#ThroughTheBamboo: World Premiere Production

“There is a place. A place of islands and crystal blue waters. Where steep, silvery, jagged rocks plunge into the sea. Where the forest roots are filled with wisdom and branches carry stories to every shore. Where the warm air smells of sweet mangos, and the creatures and humans live in harmony, basking together in the golden-orange light.”

This is the land of Uwi.

And you can help bring this magical place to life by supporting the upcoming world premiere production of Through the Bamboo, by Andrea Mapili and Byron Abalos, at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival.



When Philly’s Lola (grandma) dies, she finds herself in the fantastical land of Uwi. Will she be able to end the reign of the Three Sisters, find her Lola and bring her back home?

Through the Bamboo is a 75-minute fantasy adventure play for young people and families inspired by Philippine mythology. It’s an action-packed adventure about the value of storytelling, and how families deal with loss. A Filipinx-Canadian tale you’ve never heard before, told in the tradition of The Wizard of Oz, The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland.

Suitable for kids 7+, grandparents and families.



We wrote this play for a number of reasons:

— We wanted to write an epic story inspired by the Philippines and Philippine mythology.
— We wanted to write a story to help young people understand grieving.
— We wanted to honour our grandparents.
— Representation matters and we wanted to write a play for young audiences and families that would performed by an all-Filipinx or all-Asian cast.
— We wanted to write a play with lots of strong female characters.
— We wanted to inspire children to be more curious about their elders and family members.

If you believe some or all of those reasons are important, and that theatre can affect real change, we invite you to support the production by donating to our BAMBOO Fundraising Campaign.



Our stretch goal is to raise $5,000 between May 1st and June 1st (from the first day of Asian Heritage Month to the first day of Philippine Heritage Month in Canada). We have raised $1,500 of that amount from individual donors through other platforms so this GoFundMe campaign has a target of raising $3,500.

Funds raised from this campaign will support the production of Through the Bamboo at the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival from July 3-14. More specifically, your donation will be used to purchase set, costume and props, and to hire professional artists and designers.

As an added incentive, we have a group of donors who have pledged to match donations up to $2,000. That means that for every dollar you donate, we’ll receive two dollars. Every dollar counts and the impact of your donation will be doubled.

We will recognize your support on our website  under the following giving levels and thank each donor via social media:

Seed Supporters ($5-$49) 
Root Supporters ($50-$99)
Stem Supporters ($100-$199)
Branch Supporters ($200-$499) 
Tree Supporters ($500-$999)
Forest Supporters ($1,000+)

If you are not in a position to donate at this time, we hope you’ll buy a ticket to the show and bring a young person in your life or a grandparent. Our hope is that another company will pick up the show to present it again as part of their season. Selling out shows will help us show presenters that there’s an audience that is hungry for diverse, unique stories like ours.

If you’d like to stay connected, please follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for visiting this page and for considering supporting our play.

We hope you’ll join us on this fantastic adventure!

Sincerely,

Andrea Mapili and Byron Abalos

throughthebamboo.ca