0874: A New American-Filipino Musical

“You might think me childish, but I think that when one loves, one must love greatly. “

[Letter no. 5]

Written by Filipino-American actress and playwright Alexandra Palting, 0874 follows the love story of her grandparents through the letters they wrote to one another while living in two very different countries.

A Word from the Playwright:

“0874 (Eight hundred seventy-four) is named for the number of letters my grandparents wrote each other over the three years after my Lolo, Jun, moved to the US and my Lola, Paz, was still at home in Manila. My Lola gave me the letters (in a plastic bag from Giant) as a source of encouragement when my boyfriend, now fiancé, moved 3,000 miles away and we began a five year long distance relationship. At the beginning of letter one, Paz wanted to be a nun. By the eight hundred and seventy-fourth letter, she moved across the world to start a new life with Jun.

“The story oscillates between the world of the letters and the present day, and explores questions of whether truth is bound to time and place, and what one’s truth has to do with distance and intimacy within the context of family. The script is taken from the couple’s letters, and the music draws from my collaborators’ and my artistic influences spanning contemporary singer-songwriter, indigenous Filipino music, Western classical music, musical theatre, and American jazz.”

0874 was presented as part of The Kennedy Centers 2022 Page-to-Stage artist residency. It was workshopped in February, 2022 and had its first staged reading on February 18th.

For more information, visit Alexandra Palting’s website.

Watch an excerpt from the musical 0874 here: