provide students with a professional experience in the performing arts. To achieve this goal, WPA employs professional teaching artists who serve as directors, choreographers, and musicians during our musical season. Our company is one of the few companies in the region that continues to perform musicals with a full, live orchestra of 25+ members. The cast of Welga includes: Jerique Suba, Alejandra Cardona-Guzmán, Aisha Helton, Haley McKnight, Drexel Agoncillo, Carina Powner, Kamea Mims, Naomi Pannell, Rea Rufo, Kylie Lang, Sam DeLoffi, Maddie Burke, Ty Burke, Mia Redding, Evelyn Love, Shannon Jolly, Jessica White, Tonalli Berumen, Miranda Abejuela, and Irene Milanez.
Opening night for Welga is Friday, November 8 @ 7 PM. Show dates and times are as follows:
November 14 @ 6 PM
November 8 & 15 @ 7 PM
November 9 & 16 @ 2 PM and 7 PM
$10 General Admission • $8 Presale • $25 VIP • $7 Group Rate (12 or more)
Get your tickets now at universe.com/wpawelga
Cosumnes Oaks HIgh School Black Box Theatre
8350 Lotz Parkway
Elk Grove, CA 95757
916-683-7670
Follow us @WPAPresents
