K-La surprised even herself

K-La Rivera can’t believe it’s already been four years since she left behind her family in Canada to begin a new adventure in the Philippines. K-La was only 18 years old and couldn’t speak nor understand Tagalog when she ventured out to the Philippines to launch a career here.

The language barrier was really a problem in the beginning. K-La would avoid watching local shows because she could not understand anything. She would see the actors’ mouths moving, but had no idea what they were saying. Aside from that, she had to fight homesickness.

K-La comes from a very close-knit family, and living on her own here required a big adjustment. “It was so hard at first. The language was a big thing for me — I couldn’t speak it, I couldn’t understand it, so when I came, it felt like I was in a world where I didn’t understand what was going on, and I didn’t know anyone. What helped was really just going on Skype all the time. That really eased the homesickness, seeing my family on there, and keeping communication with them open. It was a good thing that I also have family here, my Titas — they were very supportive and they’re always there for me. And I got dogs,” laughs K-La who, by now, has more or less adjusted to life in Manila.

Another thing that helped her survive on her own was pursuing all the career opportunities that came: Star Power, the MYX VJ competition and lately, a lot of musical theater. K-La appeared in In the Heights, then followed that up with the role of Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. Her next role would have been as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family, but when Mikkie Bradshaw, who was supposed to star in Carrie fell ill, K-La had to step in. It was a big challenge for her because she had to learn the lines and the songs for the musical in five days. She remembers that the call went something like: “Hello, K-La? We know you’re studying for Addams, but you see, we have a problem…”

Even now, K-La gets nervous when she recalls the conversation in her head. Despite that, she agreed to take on the role of Carrie not just because she’s fallen in love with musical theater, but also because she could relate to the character, who was bullied by schoolmates.

K-La shares that being Filipino-Romanian and growing up in Canada wasn’t easy. She was bullied because of her dark skin (she’s not that dark, but when compared to her mostly Caucasian schoolmates, it looked like she was). They made fun of her because of that, and there were times that the Filipino values her parents raised her with clashed with the progressive and open culture that she lived in.

Still, she couldn’t avoid being nervous about taking on the role of Carrie. Her Tita gave her a religious pendant which she clipped on and never removed during the whole run of the play. Wearing it gave K-La an extra boost of confidence, and up to now, she still can’t forget how incredible that experience was.

“I think she surprised even herself,” say the people behind Atlantis Productions, who are also mounting the forthcoming run of The Addams Family. In it, K-La is playing an all-grown-up and in-love Wednesday Addams, who falls head over heels for the nice American boy Lucas Beineke, played by Ryan Gallagher.

K-La is enjoying musical theater so much that she just wants to try more and more of it. “It’s something I’m really enjoying,” she says. “You get the opportunity to sing, act and dance all at once, and it really helps you grow and expand. And because sobrang iba-iba ang mga characters that you play, you as an artist get to see what you’re really capable of doing.”

So yes, if the question is would she like to do more theater, that is the answer. She’s eager to grow and expand her wings and can’t wait to discover that “whole new world” out there.

(The Addams Family runs at the Meralco Theater from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1. For details, call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or Ticketworld at 891-9999.)