The family is the foundation of a nation.Playwright, translator, and director Guelan Varela-Luarca's three plays in Natal/National echo an undeniable truth: nationhood is rooted in family. In these three plays, the intersections of family dynamics and nation-building take center stage. Dogsblood: After executing a 70-year-old lady for alleged drug use, an officer adopts the eighteen dogs she left behind. Corridors: Following her father's death, Anj returns home where her estranged family, led by their National Artist matriarch, falls into the same vicious cycle—feeding the very rot their ancestral home nurtures. 3 Upuan: Speaking in hypotheticals and regrets, siblings Jers, Jack, and Jai make sense of time and existence amidst grief and loss.