Went to school yesterday morning, then decided to go to Makati after lunch. I wanted to walk around Glorietta before going to Insular Life in Filinvest to watch the master class’ Playshop showcase which started at 4 in the afternoon, but because of time constraints, I couldn’t go window-shopping anymore and went straight to the shuttle terminal. I took a shuttle that passed by Filinvest and arrived at Insular at almost 4 pm.

I was supposed to watch the show with Kathy and Marex, but Kathy had to go to Tagaytay, so it was just Marex and me. When I reached the lobby, familiar faces greeted me. Kiwi, Joel and Kat at the ticket table, Tita Luna and Tita Menchu (with Nicole) standing nearby. Marex waiting for me by the window. Pam, Mikki and Eric hanging around near one of the entrances. Aw, I miss this environment.

As soon as I got my ticket, Marex and I went inside and sat in the row where Pam and Eric were sitting. Hahaha, the first thing that Marex said was, “Aw… I’m so inggit. They have a set.” Onstage, there were throw rugs, 4 canvas-backed chairs, rolls of paper, and pairs of shoes scattered around surrounding the rugs. Very simple, but it amused me.

Tito Freddie first went upstage, telling us a bit about what was to come. It was actually Trumpets’ first attempt of putting together a master class composed of people who want to take theater more seriously. After he said those words, I wanted to cry, regretting not signing up for it. Imagine being in another pioneer group established right there in Alabang. Anyway, he talked a bit more, warning about the Shakesperean text, “so if you don’t know what they’re saying, just ignore it and keep watching.” Hahaha. Then he gave the floor to two students from the public speaking class, who introduced the show. Jeez, the girl on the right was extremely nervous, the way her hand were shaking and how she kept shuffling her crib sheet, not looking at the audience. Oh well. On with the show.

So the whole thing is actually about Love, Hate... and then Love again, fusing together the words of Shakespeare with Broadway songs. Some songs were altered, some were not, but it was a good mix. Hahaha, I loved how Lawyn played all three daughters in a scene from King Lear. Her shift from one character to another was quite good. There’s this one guy who transferred from the intermediate class to the master class, and he ended up singing “One Song Glory” from Rent.

Marex: Is that chest hair?
Me: I have no idea.

As I leaned over to ask Pam the same thing, the guy suddenly unzipped his leather jacket to reveal his uhm, well-drawn-in-pen “chest hair”. Wahahahahahaha!

They sang some of my favorite songs! There was “Someone Like You” from Jekyll and Hyde by Sarah, and “Someone Else’s Story” from Chess by Mae. The most hilarious one was “I Know Him So Well” (also from Chess), sung by all the girls in the class. It was supposed to be about two girls liking the same guy, but what they did was all the girls were all in one place, supposedly to meet this guy, and they all realized that they all liked the same person! Hahaha, hilarious how they all came in and realization hit.

Holy kamote, Chevy sang “Why God” from Miss Saigon. Huwaw. Bow ako sa iyo.

The funniest part of the show that I loved was when Chevy and this other girl named Pam went onstage. Chev started reading a sonnet line by line, alternating with Pam, who translated the words literally in Filipino. Hahaha, when they got to the parts where some of those words had these “est” in the end, it was hilarious that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. When Chev said a word, say like, “receivest” at the end of the line, Pam would end it with “tatanggapinsst. WAHAHAHAHAHA! It’s like the “sst” trend that’s been going around.

As usual, Anna was spectacular when she sang “I’ve Never Been In Love Before”. Bow din ako sa iyo, Anns, as usual. Teeheehee, you still look like Lea when you sing.

Another thing that made me regret not joining? Everyone in the class had solo songs. Grr…

By the end of the show, I was cheering and “huwawing” like crazy while Marex shouted their names. We met up with Lawyn and Mae and everyone else outside at the lobby, congratulating them for a job well done. I practically walked over to everyone I knew. Hahaha, Gary still remembers me! And I thought the whole summer that he forgot who I was because there were some occasions that I’d see him head to class and just pass by me.

At the last minute, I decided to stick around to watch the evening show, heeheehee.

I was getting hungry by then, and a bunch of them wanted to go to Festival Mall the buy food. Eric wanted to go to Asian and eat there, so Pam and I went with him. He went to his dad’s first, then we went to the cafeteria to eat. Afterwards we went outside so Eric can smoke, and we just hung around, just talking, until it was time for Pam and me to go back to Insular. We actually walked all the way there from the hospital, but heck, as if I’m not used to it.

Ehehehe, I was already wondering what Kiwi and June V and the other would say when they see me wanting to watch the second show as well. Pam and I went to the bathroom first, and we found Bea, Nicole and this other girl (I forgot her name, but I see her around at the Akafellas gigs) in there. Man, I missed Bea. Such a sweet and bubbly girl that I wanted Eric to regret ever breaking up with her, hahaha. Kiwi just said that I could just go in, but I actually got shy, so I just jokingly told June, “Libre mo ko!” Gak, he actually took it seriously and we handed out money at the same time. He said that I can just go ahead and take the ticket, but I still held out my money. Kiwi wouldn’t take it, so I just paid for Bea’s ticket.

Pam and I sat at a different place for the 2nd show, and when Dari walked in, he sat down next to us. Hahaha, in the darkness, I introduced Pam to him.

The second show was OK, but I cringed at the Mike guy who sang “One Song Glory”. He forgot his lines, and it showed! Unlike Lawyn’s “Tell Me On A Sunday”, who forgot her lines, but we didn’t notice until she told us about it after the show. Chevy’s blocking for “Without You” and “Why God” was different, but we were told that that was his original blocking. The first show was different because he didn’t have a wireless mic.

After the show, they were finally given their certificates. Congrats to Mae, Lawyn, Anna, Sarah, CJ, Chevy, Ria, Gary and the rest of Playshop Alabang’s Master Class!

When the house lights went on, everyone got to their feet. I didn’t really know whether to go to the lobby already and mingle, because the class was still backstage. When I left my seat to follow Dari, he was already talking to Jun. Hahaha, he actually managed to catch up. He was texting me earlier that evening to tell him if the show had already started so he can catch up to watch.

We all went to the lobby then, just talking, waiting for the cast to come out. When we saw Tita Luna and asked about Jamie, she said that he hardly ever goes out, and told us that we ought to take him out sometime. Heck, yeah, we should. We were just there for quite a while, and then Lawyn and Mae told us to join them at Anna’s house. Oooh, cast party. We walked the two with Anna and Mikki to Mae’s car, then Jun, Dari and I boarded Jun’s. We first took Dari home, and then we started thinking whether to go to Anna’s house or not. Sure, we knew people there, but we might feel out-of-place because of the newer ones in the group, so we decided not to anymore and just head home. We called Lawyn and told her we weren’t coming anymore, but insisted we all go out another time. We miss the old MT1 (2002) crowd.

Aw… I still regret not joining.