tymeless

I was supposed to blog last night, but for some reason, I couldn't access Multiply.

Anyway, I managed to find time to catch some plays this past week, just so I can have a semblance of a life after my last ushering stint, ahahaha. I also got to sit in at the AC's company class and make-up class, facilitated by Riki and Lao respectively. I had a lot of fun just sitting and observing during the make-up class. After both classes, Rayna, Martha and I ran-through our scene for script analysis class before we all went out to eat. Found Gino at Mang Inasal (as he had went ahead of all of us), before most of us headed to Harrison Plaza to get our fix of goto.

We finished tackling J.M. Synge's Riders to the Sea on Friday, complete with our assigned scenes. We're finally moving on to a new script tomorrow. Anyway, Nicco had gotten me tickets to that night's show of American Hwangap (English version), so I killed time with Gino and Dan at Icebergs before we watched the show. Haha, I also invited Nicco to hang with us prior to his call time, and he shared his experiences as a one-time TP Actors Company scholar the the 2 new scholars.

I loved Mio's detailed set. And the ensemble cast was pretty good. It was actually amusing to watch Nicco in another character that was pretty close to his personality, right down to when he threw that game console on the floor. But I have to agree with some that it was too American, with hardly any Korean flavor, except for some indications using costume and food. But I still enjoyed it all the same. So congrats once again, baby bro!

On Saturday, while I was catching up on my sleep in the office lounge, I got a text from Betty that she has an extra ticket to their show in UP, Information for Foreigners, that night. I immediately said yes, and thank goodness I had time to kill in the afternoon, as I was also meeting Nikki that day. We meet up at Powerbooks and had lunch at Pepper Lunch, then went around the malls, just window-shopping until I had to catch the northbound MRT.

Betty had told me to come an hour before the show begins because tickets were first come, first serve, plus they had to turn away some people because the place was already pretty full. I actually had no idea where the new CAL building, but I was told that it was behind the FC. And to think that there's also a show going on in the FC that Tad and Kat were involved in. So while I was finally walking towards the right direction of the building, I found Tad standing outside the FC, smoking, so I went over to him for a while to say hi before I went on ahead to the CAL building. While I was getting my ticket, Lee and Helen had arrived at almost the same time, so we got to kill time together before the show started. Drove a short distance to get fishballs and isaw (yum!), then immediately went back to see that there was already a huge crowd assembled.

Betty had advised us to join Uleb's group, because apparently, this show was going to be all over the building, like an interactive tour, and so Lee, Helen and I looked for the line that Uleb was talking to. Information for Foreigners tackled some heavy material, about the several desaparecidos that their families have been looking for even until today. My goodness, we were told to wear comfortable shoes and bring fans, and be ready to run when needed. Hahaha. Props to the cast and crew for this show. Each tour group was led from one room to another, showing real scenarios of those who had disappeared since the time of Martial Law. Though Lee, Helen and I got pretty turned off by the certain heckler during the first scene of the second act, it was still a darn good show.

Had a late dinner with Lee, Helen, Betty, Opa and Uleb (who had to leave after a few minutes) at McDo in Katipunan after the show, and we discussed certain aspects of it before we called it a night. Rode a cab with Betty and despite the fact that I was losing my voice since the day before, I still made an effort to share little tidbits with her.

On Monday, Kat managed to provide one compli ticket for me to Alimuom/Walang Maliw, the twinbill that she and Tad were in at the FC. The week before, I was actually planning to watch both UP shows in one day, but after watching both, I was glad I didn't because each show, despite the fact that they had similar topics, was far to heavy that I couldn't handle watching both on the same day.

Two long lines had already formed outside the THY, and it took me a while to figure out that one line was for ticket holders, and the other was for waiting people in hopes of getting tickets should there be any left. As a guest, I was immediately led inside the theater upon open house, without going through the long line. I managed to find a seat up front with Arvin, so I don't have to deal with backless bleacher seat and bobbing heads in front of me.

Alimuom is a monologue with that as a soldier/reformist that comes returns to a certain safe house where he used to torture people that they had abducted. Intense. Each person that the soldier mentioned gave a clear vision of his method of torture. Ack. Walang Maliw, on the other hand, shows the opposite side, with Kat as one of the abducted, while her parents celebrate her birthday 5 years after her disappearance. I never got to catch this play when it was performed at the Virgin Labfest, and I'm glad to have caught it then. It was quite a touching performance. I was fighting back tears during the last parts, and couldn't hold it back when I spotted a lot of other people in the audience also crying.

My goodness, despite the fact that I'm nursing a cough and losing my voice even right on until now, I'm glad to have caught those shows. I sure hope I still get to catch Shock Value and the Filipino version of American Hwangap later this week.