Jessica Hagedorn says she had in mind something teeming with energy and a multiplicity of voices when she wrote her acclaimed 1990 novel, “Dogeaters,” a kaleidoscopic collage of interwoven stories set in Manila during the Marcos regime’s early-1980s unraveling.

Peopled with beauty queens, politicians, gay hustlers and media personalities, “Dogeaters” has its long-awaited Bay Area stage premiere this month at the Magic Theatre in a newly revised adaptation written by Hagedorn and directed by the Magic’s artistic director, Loretta Greco.

“Other stories I read about the Philippines (where Hagedorn spent her childhood until moving to San Francisco at age 14) always disappointed me when I was young because I’d think, ‘This is too small,’” Hagedorn, 66, said recently by phone from her West Village home in New York, where she has lived since leaving San Francisco in 1977.

“Filipino culture is overflowing and can’t be contained in a polite narrative. It became clear as I got older what I was trying to do — to capture all its craziness and love of life, the fatalism and beautiful humor and faith.”

Q: When you wrote “Dogeaters,” did you think it would be possible to translate something so dense with characters and nonlinear to the stage?

A: At first I thought of it as a film, but it was Michael Grief (“Rent”) and his passion to adapt it to the stage that made this happen. He was busy running La Jolla Playhouse when he commissioned this adaptation, so he couldn’t go to Sundance with me (where Hagedorn worked on a first draft in 1997). He asked if it was OK if he sent along this gifted young director — and it was Loretta (Greco), which ended up being perfect. We had a ball. Every time I’ve seen her over the years since then, we’d talk about wanting to do this together.

That first process taught me a lot about what theater is capable of. A movie can be more literal, could actually show a million people on the streets and Manila in all its glory, and all its not-so-glorious aspects, but I was being too literal thinking that way. You can do that onstage with two actors and theater magic.

Q: Have you discovered anything about your own characters hearing them voiced by others?

A: It was particularly poignant and powerful when done in the Philippines by actors who had actually lived through martial law, some of whom had been imprisoned or on a blacklist. The theater was near where a lot of things happen in the play. It was spooky.

Q: “Dogeaters” dramatizes the idea that TV, soap operas, music, maybe even religion have a numbing, distracting power over people that’s even exacerbated in a totalitarian state.

A: It’s not just numbing and distracting, it also offers a certain kind of solace. I think that’s why people are drawn to religion, and why they feel the need to enjoy the soap operas and they need to laugh and dance. I actually wanted to celebrate that. One thing I know about Filipinos: We know how to party. We have to.

Q: The title refers to the derogatory term American soldiers once used for Filipinos, right?

A: Yes, it came from readings I did about the Philippine-American War and the fact that it was a pejorative term American soldiers used for the Filipino. I found that stunning, and I thought of the shame associated with eating dog. And what is that shame connected to? The fact that I took it and used it pissed a lot of people off. Some Filipinos had the reaction, “Why bring that up?” It was very complicated.

But I understood I was walking into some trouble when I chose it. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t. I could have picked something a lot prettier, easier to go down.

Q: What can you share about the script revisions you’re making for this new production?

A: Loretta gave me room to reimagine or rewrite some of the scenes, and it’s glorious looking at it with fresh eyes and the benefit of time. The actors were taken aback: “But the play is already published!” Well, it’s not dead. I see where I can strengthen things I wrote that a long time ago.

I am adding more Tagalog, which is important to me, to clearly give a flavor of its setting, and I’m trusting that if people don’t understand every single thing said, it will still resonate. It’s like me watching a French movie. Sometimes I don’t look at the subtitles, I just watch openly.

Jessica Zack is a Bay Area freelance writer.

Dogeaters: By Jessica Hagedorn. Directed by Loretta Greco. Through Feb. 28. $20-$75. Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason, S.F. (415) 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org.