Internationally acclaimed director, playwright, and arts leader Chay Yew is making his Philippine directorial debut with Theatre Group Asia’s upcoming production of Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba, starring Lea Salonga in the titular role.

Set to open in February 2027 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater, the production is Yew’s adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s classic The House of Bernarda Alba, translated into Filipino by playwright Guelan Varela Luarca. 

Yew brings more than three decades of experience to the Manila production, having directed at major American theater institutions including The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Goodman Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, and American Conservatory Theater.

His directing credits include Cambodian Rock Band, Mojada, Oedipus el Rey, Sweatshop Overlord, The Light in the Piazza, and The House of Bernarda Alba. He is also a recipient of the OBIE, DramaLogue, and Craig Noel Awards for Direction. In 2024, he received the Doris Duke Artist Award. 

Returning to Bernarda Alba

The Manila production brings Yew back to material he first staged more than 25 years ago with the National Asian American Theatre Company in New York.

For his adaptation, Yew drew from the poetic qualities of Lorca's other works, including Blood Wedding and Yerma, while exploring greater complexity in the women at the center of the story.

“I combined the two, trying to find its own lyricism within past Lorca plays, including the story that Lorca is telling, and integrated it into this production,” Yew said. “And in this version, I also decided to deepen and find new complexities of all the women in the play.” 

Yew also believes the material carries a particular resonance for Filipino audiences. His earlier staging involved several Filipino artists who saw familiar cultural dynamics in Lorca’s story. “The more I did it, the more I realized it had to come to the Philippines,” he shared. 

Giving the classic a Filipino spirit

Central to the new production is Yew’s decision to present the adaptation in Filipino. The project reunites him with Luarca, whom he first met while the Filipino playwright was a graduate student at Hunter College. The two later collaborated on an adaptation of The Oresteia.

Yew said he did not want to stage Bernarda Alba in English for his Philippine debut, explaining that he wanted to give the play a distinctly “Filipino spirit.” He described Luarca as a writer capable of capturing both the poetry and politics required by the work. 
 

Lea Salonga takes on Bernarda

The production also places Salonga in a role that Yew sees as markedly different from much of her previous work.

“It’ll be huge challenge for her because I think this role is very antithetical to what she has done,” Yew said, while pointing to Salonga's strength and presence as an actor.

“She is a mother. She is a force of nature. And the question right now is, how far can we explore Bernarda with a wonderful actor like Lea?” 

Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba follows a strict matriarch and her five daughters. Following the death of her second husband, Bernarda imposes eight years of mourning and demands absolute obedience from her household. But behind the closed doors of their home, mounting frustrations, desires, and rivalries threaten the order Bernarda is determined to maintain. 

Tickets go on sale this October

Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba will be staged in February 2027 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight Blackbox Theater.

Tickets will be available exclusively through TicketWorld. BPI cardholders will have access to a pre-sale from October 19 to 21, followed by an exclusive TGA subscribers’ pre-sale on October 22 from 10 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.

Public ticket sales begin October 23 at 10 a.m. 

Presented by Ayala Land and Theatre Group Asia, Ang Tahanan ni Bernarda Alba is the second offering in TGA’s 2026–2027 Season of Power, with additional support from BPI and Philippine Airlines. 

The production follows TGA projects including Request sa Radyo, Into the Woods, A Chorus Line, and the recently concluded sold-out international premiere of The Notebook: The Musical.