Tita Collective delivers spicy comedy with a message for Pinoys

Dubbing themselves the “Spice Girls of comedy”, the Tita Collective lived up to their name as they performed their comedy show Ms. Titaverse in Picton, Ont. on Saturday, Sep. 30.

With undeniable girl power wrapped up in five petite frames, the group performed numerous skits touching on Filipino traits such as the love of karaoke, Catholicism, boba and peach-mango pie.

The Tita Collective sang, danced, acted and charmed their way into everyone’s hearts with their witty banter, hand-drawn props, and hilarious Tagalog-peppered cover songs.

The audience responded with many laugh-out-loud moments, as each member of the collective showcased their skills.

“We all come from different backgrounds in terms of performing,” said Tita Collective member Ellie Posadas.

“Some of us come from comedy, some from musical theatre, (and) one from a school for jazz.”

Posadas said that the group was started because there weren’t a lot of artists that they could identify with.

“We decided to take it into our own hands and create our own work,” she said.

“Tita” is a Tagalog term for aunt or a term of endearment often used to refer to older women who are like a second mother.

One of the most memorable skits involve a church scene where gossiping titas talk about people around them: the lady with the low-cut dress (“so inappropriate”), someone’s daughter who dropped out of college, and another couple going through a divorce.

Perhaps the world’s most thought-provoking question was asked during this skit—does the west deserve the greatness of ube (purple yam)?

Perhaps not. Nevertheless, it’s pure comedy gold.

The titas, when they perform, are loud, holding nothing back, and totally unapologetic.

When they sing, their harmonies blend so beautifully, but listen in on the lyrics and you’ll start laughing.

And there’s some silent, physical comedic acts, too, like the strip-tease of a “barrel-man”. If you know what a barrel man is, please keep that knowledge to yourself.

The west does not deserve the greatness of a barrel-man.

Another skit starts out as a smooth, laid-back song with the no-nonsense phrase “they call me suplada (snob)“.

Each tita tells the audience why they’re labelled suplada—because they have healthy boundaries, or they’re introverts, or worse, because they hate peach-mango pie—at which point the singing stops and the other titas gasp in disbelief and declares the confession “blasphemous”.

If you must know, peach-mango pie is a popular Filipino dessert that can be found at fast food joint Jollibee. Now you know.

As each new Tagalog word is introduced and explained to the white-majority audience, the Collective would say in unison “now you know“.

Tita Collective member Maricris Rivera has this message to fellow Filipinos: “your voice is important. Your voice is powerful. There’s a lot of power in community.”

She added, “we like to think that when you come to a Tita Collective show, you feel like coming home, that it’s a fam jam, that you’re welcome here.”

Posadas said that she wanted to let other Pinoys know that there’s room for everyone in the arts to flourish and succeed.

“There was a sense of competition. It’s something that we addresed in our last show. It doesn’t have to be a competition.”

Another reason why the group formed the collective is to try and break away from Filipino stereotypes.

“Filipinos are not a monolith: we aren’t one shade or size. (The skits are) our experiences separately and together. We’re so different and diverse,” said Posadas.

“We called ourselves the Tita Collective—because we all are titas. It was a way to claim our space.”