I'm not really into dwelling over what day tomorrow will be like, be it Valentine's Day or Single Awareness Day, as some people would call it. So let's just talk about something else, shall we?
I took another momentary trip to my previous world this past weekend. Theater, and that brief acting stint with Panahon.
On Saturday, I had so much time to kill before I had to meet with Myrone and Alvin at CCP during the evening for TP's Ibalong, so I ended up meeting JB first at Cash and Carry for lunch. It's been quite a while since we hung out, so we caught up on each other's news while we pigged out at Pancake House, and even at her apartment afterwards as she prepped up to go to Greenbelt to watch Boeing, Boeing with a bunch of her workshop friends. I even got to meet her adorable Persian cat, Hero.
We then headed to Greenbelt and hung out at A Gantea for a while as JB still had lots of time to kill. Got to meet Jurmane, one of her workshop classmates from this past summer who's also currently one of our fellow ushers for They're Playing Our Song, as he joined us as well before they headed to Onstage when it was time for the show.
I then headed to CCP after bidding them goodbye. Stopped by the lobby and said hello to Ate Lei, then I got a text from Alvin saying that they were already there, waiting in KFC. Joined them and hung around a bit to kill some time, then we moved to Chicken Rice Shop for dinner (apparently, what Myrone was eating at KFC was just an appetizer, hahaha). We still had quite a bit of time left, so we ended up just hanging out in the LT lobby until open house. Once we secured seats inside the theater (including a couple more for Iam and Ge), I then headed back out to the lobby to use the ladies room and conveniently ran into Iam on my way out. Waited until Ge arrived, and we went back inside the theater together.
Ibalong is an original Filipino musical based on a Bicolano epic, telling the story of the hero Handyong and his battles against creatures and monsters roaming the land, including Oryol, a creature who is half-woman, half-snake.
Right from the very beginning, I was already in awe because of the breathtaking set, the hypnotic music that was being played live, plus the jaw-dropping costumes of the cast. I was hooked. It was actually interesting to watch Jenine Desiderio (who played Oryol) singing in a different style, but it was also pretty refreshing. It's been a while since I last watched Myke, who played Handyong, in a musical, and I'm glad I finally did again. The ensemble was such a thrill to watch, and they moved around with such ease despite how complicated their costumes seemed to be.
After the show, there was the customary meet-and-greet, so the boys got to meet some of my friends from the cast. It was also great to see other friends among the audience as well. Alvin then took advantage of the fact that I had my camera, so I took photos of him and Myrone with some of the cast before they had to go home. I, in turn, joined Iam and Ge at Dencio's for a while, then hitched a ride home with them as well.
Sunday was my return to the Panahon shoot. I had a later call time than some of the cast, so I coordinated with Jam about meeting up somewhere in Magallanes. Ended up running into her in the same train in the Ayala MRT station, so we didn't have to stop over at the Magallanes station.
The first location was at Migs' house in Magallanes. Just hung around the room that was being used as the holding area, reading my script, reading the newspapers, texting, momentarily checking my Facebook (due to the intermittent wifi signal in the room), and watching TV with Tita Chinggay, as I had no scenes in that location.
When all scenes were done, we then piled up in 2 vehicles. All of us actors were in Tito Ces' van so we could run over our lines for the sequences in the next location. The pressure was all on me for so many reasons. One, it was one of 2 sequences where my character was at the peak of her emotions. Two, I seemed to be the resident novice actor, based on experience. Everyone was giving me notes on how to deliver my lines and such, and I just sat there, quietly nodding and taking it all in, while deep down, I kept questioning myself if I could really do this. I didn't really want to always be in the center of attention, and certainly not in this way where I was the lousiest actor in the group, and I do know that I was.
The sequence was to be shot in a condo unit owned by Maco's family, so after a quick lunch, we threw lines again, prepped up while the crew set up in the room. I mostly sat there, mostly quiet, except while throwing lines as Tito Ces kept giving me endless notes which made me more inferior by the minute. Sam did offer to let us watch a clip of the first time they shot it, with Martha as my character (and yes, due to a commitment to a project, they had to replace her with someone like me at the last minute). I didn't want to watch it because they were already comparing her with me, and by watching it, I would also do so.
When it was finally time to shoot, I decided to just wing it. My character had to be so enraged with her daughter for attempting to live in with her boyfriend, and lying to her parents about it, that my character had no control over her emotions and ended up physically hurting her daughter. It took a couple of takes, and I was surprised that I was actually into the scene that a couple of lines somehow hit home. Tears flowed, I got a scratch on my arm from Sam's ring, plus a couple of bruises from leaning on the bed frame too much. I was pretty touched when a couple of people told me I did a good job, even though it kind of felt perfunctory.
On to the next location, back at Bella and Kevin's house in Filinvest. We shot a sequence similar to that previous one, but a different break. Nothing much different, really. Same lines, just a different location, plus a different solution to the same sort of ending. Since I got the character down pat (due to a certain personal experience that I once shared with Lara via text), I was kind of confident enough to go through these last couple of sequences. I ended up with another scratch on the arm, plus Sam once managed to nail me on the lip using a pair of pants that she flailed around, but it was alright.
After one last sequence, we finally wrapped it up. A bunch of us hung around the front porch while the rest of the crew started packing up inside. I had decided to just head straight to the office and spend the night in the lounge instead of going home, because I won't be able to get some sleep due to the travel time going back south. Thank goodness I still had some extra clothes and stuff on me to tide me over for the early Monday morning shift before heading home.
That acting stint is finally over. I may say I'm relieved, but I'm glad this happened. I can still do it, but I don't have the drive for it anymore. For some reason, I've lost the drive to pursue that road. I've already said this in a previous blog post. I guess it's better this way. Had I not taken that risk to pursue a different passion that I'm falling in love with even more, I would probably still be stuck there, doing things half-heartedly and ending up with mediocre results.
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