When worlds collide.

I had mentioned in my previous post about worlds about how worlds collide, like when I took Tad to Peaberry Cafe last Sunday to meet Ronelli.

Ronelli had been a friend of mine from Trumpets Playshop Alabang's first musical theater class under Tita Menchu. It was the first acting/musical theater workshop I had ever taken. I was only comfortable in class because I had friends there. Other than that, I was quiet as a mouse. I had too many inhibitions that I was afraid that I might do all the exercises wrong. Part of the reason was that I knew all of us weren't in the same "skill level," as some of them had already done this before, even professionally. I was even careful about the way I moved and talked. But hey, I did make a lot of friends through that workshop. Good friends, though not as close, save for a couple of them. I even put Putting It Together (our showcase) and the class' bond on a high pedestal even after the few workshops after that. Sure, we bonded, but I felt as if there were still walls separating some of us because of certain differences. Just a feeling. It would sometimes seem as if there was something's wrong with the way that girl stared, or how that guy spoke.

Fast forward to several years later. I started from scratch and attended a beginning acting workshop under Tanghalang Pilipino. Again, I was sort of comfortable at first only because I had a couple of friends enrolled in the same class. During the first couple of days, I put up a wall because I was still used to the Playshop environment. But day by day, the wall came down. I realized that all of us were on the same playing field, just there want to learn, and just have a go at it. I was no longer afraid to try anything. My eagerness and enthusiasm removed my inhibitions. I stopped listening to people's accents because to them, I was the one with the weird accent (hahaha, Mimay and Nicco can attest to this, because they did this often). This was a class that had no pre-judgments over you, or wherever you came from, as long as you knew how to get along with different people, wear your heart on your sleeve, and give it all you've got. So we have the passion. We also had that crazy bond, the type that you can never get sick of each other. Our crazy glue? The girl with the amazing voice and upbeat personality who played my alter ego, and the guy with so much passion in his bones and loves his friends til the end.

Two workshops that were so different from each other. Both were similar outlets, yet showed different sides of me. In Playshop, I was one of the quiet, yet friendly ones. Too intimidated by the ones who have more experience than I did. In TP, I was more outgoing, yet still grounded. I had learned to wear my heart on my sleeve and learned the difference between theater as a passion and as a hobby.

When Ronelli, a former classmate from Trumpets Playshop, and Tad, my boyfriend from TP, met at Peaberry last Sunday, I had no idea if they had anything in common. Ronelli talked the way she always did, straight English with a slight accent. Tad was merely being himself and compromised, and didn't mind stumbling over the occasional English words. I was actually amused at the fact that it was the first time I heard Ronelli say anything in Filipino. When we started talking about coffee drinking, coffee routines, and the different kinds of coffee, the "language barrier" disappeared.

I have yet to invite Ronelli to a TP show. Hopefully when Flores Para Los Muertos does a rerun, I'll invite her to come. She did say that she hasn't seen a play in ages. And I have to check out Peaberry's acoustic nights. Maybe I could get Tad to sing during one of those nights, hehehe. And who knows, maybe Ronelli can overcome her "singing trauma" as well, even if I have to hold the microphone for her, hahaha.