Tonight's programme · Manila

Julia Gallos

Creative director. Renaissance woman, if you're being generous.

(You've arrived a little late. That's fine. The show is in six acts and she's in all of them.)

A note from the programme

About Jules

Julia, or Jules, works across disciplines. Not as a guest who drops by for the canapés, but as the one still there when they're stacking the chairs.

She photographs, sings, writes plays and poems, acts, and directs the whole production when nobody else volunteers. Each act below is a different room of the same house. Wander. Nobody's checking tickets.

Draft · Julia to review
Act I

Photo­graphy

Soft and dreamy, lit strangely, and always caught in the middle of a story.

Member, All Girls Photowalk PH

Tender pictures under odd light. Sun through a gap in the curtain, a face half in shadow, flowers piled up like the scene's about to start. Every frame looks like the second before something happens.

Editorial

After Midnight

Creative direction and photography

A birthday editorial for the hour when the party should be over. Pink paper, red feathers, one cake and no regrets.

A woman in a tiara taking a huge bite of chocolate birthday cake against pink
Her reflection in a mirror blowing out a candle, a second lit cake blurred in front
Leaning on a black stool in fishnets and a red feather boa, one heel kicked up
Balanced across a stool with both heels in the air, looking back at the camera
Seated on a pink floor in a tiara, studying a small chocolate cake
Perched on a stool in a velvet corset, pearls and torn fishnets
Editorial

Ara & Ara

Still in the edit

Creative direction and photography

A tiara, a box of matches and a candle that refuses to light.

Head down on a table, a birthday candle between her lips, lighting a match among burnt ones
Kneeling and laughing in a red boa, a tiara dropped on the floor in front of her
Close-up in a tiara, eyes lowered, striking a match for the candle in her mouth
Editorial

Manila Fashion Week 2026

Backstage, where the real show happens. Neon lashes, flyaway hair, and everyone pretending not to look at the camera.

Model in a sculptural polka-dot dress with neon green lashes, half lit in the dark
Model with long windswept hair and a sun tattoo, staring into the lens backstage
Blonde model seen from behind, facing a wall of photographers and a camera flash
Model in a denim sailor hat and collar against a woven backdrop
Two models in oversized striped satin, one in shiny pink, under direct flash
Two models leaning together backstage, one holding a bright yellow bag
Theatre

Gen G

Show photographer · PETA · September 2026

Haze, flood markers and a cast in full voice, shot from the dark of the house.

An actor in glasses lit from below, holding up a letter beside a calendar reading May 9, 2028
The ensemble lunging forward with arms outstretched through blue stage haze
Actors perched across scaffolding beside a flood marker reading 15 and 16 feet
Editorial

Workshop with JB de Leon

Window light, a painted backdrop and a floor full of flowers.

Two women posed on a floor of flowers in warm side light
A woman in a linen dress seated on a stool, lit by a shaft of sun among flowers
A woman with eyes closed, hand at her throat, face lit by a slice of light
Exhibited

Her Depth of Field

A group exhibition, where her photograph Preparing to Fall hung on the wall. It opened the same day she sang live. Busy day.

Julia beside her framed photograph Preparing to Fall at the Her Depth of Field exhibition
Opening night, beside Preparing to Fall
Act II

Music

Coloratura soprano who also sings pop and jazz. Yes, the whistle notes are real. Please don't ask her to do one at dinner.

Pop and jazz singer, songwriter, guitarist and music producer. Also a keyboardist and drummer in training, which the neighbours have opinions about.

  • Songs"Hello Lover" · "Marry Me Giovanni"
  • LiveGigs and performances. Booking details at the curtain call.
  • ListenStreaming links go here.
Act III

Plays

She writes the lines, then has opinions about how you say them.

Playwright and member of the Writer's Bloc. She writes for stage and radio, and keeps more in the drawer.

Poster for Late Na Late Na, a radio play by Jolly Ann Bilad
Radio play · 2022

Late Na Late Na

Written for Tawag, a series of online radio plays produced for the benefit of UPLB Cares.

  • WritingWorks in development.
Act IV

Poetry

The act where nobody has to wear a costume.

Poems about bodies, birds and the noise in between. First published in 2026.

Cover of Verses from the South, a poetry anthology by The South Spoken Collective
Anthology · 2026

Verses from the South

Two poems, The Chicken and It's Quiet, in Volume I of the anthology from The South Spoken Collective.

  • ForthcomingHow My Vagina Tells Me What to Do, a chapbook. Working title, and yes, it stays.
Act V

Stage & Screen

Theatre for now. The screen can wait its turn.

Actor on stage, usually in whatever role makes the audience shift in their seats. Film is next on the list.

Theatre · 2021

Nakakapagpabagabag

Actor · Artist Playground

Three actors on a dark stage under a sign reading Jump at your own risk
Two actors in white and red facing each other in a pool of light
Two actors pressed together in hard side light, one arm draped over the other
Act VI

Writing

Essays, criticism, and the occasional strongly worded opinion.

Prose on art, performance and the life around them.

  • EssayTitle, publication, year.
  • Tech writingLives on the other site. See intermission.

Intermission

By day she's an AI product director. That story has its own theatre, with case studies, research and a very sensible resume. The art here stays fully human.

Julia Bilad →
Curtain call

Stay to the end.

Commissions, collaborations, bookings, or just to say you liked Act IV best.

Email
jolly.ann.bilad@gmail.com
Instagram
@juliacgallos
Based in
Manila. Touring later.