Research

The creative work of Professor Aguas explores the dramatic intersections, convergences, and divergences inherent in American diversity. World theatre traditions steeped in indigenous cultures and folklore form the core of his international research that has taken him to Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

He is the author of "When the Purple Settles," winner of the 2002 Don Carlos Palanca Award in Literature, the Philippines most prestigious literary prize. His other plays include "Abuja Woman" (Audrey Skirball Kenis Playwriting Award), "Where the Carabao Sleeps" (A.S.K. Theater Projects Award), and "Ramayana La'ar" (Virginia Gazette's Best Play of 2007).
As a performer, Professor Aguas has performed his solo show "The Sarimanok Travels" (James Pendleton Prize) in California, Ohio, New Jersey, Hawaii, Malaysia, and the Philippines. His newest piece is "The Imelda Marcos of the Philippines International Dictator Training Lecture Series," which he has performed in Singapore and China. In 2016, he performed the role of Clytemnestra in "The Oresteia Trilogy" directed by Dr. Richard Palmer.
He is the founding Artistic Director of IPAX, International Performance Arts eXchange, an arts community with a view to a more diverse creative landscape. Since its inception from the African American Theatre Club and “Ramayana La’ar” cast in 2007, IPAX has produced Betty Shamieh’s “ROAR!” (the first Arab American play on the William & Mary campus), Ntozake Shange’s “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuff,” Anna Deavere Smith’s “Twilight: Los Angeles 1992,” Michael Golamco’s “Cowboy VS Samurai,” and Edit Villarreal's "My Visits with MGM: My Grandmother Marta."
For William and Mary Theatre, he collaborated with students on the Hindu epic "Ramayana" to create the dance theater pieces "Ramayana La'ar" in 2007, and "Sitayana: Journey of Womanhood" in 2013. He also directed the regional premiere of Keralino Sandorovich’s “Disappearance,” Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize winning "Topdog/Underdog” (Honorable Mention Award in Directing and Acting, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival), and “when the purple settles.” He directed the world premiere of Amanda Andrei’s “Every Night I Die” at the Capital Fringe Festival in Washington DC. In 2014, he worked with colleagues and students in presenting the Pulitzer and Tony Award winning play "Clybourne Park."
Professor Aguas' scholarship is published in "Asian American Identities and Practices: Folkloric Expressions in Everyday Life" edited by Jonathan H.X. Lee and Kathleen Nadeau (Lexington, 2014) and Encyclopedia of Asian American Foklore and Folklife, Volume 3 (ABC-CLIO, 2010). In 2016, Routledge published his piece on FIlipino comfort women of World War II in "Monologues for Actors of Color," edited by Roberta Uno.
His production of Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg's "Asuncion" for William & Mary Theatre is currently playing at William and Mary Theatre to sold out audiences.