CIRCA Pintig2025
Every Brilliant Thing
Rizal Center, Bayanihan Ballroom, Chicago
Past Productions
Three decades of stories, staged.
Since the early 1980s, CIRCA Pintig has brought new works and community stories to storefront stages across Chicago. Here’s a look back at some of what came before.
Production archive
CIRCA Pintig2024
Daryo’s All American Diner
Chicago
CIRCA Pintig2024
The Butterfly of Chula Vista
Chicago
Community & touring
2025 Chicago Filipino American Theatre Festival
October 2025 · Rizal Center. Staged readings of 13 original pieces from Filipino and Filipino American playwrights, artists, and writers from around the world, performed over three weekends in October for Filipino American History Month.
Our Words, Our Truths: Storytelling Workshop and Open Mic with Ada Cheng
March 15, 2025 · Rizal Center. A cross-generational storytelling workshop and open mic presented with the Rizal Center, sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, and open to everyone.
Kapwa Community Arts Fund Gala
April 25, 2025 · Rizal Center. CIRCA Pintig’s Annual Gala doubled as the launch of the Kapwa Community Arts Fund, a movement-building initiative rooted in kapwa - the Filipino value of shared humanity. The fund supports revitalizing the Rizal Center as a community arts home, premiering Krossroads the Musical for CIRCA Pintig’s upcoming 35th anniversary, and launching KOI Institute’s “Arts & Healing” Theatre of the Oppressed workshops.
Cultural Conversations: AAPINH Heritage Month
May 29, 2025 · Rizal Center. Presented with the League of Chicago Theatres for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - a panel discussion moderated by Giovanni Ortega, plus a reflection workshop led by Emily Zhang of APIDA Arts.
Chicago Filipino American Theatre Festival
Inaugural festival · 2024. The debut festival year shared in CIRCA Pintig’s season theme of KAPWA, or kindred, connecting our Kapwang Pilipino through new writing centered on the Filipino and Filipino American experience. The festival presented up to four evenings of theatrical works from up-and-coming and established Filipino playwrights.
Sama Sama: Solidarity in the Fields
Touring production · 2024. Originally commissioned by East West Players, this touring show follows students learning the shared histories of Mexican and Filipino farmworkers, centered on the 1965 Delano grape strike. Presented in libraries, schools, and community organizations.