ANITO: BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Meet the creative team behind the magic — and hear about their creative process.

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is a future folkloric world of dance-theatre, diasporic club cultures, projections, sound design and elaborate craft.

Honouring their roots in Sydney’s underground queer and diasporic club scenes, Justin Talplacido Shoulder and the collective behind ANITO build on their shared histories of costume, puppetry, dance and experimental electronic music to reimagine myths and stories for the now.

For early Filipinos, like many still today, it is believed that a life force or soul inhabits all entities, both animate and inanimate. These spirits are called Anitos.

Co-Created by the multi-talented Justin Talplacido Shoulder (The Glitter Militia, Club Ate), ANITO combines collective craft, puppetry, dance and experimental electronic music to reimagine these myths and stories for the now. It’s a work rooted in Sydney’s underground queer and diasporic club scenes.

The collective behind ANITO create a “Queer Filipino Future Folkloric space of storytelling” that centres the importance of nature spirits, intuiting with them as guides towards imagining possible parallel futures.

The ensemble transform into animal-human-plant-machine hybrids. In this world of sheer terror and tremendous beauty, they interrogate colonial wrongdoings and queer ancestral mythologies.

Presented by Auckland Pride in partnership with Q Theatre and Auckland Live.

Creative Team:

Directed, Performed and Co-conceived by Justin Talplacido Shoulder

Performer and co-generator Eugene Choi

Performer, Mentor and Outside (Inside) Eye Victoria Hunt

Production Design by Matthew Stegh and J. Talplacido Shoulder

Costume Design M. Stegh, Anthony Aitch and J. Talplacido Shoulder

Sound Design and Live Score by Corin Ileto

Lighting / Vision Design by Fausto Brusamolino

Costume Design Technicians Brenda Lam, Luna Aquatica and A. Aitch

Produced by: Jason Cross and Insite Arts

Special thanks to Marrugeku and Talking Bodies

Venue Partner & Creative Development was supported by Carriageworks

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