VIDEO: Jaygee Macapugay Celebrates Diversity and Love With Musical Short Film THE LANGUAGE LESSON

School of Rock's Jaygee Macapugay (Soft Power, Here Lies Love) wants to tell Filipino American stories through musical theatre. She is sharing The Language Lesson, her debut musical short film (as both producer and lead) based on the music & lyrics of Paulo K Tiról. (Tiról's Filipino immigrant song cycle, On This Side of the World, was recently presented by Prospect Theatre Company at the Greenwich House Theater last February.)

Take a look at the video!

Produced in collaboration with Bev's Girl Films, The Language Lesson is directed by Garth Kravits (Gettin' the Band Back Together, The Drowsy Chaperone) and features choreography by Karla Puno Garcia (Hamilton).

According to Macapugay, "Working on Paulo's music has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. I wasn't sure if I should release the film because I didn't want to be insensitive to the coronavirus crisis affecting the world. But this film, shot on location in New York City, celebrates diversity in the arts right now- a Filipino American story written by a Filipino American composer and featuring a FilAm choreographer, Asian American leads, and fourteen gorgeously diverse actor/dancers. Even our producer, band, hair/make-up team, and craft service are comprised mainly of artists of color.

Editing the film prior to today's release made me nostalgic for last month, where my friends and I were all in a room, creating in a space where we weren't worried about social distancing, hand sanitizing, or even hugging. But no virus is going to stop artists from creating. I see that every time I look at my Facebook or Instagram timelines. Most importantly, our film is about the feeling you get when you fall in love, and I think there's never a bad time for the world to hear a message about love."