Exploring Filipino-American Narratives through 'Criers for Hire'

The Filipino American cultural production, Criers for Hire, addresses various issues in the Filipino-American community and gives visibility to Overseas Filipino workers’ narratives. Criers for Hire is used as way to express themes of assimilation, generational conflicts, and the meaning of “home.”
The play revolves around Baby and her daughter, Ligaya, who is finally reuniting with her mother in the United States after fourteen years. Set around the 1990s, Baby always wrote letters and sent pictures to Ligaya. Baby had no choice but to leave her daughter, going overseas to find work and sending remittances back to the Philippines. She has another job, being a crier for Chinese funerals. When finding out her mother is crier, Ligaya is also

given a job as a crier. The only problem is that Ligaya is supposed to cry at funerals, she makes attenders laugh instead. Problems start to rise when Baby and Ligaya start to live together. Even though Ligaya and Baby are reunited, their differences is starting to make them drift apart.
One of the significant themes throughout the play, is the topic of assimilation. Henny, one of Baby’s co-workers in the Criers for Hire business, is a representation of a Filipino-American who has assimilated into to American culture. Auntie Meding and Baby constantly look down upon Henny on not knowing the Filipino language. She convinces Gaya to assimilate into Western society, where she is able to fit in and her peers won’t make fun of her accent. Gaya meets Narciso, who introduces Gaya to American music and movies. By assimilating into American culture, Gaya starts to sneak out of the house to go to a nightclub with a fake ID. Baby comes home and finds out that Gaya is not at home, it leads to a huge argument between the two.
The issue of generational conflicts is shown between Baby, Meding, and Henny. Generational conflicts start to emerge when Gaya moves in with Baby. Baby and Meding have a difficult time understanding Henny’s actions and beliefs when it comes to men. When Gaya is introduced to American culture, Baby has expressed their differences of opinions between her and Gaya’s values and priorities. Their differences caused them to fight and their relationship is strained.
Throughout the play, Baby conveys how hard it is to adjust to the country she worked in and finding a sense of “home” in America.

It is shown how Baby writes letters to Gaya while growing up in the Philippines. When Gaya finally moves in with her mother, she now has to adapt living in America and now living with Baby. They have lived apart for so many years and Gaya is attached to the letters that her mother has sent her and Baby affirms her daughter that she is here with Gaya in person. They burn the letters at a funeral they were hired to cry for and it is for new beginnings. With Gaya and Baby reconciling their problems, it gives them a chance for their new redefinition of “home.”
The play is a perfect example to show visibility of a topic that is rarely talked about in the Filipino-American community. With this form of expression, the audience gains a sense of understanding of the generation gaps, Overseas Filipino workers and their struggle of being away of their families. Through their actions, words, and emotions, the audience can be engulfed to these topics and struggles. After the play, the questions I wondered about if Baby and Gaya ever petitioned for US citizenship. Criers for Hire presents one of the many Filipino-American experiences and the adversity they

face.