Cris Villonco's acting credentials are impressive for someone of
her age. Barely 30 and this young woman has two Philstage Gawad Buhay!
Best Actress Awards under her belt, and has had over 30 productions with
some of the leading Filipino theater companies.
Cris is also known for being the star of numerous musicals such as
"Sound of Music" as Maria Rainer, "Les Miserables" as Eponine, "Noli Me
Tangere the Musical" as Maria Clara and "Jekyll and Hyde" as Emma Carew.
Currently, Cris is preparing for her role in the Philippine Educational
Theater Association's (PETA) "D Wonder Twins of Boac", the company's
musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" written by
multi-awarded writer Rody Vera.
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Cris Villonco plays Viola in Philippine Educational Theater Association's (PETA) "D Wonder Twins of Boac."
Set during the 'decline' of the golden age of Philippine Cinema, "D
Wonder Twins of Boac" is the story of two aspiring talents from
Marinduque, twins named Viola (Cris Villonco) and Bastian (Chrome
Cosio), who were separated in an unfortunate shipwreck going to Manila.
Driven by her dream to make it to showbiz and believing her brother to
be dead, Viola disguises herself as a boy and auditions to become the
'Elvis' of Campanilla Pictures owned by Doc Orsino (essayed by Bodjie
Pascua, alternating with Lex Marcos). Doc Orsino hires Viola (now guised
as Ceasar) but eventually becomes his boy friday. Eventually, her
disguise causes numerous complications when she falls in love with Doc
Orsino, while Donya Olivia (Shamaine Buencamino), the unresponsive
object of the Doc Orsino and owner of BLV Studios, falls madly in love
with her.
On cross-dressing and crossing over
This being her first production with PETA, Cris feels fortunate to have
another opportunity to work with a new set of actors on stage. Cris
points out the advantages of having crossover artists, stating that
"different theater companies have different methods and philosophies of
acting so it's really interesting nowadays to watch a show where
somebody's from Tanghalang Pilipino, someone's from Repertory
Philippines, Trumpets, or Atlantis."
"The
challenge for me is to work with a new set of people every time. It's
challenging and yet it's also such an advantage because everyone has
something different to bring to the table. But then again it's also nice
to be with people that you know because you kind of know how they will
do things," says Cris.
Cris Villonco plays dual roles as girl turned boy probinsyana from Marinduque in the late 1960's.
As Viola/Ceasar in the play, Cris shares several scenes with Shamaine
Buencamino (as Donya Olivia) who Cris considers as one of the great
theater actors today. "I've also never worked with Shamaine and it's a
challenge because I know that she's such a great actress and I'm a
little nervous", says Cris.
Playing dual roles
as girl turned boy probinsyana from Marinduque in the late 1960's, Cris
admits that she is still in the process of refining her role as Viola
and Ceasar.
"Now that we're going through
rehearsals, I am getting into the flow of things. I'm trying to roughen
up my tagalog and trying to acquire an accent to make it authentic.
Strangely enough, I have relatives from Marinduque and I am related to
the people who used to be involved in LVN (now BLV in the play). It's
now more about research, of how different celebrities were like at that
time, and also just the manners and language patterns."
Cris also shares her thoughts on her male character Ceasar: "We are
also discussing what approach to be Ceasar. We are going into the
direction of innocent with a touch of femininity like Gwyneth Paltrow in
Shakespeare in Love."
Another new experience
for Cris is performing in an arena stage. Lex Marcos, the play's
production designer has devised four circular platforms which serve as
the stage of the play, giving the audience, a 360 degree view of the
actors on stage.
"'D Wonder Twins of Boac" is directed by PETA Artistic Director Maribel Legarda, who also directed "Care Divas" and "William."
The cast includes Gino Ramirez, Paolo Rodriguez, Carlon Matobato, Riki
Benedicto, Gie Onida, Eric dela Cruz, Roi Calilong, Kiki Baento, Kat
Castillo, Tricia Huseña and Divine Aucina. The play's music is composed
by Jeff Hernandez, choreography by Carlon Matobato, costumes by John
Abul, and lighting design by Jon Jon Villareal.
"D Wonder Twins of Boac" will have 30 shows from February 1 to March 3
at the PETA Theater Center. Ticket prices are P800 (VIP) and P600
(regular). For inquiries, contact PETA through 725-6244, 0917-5765400,
or petatheater@gmail.com
Press release and photos from Philippine Educational Theater Association
Press release and photos from Philippine Educational Theater Association
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