ATIENZA, AENAMARY C.

2018-07790
KAS 1 THX 1

Nana Rosa

I may not be a professional play critique, but I can assure anyone that “Nana Rosa”
is a play worth watching. Aside from the unique and captivating technical elements that
the performance inculcates, the story of the play and its moral are definitely included in
the best stories and morals in my book. Given the present situation of the Philippines, I
really think that this play can serve as a wakeup call for any Filipino who sees it.

“Nana Rosa” is a tale based from the life of Maria Rosa Henson, a “comfort
woman” or sex slave of the Japanese army during World War II. The play highlights Nana
Rosa’s experiences as she was forced to sexually interact with Japanese soldiers everyday
for nine months. As a woman, watching the scenes where she was continuously raped
definitely and immediately triggered my sense of feminism and opposition to rape and
sexual harassment. I am usually not a person who voices out her thoughts on
controversial issues; however, the play made me recognize an advocacy that I did not
know I strongly stand for. The play made me acknowledge how much of a feminist I am
which greatly surprised me as I really did not know that I would empathize with the
experiences of Nana Rosa. Even though I was not a “comfort woman” during her time, I
can see myself in Nana Rosa as to how I, like many other girls, have been sexually
harassed by strangers. I would be catcalled and touched by men I do not know, and
these moments would terrify me a lot. And if my experiences were already frightful as
they were, what more could have Nana Rosa felt throughout her life?

With what the play manifests, it seems that Japan has been getting away with
what their previous generation’s citizens have done, and the government do not admit
to any wrongdoing they have committed during the WWII era. The resilience and
courage of the “comfort women” to fight for justice was what I admired the most in the
play. It taught me that in this world, there will be people who will fight you and bring
you down, but it is within you to be strong and fight back. “Nana Rosa” taught me to
recognize the importance of fighting for what is right on a national level.