There was a community arts officer once. That person handed a young Filipino kid in Ceduna, South Australia a stage and said. Your story is worth telling. I've spent thirty years trying to be that person for someone else.

That's what Kasaysayan is. Every year.

Kasaysayan means the unfolding of stories in Cebuano. It's DTC's annual theatre development showcase with international students. Since launching Theatre Workshop Tuesdays at The Couch in 2023 we've gathered people who came to Melbourne from somewhere else. Carrying languages and memories and ways of being that this city doesn't always know how to hold. And we make theatre together.

The process we use is the Tinikling Devising Methodology. Developed during my Adhocracy residency at Vitalstatistix in 2023. Named after the Filipino bamboo dance. We don't start with a script. We start with the body. With memory. With the story only you can tell. It's embodied practice. The work lives in the body before it lives in the words.

And every year it surprises me. What comes out when people feel safe enough to go there.

Kasaysayan 4.0 is on July 28. Thirteen performers. Thirteen stories. This year woven through with something extra. A celebration of mother tongue. The language you were born into before you learned to perform in someone else's. It's been an incredible process to witness and I cannot wait for you to see what these performers have been building.

At one of our rehearsals I asked half of the team why they chose to do Kasaysayan. Why the monologue. Why now. Here's what they said.

"I joined Kasaysayan to use my voice to show my friends something very important about life."

"It gave me an opportunity to delve into a fear of performance and face it head on. Recently some events made me doubt myself. This felt like the perfect chance."

"Having a regular routine to develop a show can make me feel I'm living."

"I cannot lose the opportunity of working with Kuya Roman. It's a chance to learn."

"This is my first time performing a monologue based on my own story. I wrote it myself, inspired by the Filipino bamboo dance. Most of the time I perform classical monologues like Juliet's so this is a completely new journey for me. For the first time I'm sharing something that comes from my own experiences. My own heart."

"Kasaysayan and I chose each other. I found a medium for expression."

Read those again slowly.

That's not a performing arts program. That's a life practice. That's people using story to face fear, feel alive, belong somewhere and say something true out loud for the first time.

Come and see what happens when people who were never given a stage finally get one.

Kasaysayan 4.0 — Unfolding of Stories

Tuesday 28 July 2026

The Couch, Melbourne

Theatre For All. Always.

Padayon.

Kuya Roman