05. Ilaw ng Tahanan (From UCB PCN 46: "Salamin ng Puso")
Channel: Cal PCN 46 Music Composition
Date: 2022-10-14

UC Berkeley's PCN 46: "Salamin ng Puso" Official Soundtrack is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes now!
Link: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/pilipinxculturalnightatucberkeley/pcn-46-salamin-ng-puso

"Ilaw ng Tahanan"
Written by Silayan Camson
Performed by Hannah Estolano, Isabela Colmenar

LILA
I’ll always see you this way,  Lola 
You and your quilts, this living room. 
You look the most like yourself in this light. 

ANYA
Ilaw ng tahanan, anak. The light of the home. 
It’s the lighting of memories. Hazy, soft, warm.
It begs us to look a little. 
Always try to smile Lila…
For me at least please,
It reminds me of the one I already missed out on for so long.

LILA
Opo... here we can take one together before we lose the light. 
I’ll smile for us more.

---

What is PCN?

PCN, or Pilipinx Cultural Night, is a student-run theatrical production hosted by UC Berkeley’s Pilipinx-American Alliance. The production allows participants to explore their Pilipinx identity through creative mediums such as dance, acting, and music. By holding PCN every year, we hope to provide a creative space for our cast to learn and grow. At Berkeley, we also choose to use PCN as a platform for activism and education on Pilipinx hxstory, culture, and current issues.

PCN HXSTORY @ UC Berkeley

PCN started in 1976 at the YWCA on Bancroft and Bowditch. The original show was a community dinner with traditional/folk dances that included a cast of about 10-15 members. In the 1980s, the show evolved into a full-scale performance, and by 1989, the Pilipinx American Alliance became the first student group on campus to hold a performance in Zellerbach Hall. Since then, the UC Berkeley Pilipinx community has continued to foster the annual tradition of Pilipinx Cultural Night.

About PCN 46:

PCN 46 tells the story of a family searching for and redefining “home”. 

Lila, an artist, is preparing to leave for New York with partner Hiraya, in search of opportunity. She struggles to tell her mother, Uma, and her grandmother, Anya, about the move. Frustrated, Lila faces internal and external conflicts with Hiraya, Uma, and Anya. 

As Lila is met with mixed reactions- Uma's defensiveness and disapproval, in contrast to Anya's support and care- these women are forced to reckon with the lifelong, generational traumas that have been interwoven in their “normal lifestyle."  Looking into their destructive family, we get a glimpse into how this cycle has rendered them both victims and perpetrators, simultaneously complicit and hurt.

Amidst building the foundations, they reflect on themselves and one another, in pursuit of new definitions of home, and new ways to love and be loved. The characters and audience are called to ask: "What does love look like? To what extent is It hereditary? How do we break cycles?"