New York City, November 3, 2025 – Celebrated theater artist, ritual practitioner, and community-maker Dorothea Gloria announces the launch of her latest project, ALAY, bringing together her lifelong passion for performance, heritage, and collective ceremony.
Based in New York City, Dorothea has built a distinctive creative practice grounded in her Filipino cultural roots, a deep love of storytelling, and a commitment to inclusive and generative collaboration. Her artist statement, focused on theater, ritual, and community, reflects her belief that art is most powerful when it invites people into shared transformation.
The New Work
Dorothea’s forthcoming performance ALAY continues her exploration of theater as ritual and offering. Supported by Social Practice CUNY grant funded by the Mellon Foundation, ALAY weaves the mourning rituals of Ilocos (Northern Philippines) into contemporary performance, creating a space where memory, loss, and regeneration meet.
Drawing from oral histories, song, and community engagement, ALAY honors ancestors while inviting audiences to consider how mourning and celebration coexist. The work features voices across generations and geographies; acknowledging the Filipino diaspora’s relationship to grief and continuity.
With her background in fictional writing (often channeling humor, cultural nuance, and family life) and her embrace of collaborative risk-taking, Dorothea invites both longtime theater-goers and first-time participants into a reclaimed ritual space that is as intimate as it is communal.
Past Work
Dorothea’s creative journey spans two continents and several forms, embodying both performance and pedagogy in equal measure.
Early & Philippine Career
Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, Dorothea began performing at the age of 7 with Repertory Philippines, and by 13 had become the youngest accepted into the Trumpets Playshop Summerstock program, portraying Prince Arthur in Pendragon.
Under the mentorship of Ana Valdes-Lim, she cultivated a deep love of classical and modern theater, studying the works of Shakespeare, Chekhov, Miller, Shaw, and Anouilh. During college, she received a scholarship for acting and joined the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA-MTTL), performing socially engaged works on voting rights, women’s empowerment, and public health across the country.
She later continued with Repertory Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), where she performed in both English and Tagalog productions, earning critical praise and recognition as Best Featured Actress by BroadwayWorld Philippines. Her acclaimed roles include performances in Pramoedya and August: Osage County, where she was lauded for her depth, precision, and warmth.
New York City & Teaching / Community Work
After moving to New York City, Dorothea accepted an assistantship at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where she deepened her understanding of performance. Her stage credits include work at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Lucille Lortel Theatre, and The Tank. As a resident artist with Spellbound Theatre, she develops original works for young audiences; using storytelling and play to nurture empathy and imagination.
Dorothea has also collaborated with TeamTheatre and RiffRaff NYC, both known for their innovative and socially engaged productions.
Her previous project, Connections, was created with TeamTheatre through a grant awarded by the Queens Council on the Arts. In Connections, Dorothea explored the intersections of belonging, isolation, and technology; translating stories of migration and family into a hybrid theatrical experience that combined text, movement, and digital communication. The piece brought together artists and audiences to reflect on the fragile yet resilient ties that bind communities, even across distance.
With RiffRaff NYC, Dorothea has performed in experimental works that blur the boundaries between character, ritual, and audience participation; extending her ongoing interest in how theater can serve as an act of communal witnessing.
As a teaching artist in New York schools, Dorothea continues to share her love of performance and creative process with young people, empowering them to use storytelling as a tool for understanding and empathy.
In interviews, she has articulated her mission “to write diverse stories, challenge stereotypes, build empathy, and highlight the contributions of immigrant communities to the cultural tapestry.”
About Dorothea Gloria
Dorothea Gloria is a Filipino-born, New York–based actor, writer, producer, educator, and ritual practitioner whose work resides at the intersection of heritage, storytelling, and communal ceremony. With roots in Manila and a home in New York City, she advances a creative life that embraces performance as offering, ritual as transformation, and community as co-author.
Her work has been supported by the Mellon Foundation through Social Practice CUNY and the Queens Council on the Arts, and she has performed in award-winning productions in both the Philippines and the United States. She is currently developing ALAY, a participatory performance rooted in Filipino mourning traditions, and teaching Generating Work, a class designed to help artists turn small impulses into full creative offerings.