PETA collaborates on ‘Las últimas,’ a production currently running in Madrid
Spanish theater director Lucía Miranda brings Philippine history and Spanish colonialism to the stage in Las últimas, a new documentary theater work produced by Centro Dramático Nacional in collaboration with Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA).
Running from May 12 to June 21 at Teatro Valle-Inclán in Madrid, the production explores the cultural relationship between Spain and the Philippines through documentary interviews, historical reenactments, music, and fiction. Written and directed by Miranda, the piece blends verbatim theater with fictionalized historical episodes shaped by interviews conducted in both countries.
The production is also one of the first works under Centro Dramático Nacional to directly engage with Philippine history and Spanish colonialism. Its cast is racially diverse, composed of both Spanish and Filipino performers, including Filipino diaspora artists Alexandra Masangkay, Chris Angelous Manalo, and Laurence Aliganga, who were born and raised in Spain alongside white Spanish actors in the company.
Filipino artist and playwright Julia Enriquez shared that Miranda’s collaboration with PETA dates back to the 2013 IDEA (International Drama/Theatre and Education Association) Conference in Paris, where both groups first connected before later participating in cultural exchanges in each other’s countries.
For Las últimas, Miranda traveled to the Philippines to conduct interviews and research on Filipino-Spanish relations, with support from PETA, Instituto Cervantes Manila, and the Philippine Embassy in Spain. During her stay at the PETA Theater Center, Miranda interviewed PETA Artistic Director J-Mee Katanyag along with senior members Eric Dela Cruz and Kaan Bautista, with portions of those conversations later incorporated into the production.
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Miranda also held auditions at the PETA Theater Center, where Enriquez auditioned before eventually becoming the only cast member born and raised in the Philippines.
In the production, Enriquez performs multiple roles, including the mothers of the Filipino diaspora, “a Filipino voice contextualizing our culture,” Rajah Humabon, and “the performer who confronts the idea of colonization towards the end.”
She also collaborated in shaping several scenes in the production, particularly sequences dealing with the dictatorship and the confrontation with colonial history.
“And every time I step on stage, I feel a strong sense of responsibility in representing the Filipino perspective,” Enriquez shared. “As I say in the final scene, these are not always conversations we get to have openly with our colonizers.”
Described as a “theatrical karaoke,” Las últimas combines live music, choreography, documentary testimony, and historical fiction. Miranda reimagined the theater space into an immersive four-sided staging inspired by karaoke bars, with music composed by Nacho Bilbao and choreography by Manalo.
In a director’s note, Miranda described the project as her “most personal work,” recalling how she learned of her mother’s cancer diagnosis shortly before flying to the Philippines for research. She later connected the experience to José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, framing the production as a work about inheritance, colonialism, and the stories passed down through generations.
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Las últimas (The Last Ones) is a Cross Border production written and directed by Miranda and produced by Centro Dramático Nacional in collaboration with PETA, the Embassy of the Philippines in Spain, Casa Asia, and Instituto Cervantes de Manila.
The production runs from May 12 to June 21, 2026 at Teatro Valle-Inclán, Sala Grande in Madrid, with performances scheduled Tuesday to Sunday at 8 PM.
The cast includes Julia Enriquez, Laurence Aliganga, Chris Angelous Manalo, Alexandra Masangkay, Juan Paños Larrauri, Belén Ponce de León, Belén de Santiago, and Tuna Universitaria Complutense.
The full artistic team is composed of Cross Border (creation), Lucía Miranda (text and direction), Alessio Meloni (set design), Pedro Yagüe (lighting design), Anna Tusell (costume design), Nacho Bilbao (music), Laurence Aliganga and Nacho Bilbao (musical direction), Eduardo Ruiz “Chini” (sound design), Chris Angelous (choreography), Javier Burgos (video design), Johny Dean (characterization and makeup), Anahí Beholi (assistant director), Mauro Coll (assistant set designer), Elena Alejandre (assistant lighting designer), David Degea (assistant costume designer), Juan Ollero (subtitles), Ares B. Fernández and Talía del Val (Direction interns), Elvira Arcos (Mediation intern), Carlo Laureana (Dramaturgy intern), Harold Ron Fajardo (Sound intern), Pablo Jiménez (Costumes intern), Emilio Lorente (poster design), Bárbara Sánchez Palomero (photography and trailer), SCNIK MÓVIL (set construction), Gabriel Blesa and Matías Zanotti (costume construction), and Marisa Echarri and Lola Trives (wardrobe aging and distressing).
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