Another blessing for Ayen

MANILA, Philippines - Ayen Munji-Laurel believes that winning Best Actress at the recent Aliw Awards is God’s affirmation that she is on the right path. “There are so many things we want to do in life but rarely do we know for sure which one has God’s go-signal. This award is Him giving me the thumbs up. I feel so blessed,” she says.

 Ayen bagged the Aliw trophy for playing the character Guia Almonte in Floy Quintos’ Atang, a Dulaang UP production. She also takes pride over the fact that her husband, Franco Laurel clinched the same Best Actor award for his role in Isang Panaginip na Fili where he, in turn, played the role of Jose Rizal. Guia in Atang is an actress who seeks out National Artist Atang de la Rama in Tondo to get her approval to have her life story played out on the big screen. Before consenting, Atang stripped bare Guia both as an artist and as a person; a process which Ayen said challenged her in a way that no role she had taken on had ever done.

 “It was like a movie in a play…and like portraying dual roles because my character underwent so many transitions not only physically but through several emotional planes. Andyan yung umiiyak ako habang kumakanta, then I have to be elated naman the next moment, then I have to play a young Atang…it really was a role of a lifetime,” Ayen shares.

She admits balking at accepting the role when it was first offered to her. “I told Floy, ‘Are you sure you want me to do it?’ But looking back, I think I was actually addressing the question to myself. ‘Ayen, do you want to do this? Can you do this?’ Atang, being the first superstar that the country has had, and who eventually became a National Artist, is a person that every Filipino is protective of. I knew I had to study and research on her life story in order to do the job well. And yet even if I do my homework, there would always be that question, ‘Was it enough?’ Because it’s Atang here that we are talking about. The Atang de la Rama.”

The play which ran from October 2008 to July 2009 was a runaway hit.

Ayen says that the music in Atang was a highlight in itself. “Even though I had training in singing, having studied Voice in UST and then Theater Arts in UP, I still had to take refresher courses in voice. Ayokong mapahiya. I haven’t been doing classical singing when I accepted the role. I sing pop, broadway and ballads regularly but kundiman requires a different kind of placement.”

It came to the point when Ayen was taking advanced voice lessons while rehearsing for the show. “And I thought, ‘Paano kung magkasakit ako?’ No, I can’t afford that. I really had to build my stamina — or fail,” she says.

It was exhausting, indeed, singing songs such as Bituing Marikit, Nabasag Ang Banga and Nasan Ka Irog; more so because the spare accompaniment of violin, a cello and a piano will have exposed any vocal shortcoming but in the end, Ayen’s hard work paid off. “There was such a demand for Atang that we kept on extending the run. Floy couldn’t believe it and neither did I. Atang for me wasn’t just a job or a success. It was an experience.”

The musical’s run is over but Ayen says she will bring Atang with her forever. “I learned a lot from Atang’s life. I could relate to her. I know what it means to want approval. To be in that place when you must choose what’s really important to you. To fall and have the courage to stand up and brush aside your failures so you could meet life head on from a stronger, wiser place.”