The one-woman show is a musical monologue that follows a Filipino woman's journey from political activism in Marcos-era Philippines to building a new life in America—navigating love, disappointment, abuse, and ultimately finding her strength and voice in a complicated new homeland.
The piece contrasts her passionate fight for democracy in the Philippines with her later disillusionment, both with Philippine politics and with the American Dream. It explores themes of resilience, identity, and the immigrant experience, showing how her activist spirit helps her overcome personal hardships and reclaim her power in what is increasingly becoming an anti-immigrant America.
The monologue balances heartbreak with hope, depicting a woman who—despite facing political violence, patriarchal relationships, and cultural displacement—ultimately builds a life of dignity and purpose.
BODY OF WORKS
Geej Williams’ body of major work reflects a rich, globally engaged career as a performer, composer, director, and cultural researcher. She has toured extensively across Europe, the U.K. and Ireland, Australia, and throughout Asia, bringing original music and interdisciplinary theater to diverse international audiences.
Her theatrical contributions span numerous productions, often blending indigenous traditions with contemporary performance. She has served as composer, co-composer, and performer in works such as Sita: Ramayana Revisited (co-composer), presented at an international festival in Thailand; Madonna Brava (co-compoer), an adaptation of Mother Courage that earned a nomination for Outstanding Musical Composition at the PHILSTAGE Gawad Buhay Awards; and Trahedya sa Balay ni Kadil (co-composer, performer), a reimagining of Macbeth. She has also written the music for the theater production Uwahig, a dance musical conceived and produced by Steve Patrick Fernandez for the world-renowned Iligan Performers Arts Guild (IPAG) and Panaw, produced and performed by Mebuyan Peace Project at the Asian Women's Theater Festival in India in 2003 and in Manila on the same year.
Williams has also played key creative roles in original, socially engaged productions including Seven Rituals of Mother Earth (performer), and Salima (dramaturg, director, composer)—works that integrate music, ritual, storytelling, and multimedia performance. Across her major works, her artistry is defined by a deep commitment to cultural storytelling, collaborative creation, and the use of the performing arts as a platform for dialogue, identity, and peace-building.
TRAINING & EDUCATION
Geej Williams’ education and training reflect a deeply immersive and international journey in the performing arts, shaped by master artists and diverse cultural traditions.
Deeply rooted in her Filipino heritage, Geej has trained extensively in indigenous Mindanao dance forms, integrating these into her contemporary theater practice.
Geej has studied influential methodologies such as Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed and Nestor Horfilla’s Cultural Action and Dialogical Theater approach, both of which inform her commitment to socially engaged and community-based performance.
Geej has also participated in the Australian International Workshop Festival and the U.K. International Workshop Festival that brought together artists from all over the world, where she engaged with global traditions such as Lakota Sioux dance (with Lakota Sioux Dance Workshop) and Nigerian dance (with Peter Badejo). She also joined the Henry Smith Project Movement workshop.
She has participated in the 21-day Flying Circus Project founded by Ong Keng Sen under Singapore-based avante garde theater institution TheatreWorks. It is a transcultural, interdisciplinary platform that brings together artists from across Asia and beyond to collaborate, experiment, and develop new work. There, Geej studied Butoh dance-theater under renowned Japanese master Min Tanaka, Thai classical dance with Pichet Klunchun, Cambodian court dance with Bun Thom, Javanese dance with Restu Imansuri Kusumaningrum, and vocal performance with New York artist Meredith Monk.
Geej holds a degree in A.B. English from Ateneo de Davao University, grounding her artistic practice in strong communication, storytelling, and critical thinking skills.
PAPERS WRITTEN & DELIVERED
Geej has contributed extensively to regional and international discourse on arts, culture, and peacebuilding through a wide range of talks, panels, and published writings. Her work includes participation as a panel discussant in “Songs for Peace” in Utrecht, Netherlands, and in the “Building East Asian Identity Workshop” in South Korea, reflecting her engagement with cross-cultural dialogue and regional identity formation. She has also presented “Arts for Peace: The Experience of EarthMusic Foundation, Inc.” at the MINDULANI Congress of Mindanao Theatre Practitioners, and delivered “Cultural Advocacy” for artists, students, and educators during Sungduan 3: Mindanao Art Exhibit organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Her contributions further include “Creative Pathways to Peace,” presented with Nestor Horfilla at the International Community Cultural Conference in Hong Kong and at the NCCA National Assembly in Manila, as well as “Reinvention in Mindanao Theatre” at the Mindanao Theatre Congress. She is also a published contributor to From the Womb of Mebuyan with her paper “Circle Dance: Where Artists and Spirits Meet,” published by Hinabi Women Circle. In academic and training settings, she has shared insights on “Women’s Cultural Action in Indigenous Communities” with M.A. Women Studies students at the University of the Philippines, and on “Theatre as a Research Approach in Indigenous Communities” for participants of the Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM). Through these engagements, she consistently bridges performance, scholarship, and cultural advocacy, with a strong focus on indigenous knowledge, community-based arts, and peacebuilding.