[PACN 40] Kababayan at UCI’s 40th Anniversary Pilipinx-American Culture Night

Kababayan at UC Irvine’s 40th Annual Pilipinx-American Culture Night, "Nagmamahal" or translated to "With Love,” took place on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California with a cast of 250 to an audience of over 1,400.

Produced by: Rhian Reyes Advincula & Jeffrey Kawai
Written by: Clarissa Nillo & Ayessa Sotelo

Our Pilipinx-American Culture Night (PACN) is an annual production hosted by Kababayan at UCI at the Bren Events Center. PACN is a completely student-led production involving a cast of approximately 250 performers. Being Kababayan at UCI's largest event of the year, as well as the largest culture night at UCI, our culture night aims to not only showcase the Pilipinx culture through various forms of art such as theater, music, and traditional dances, but also bring light to the different issues that surround the Pilipinx-American community. With the help of logistical suites, these different art forms are brought together to create our production that is "Nagmamahal" or "With Love"!

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"Nagmamahal, or With Love, begins with a teenager, Stella Angeles, finding a box of love letters written to her grandma with each of them signed, 'Nagmamahal,' a phrase often used to close letters to loved ones. This leads to her Lola, or Grandma, Bituin Navarro, telling Stella the story of her immigrating to America and attending college in the 60’s while also describing the people she met along the way. From this, Stella learns that her and her Lola have more in common than she thought and gives her the courage to be honest with herself and those around her."