Spare the Mug

When I was transcribing my Christian Bautista interview weeks ago, I kept rewinding to a conversation with Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo, who was also present at the I-Shine presscon. She’s the overall program director of Promil’s summer workshop for kids. Over lunch, the theater actress-director talked about her previous work with the singer, “West Side Story.” A colleague asked if she was a tough director like her late mentor Zeneida Amador. She answered:

“I have had mugs thrown at me, cigarettes. But you learn how to make ilag very quickly. I’ve had tables thrown at me, our batch of theater people.”

I asked her, “But you don’t do that?”

She didn’t hear me, so she said, “Huh?”

I spoke louder: “You don’t do that naman?”

“I don’t do that,” she replied, looked at Christian and asked, “I don’t do that, right?”

Christian didn’t say anything. Menchu quickly admitted, “I only lost it once. And then I apologized.”

Most of us at the table laughed, and she continued, “But no, that’s really… I feel, it depends on a director what they feel works for them. That doesn’t work for me. Although, when it was done to me… again, it takes two types. Mayroong kaya, mayroong hindi. I was one of the ones na, I took it. And I’m glad I did. It was part of my training. So I do the exact opposite. I’m very patient and I explain a lot. And I do a lot of work with the cast, which I really enjoy to do.”

Interesting perspective. She also spoke about giving the actors separate notes that specify suggestions for improvement.

I enjoyed her presence there. I wasn’t assigned to write about her, so I shared it here, instead.

(image from repertory-philippines)