Leviathan Lab

Thank you for the shoutout Lia Chang and Backstage Pass with Lia Chang for our reading tomorrow of Gaven D. Trinidad's MERCURY MAKES THE SKIN GLOW, directed by Roger Q. Mason!

SOLD OUT, but RSVP for the waitlist here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEf2G09Cb7AxG0ZNRBH3XxDiabZR0YDGAukVR47W9AGfma-w/viewform

Apr. 20: Leviathan Lab presents an industry-staged reading of Gaven D. Trinidad’s MERCURY MAKES THE SKIN GLOW ARIANNE featuring Recto, Liz Casasola, Nacho Tambunting, Del Gonzales, Matthew De Lorme, and Karl Jingco Leviathan Lab presents an industry-staged reading of MERCURY MAKES THE SKIN GLOW, a new play by Gaven D. Trinidad (Learning How to Read by Moonlight), directed by Roger Q. Mason (Lavender Men, The …

Leviathan Lab presents an industry-staged reading of MERCURY MAKES THE SKIN GLOW, a new play by Gaven D. Trinidad (Learning How to Read by Moonlight), directed by Roger Q. Mason (Lavender Men, The Pride of Lions, The Duat). Following a celebrated developmental reading in Manila, Philippines, in January 2026, this marks the play’s first public reading in New York.

MERCURY MAKES THE SKIN GLOW is a 2025 finalist for both the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

“[An] inventive exploration of colorism and identity… a revelatory unraveling for the audience…” - Pilar Gonzales, Lifestyle Asia 

The cast features ARIANNE RECTO, LIZ CASASOLA, NACHO TAMBUNTING, DEL GONZALES, MATTHEW DE LORME, and KARL JINGCO.

Additional creative team: Stage Manager: MARS NERI. Production Assistant: SOOMIN SUN. Produced by ARIEL ESTRADA (Producing Artistic Director, Leviathan Lab) and Associate Producer NACHO TAMBUNTING.

RSVP in bio.

ABOUT THE PLAY
Filipinos love love.
Filipinos love beauty.
Filipinos love beauty pageants.

Veteran pageant queen Carmelita establishes a new circuit of pageants for the Filipino American community in New York City. Against her daughter Jesca’s wishes, Carmelita coerces her seven-year-old grandson, Ernesto, to participate, which then unearths troubling questions of race, identity, colorism, and the Global South’s obsession with the multi-billion-dollar industry of skin whitening. Part unhinged teleserye (telenovela), part beauty pageant, and part historical reckoning, the play begs the question of how the dangerous pursuit of “whiteness” is more than skin deep.