By Trish Fontanilla
February’s Filipinos in Boston profile is Hortense Gerardo! Hortense and I actually met at BF’s Filipino food pop-up at Parsnip last month, and after hearing about her show next week, I thought that it’d be the perfect time to highlight her.
Thank you, Hortense, for letting us profile you this month, and I hope you all enjoy our latest FiB post!
Birthday smile! // Photo submitted by Hortense Gerardo
Where are you from?
I was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but my father is from Ilocos Norte and my mother is from Ilocos Sur. Most of my relatives are in Quezon City.
Where do you work and what do you do?
I am the Artist-in-Residence in the Arts and Culture Department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), and my job involves devising creative strategies to promote community cohesion and resilience through art.
What inspired you to pursue that career path?
My work as an Associate Professor in Anthropology and Performing Arts at Lasell College has been an ongoing training ground that honed the multidisciplinary skill set that I bring to MAPC as an ethnographer, playwright, filmmaker, choreographer, and educator. However, the current projects on which I am working, which address issues such as mental health care, climate change, and the opioid crisis, are informing the ways I write and my approach to teaching and collaborating with others. Underpinning all of this is a love of travel and storytelling, and the most compelling way for me to pursue these passions was to become an anthropologist and a playwright.
Until recently, I never understood where my love of playwriting came from. I was told I had a relative who was in theatre, but my searches came up empty, in part because I had been searching under the last names of more distantly-related relatives. More recently I discovered the playwright, Severino Montano, was my grandmother’s half-brother, and there was a commemorative postage stamp issued in his name (picture below!).
Severino Montano (my paternal grandmother's half brother) // Submitted by Hortense Gerardo
On Boston...
How long have you been in Boston?
I was at Boston University the year Mike Eruzione scored his goal against the former Soviet Union and won the gold medal for the US Olympic Hockey Team. You can do the math.
What are your favorite Boston spots (could be restaurants / parks / anything!):
I think Boston has some amazing art museums. I never tire of going to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Harvard Art Museums, all of which not only house amazing permanent collections and exhibitions, but are increasingly the go-to places to attend performing arts events.
What's your community superpower?
I don’t know that I’d call it a superpower, but I’ve been told I listen well and can translate what I hear into the works that I write for the stage or screen. I’ve been fortunate to meet some very generous people with inspiring stories to tell. Most recently, I worked with people from the town of Medfield who shared their stories of the former Medfield State Hospital, which I wrote into a full-length play called, The Medfield Anthologies.
I also worked on a project in which a farmer and a fisherman told me about the impacts of climate change on their respective occupations, and the innovative solutions they’ve found to the challenges they faced. Here are the links to short, documentary “video-lets” I co-directed with filmmaker Monica Cohen: https://youtu.be/oJ2f8XZLGug https://youtu.be/nidApZGs88E
On Filipino Food...
What's your all-time favorite Filipino dish?
Camaron Rebosado is the dish I always ask my mom to make when I visit my parents. I associate it with the big dinner parties they’d host at our house for their friends and relatives. As a kid, I knew there was a special occasion to celebrate when she’d make Camaron Rebosado.
What's your favorite Filipino recipe / dish to make?
My mom’s recipe for Leche Flan is easily my favorite dish to make. It’s that great combination of being delicious and plates really well, yet ridiculously easy to prepare.
On Staying in Touch...
Created and submitted by Hortense Gerardo
Do you have any upcoming events / programs that you want to highlight?
February 27, 2020: staged reading of FACE WORK made possible by a LAB grant from the Boston Foundation as part of the Asian American Playwright Collective (AAPC). https://aapcboston.wixsite.com/mysite/upcoming-events
March 20, 2020: full production of THE SAUNA PLAYS made possible by a grant from The Falmouth Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/188999052501173/ https://www.salted.no/programme/2020/3/20/the-sauna-plays Tickets: https://www.universe.com/saunaplays200320
April 21, 22 & 24, 2020: full production of movement work, SMALL STEPS ON CLIMATE CHANGE as part of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council Artist Residency. https://www.mapc.org/staff-member/hortense-gerardo/
May 2, 2020: full production of THE MEDFIELD PROJECT as part of the Barr Foundation and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council Artist Residency. https://www.mapc.org/planning101/medfield-anthology-gives-audience-glimpse-of-past/
May 14, 15, 16 & 17, 2020: curation of THE MOVING MEMORY INCUBATOR: AN ACTION ART WORKSHOP at the Grange Hall Cultural Center https://www.grangehallcc.com/events/
How can people stay in touch?
www.hortensegerardo.com
Twitter: @hfgerardo