Except for "Nebraska," which is slated for production in 2009 in New York, the three plays had already been staged and even anthologized. "PROJECT: BALANGIGA," which had its world premiere at the Blue Heron Arts Center, presents the still-conflicting accounts and interpretations of the Balangiga Raid of September 28, 1901 and its aftermath. To the Americans, it was a massacre of U.S. Army personnel assigned to Samar at the turn of the previous century. To Filipinos, the real massacre was the mass killings of non-combatants in Balangiga and the rest of the island in reprisal for the Philippine Army's successful raid on an enemy detachment.

The Balangiga Raid and Massacres occurred during the Filipino War of Defense against American Imperialism. One outcome of that War was the confiscation of the bells of the Roman Catholic Church of Balangiga by the vengeful U.S. troopers who then brought their war booty to America where it is now lodged in an Air Force base in Wyoming. The Filipinos want the bells to be returned to the Church.

Thus, today, both the interpretation of the Balangiga Raid and Massacres and the possession of the church bells are entwined as an irritant in RP-US relations. As Mia Katigbak, one of the characters in the play, announces: "History layers itself. Not always with straight facts. Over time, it takes on layers of plaque: distortions made necessary by political agenda, or to better serve prevailing, popular thought. Some are downright revisions of truth. Mostly, we have tended to look at history through romanticized cataracts. Perhaps, it's a necessary filter. How else can we stomach the horror?"

Chris Millado's "peregriNasyon," which was first performed as "Is America in the Heart?" in April 1994 in San Francisco, was based on real incidents that took place in the Philippines as well as in the U.S. as a consequence of American annexation of Rizal's native land in 1898: American-officered Constabulary operations against Filipino revolutionaries in 1901-1905, deployment of Filipino labor to Hawaii in 1906-1940, Filipino migrant labor chasing work seasons from Alaska to California, the Watsonville Riots of December 1930 and the 1920s peasant revolts in Pangasinan and Laguna provinces.

The staged reading of the four plays, which was a one-night-only affair, was a homecoming for the Ma-Yi Theater Company, the leading professional Asian-American Theater group and incubator of new Asian-American plays in the U.S.

The name "Ma-Yi" refers to either Manila or Mindoro Island, or even the Philippines itself, and has been sourced from 14th century Chinese records like Ma Tuan-lin's "Wen Hsien T'ung K'ao" ("General Study of Literary Remains"), c. 1318, and Wang Ta-yuan's "Tao-i-chih-lio" ("Description of the Barbarians of the Isles"), circa 1349.

Why would the New York-based multi-awarded ensemble adopt a Chinese name? The founders' choice was a "recognition of the vibrant culture that existed in Ma-yi, prior to the coming of the colonizers of the West." [www.ma-yitheatre.org/]

This brings us to the second of the acts - the July 3 launch of "Savage Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater Company," the compilation of nine original productions plus four essays that have or will appear in journals and reviews.

In her introductory essay ("Staging the 'Savage' : Ma-Yi Theater Company's History and its Productions"), Dr. Joi Barrios, literary manager of the group and an Associate Professor of the University of the Philippines, wrote that the "act of publishing the plays is also a way for the company to re-evaluate not only the work it has done but also its vision of Asian American theater in the context of contemporary developments in the world."

In "A Hunger for History: A Study of 'PROJECT: BALA-NGIGA,'" the essayist concluded: "The Filipino American Historical play, in particular, is relevant because it compels the scholar on Filipino American studies to look not only at the history of assimilation but also the history of American imperialism in the Philippines."

"More important than satiating its audience's hunger for history, 'PROJECT: BALANGIGA' succeeds because it enables its audience to recognize that this hunger never goes away." [p. 381]

With its two projects of July 3, the Ma-Yi Theater Company, a multiple Obie awardee, managed to reinvigorate the interest of students, scholars, theater-goers and professionals in history as well as current events.

The third of the acts is the one that involves real savagery because it consists of death threats against the Intramuros Administrator.

Last March 24, Anna Maria "Bambi" L. Harper took her oath of office as Intramuros Administrator before Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano. Her two priorities, an urgent inventory on all the antique treasures in the possession of the special district worth some 500 million pesos and a clean-up of the premier tourist destination in Manila, are being hampered by millions of unpaid rent by failed businesses, concessionaires who put up illegal structures then threaten Intramuros Administration officials, informal settlers who generate garbage, illegal street vendors who choke sidewalks, illegal pedicab operators, shabu factories and barangay riots.

Harper, a Malaya columnist, envisions Intramuros as a "city of museums." The San Agustin Church Museum and the Bahay Tsinoy will be joined by a reconstructed San Ignacio Church and Convent, housing an Ecclesiastical Museum and a new Maritime Museum.

Harper, a former Heritage Conservation Society president, is on over-watch as foot lighting are re-installed on the Walls, Plaza Roma and Plazuela de Santa Isabel are re-landscaped, the American Barracks are re-configured into a restaurant, and the Almacenes Reales Building is adaptively re-used as a function area.

To promote Intramuros, which has special zones recreating the authentic ambience of the 1890s, according to Presidential Decree 1616, as amended, Harper and her team have scheduled an exhibit of Dominican saints at Casa Blanca this July, a Revolutionary Music concert in August and the La Naval exhibition in October.

The administration of Harper, an incumbent UNESCO commissioner, has also lined up a Dia de Espana (Paella Festival) with Flamenco performance at Puerta Real in October and the establishment of Escuela Taller at Plaza San Luis Complex.

Harper, a member of the Manila Historical Commission in 1999-2000, and the IA Board proposed the establishment of an Intramuros Businessmen's Association and an Intramuros Homeowners Association.