What happens in the quiet moments between departure and arrival? The time spent waiting. The thoughts you carry on a train, in an airport, or on the way home after a long day. Metro Diaries lives in those moments.
Born from real migrant stories, Metro Diaries is a live performance shaped by longing, survival, humor, and quiet resilience. These are stories that unfold in transit spaces and emotional in-betweens, stories many people live every day but rarely see reflected on stage.
First devised in 2025, Metro Diaries had its world premiere after being commissioned by The Arts Center at New York University Abu Dhabi. The work blends spoken word, movement, dance, and intimate storytelling. It brings together performers from different backgrounds to explore what it truly means to live between countries, cultures, and identities. For the UAE’s deeply multicultural population, these stories feel personal, familiar, and long overdue.
Why this performance matters now
Migration is not an abstract idea in the UAE. It shapes daily life, families, friendships, and futures. At a time when conversations around belonging, displacement, and identity are becoming more open and more urgent, Metro Diaries arrives with timely relevance.
I have seen the rehearsal, and I had goosebumps. In those moments on stage, I heard my own story as a migrant. The humble beginnings, the quiet struggles, the tangled thoughts you carry in your mind but rarely say out loud. It was all there, unfolding in front of me, honest and unfiltered.
This restaging offers a rare moment to pause and reflect. It invites audiences to see themselves, their neighbors, and shared experiences portrayed with care and truth. Metro Diaries does not try to simplify the migrant journey. It rather gives space to its complexity, its contradictions, and the emotional weight so many carry silently every day.
Performance details
Dates and times
February 14, 2026: 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
February 15, 2026: 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM
Venue
SIMA Performing Arts, Warehouse 38, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai
Production
Metro Diaries by 63Kolektib
Co-presenter
SIMA Performing Arts
Genre
Spoken word, theatre, movement
Tickets and information
https://ticketsfy.net/event/metro-diaries-musings-of-a-collective-moving-experience/
Creative Collaborators: The artists & voices behind Metro Diaries
Metro Diaries is shaped by the collaborative voices and movements of:
- Juan Gonzales, director and co-founder of 63Kolektib, whose migration journey forms the emotional backbone of the performance
- Rei Co, a dance artist raised in Dubai, whose movement language reflects the experience of second-generation identity and living in between
- Jomel Duran Reyes, cultural producer and performance maker amplifying Filipino literature and diaspora memory
- Malavika Suresh, spoken word artist and academic researcher exploring the connection between selfhood and social presence
- Trixie Danielle, multidisciplinary artist working across theatre, poetry, and storytelling to examine migration, identity, and belonging
Together, they create a collective voice that feels raw, grounded, and deeply human.
A community experience beyond the stage
True to 63Kolektib’s commitment to accessibility and inclusion, Metro Diaries goes beyond the stage. In addition, the project extends into the community through free theater and capability workshops designed especially for migrant communities.
These workshops offer participants a safe space to share stories, explore performance as a form of healing, and build solidarity through shared experience. Many audience members from the world premiere described moments of recognition, saying they saw themselves on stage for the first time. That sense of being seen is at the heart of this work.
About 63Kolektib
63Kolektib is an independent performance collective named after the Philippines’ international dialing code, +63. The collective is dedicated to reclaiming stories often silenced or oversimplified, placing migrant experiences at the center through performance, storytelling, and community-rooted art. Their past works include Sulyap 2.0, Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang, and Litanya ng Mga Inang Wala sa Bayan.
Metro Diaries is not just a performance. It is a mirror. For anyone who has ever lived between places, between languages, or between versions of themselves, this is a story that understands where you are coming from.
