Golden’ show celebrated the mature Filipina
Through the years, we have been involved in unusual events and relationships that our colleagues deem significant, and therefore deserving of recollection, by way of photo and text.
For instance, the photograph on this page is of PDI founding chair Eggie Apostol (center, front) and her former high school classmates at Holy Ghost (now Spirit) College, whose golden anniversary show we directed many years ago, upon the request of Eggie, who was our first editor (at Woman and Home magazine), and a major influence in our career—and personal life.
Eggie wanted us to conceptualize a 20-minute “golden-themed” show that would be a key part of her alma mater’s alumni homecoming that year, and of course we readily said yes.
Since Eggie and her classmates were already senior citizens, we stipulated that they should begin rehearsing for the show months before we were supposed to present it—as in, six months earlier?
They agreed to the “realistic” request, and we got our gifted theater colleagues, Raymund Marcaida and Edna Triste, to help with the choreography and music, respectively.
For the lovely ladies and their high school class’ golden anniversary presentation, we conceptualized a medley of songs and dances with images of “gold” in them, ending in a celebration of the golden heart and soul of the mature Filipina.
The ladies were excited about the significance of that theme, and enthusiastically rehearsed the songs and dances assigned to them.
—Trouble was, being “mature” talents, they were prone to having “senior moments”—as in, after a long rehearsal, they reported for the next one “forgetting to remember” most of what they’d learned the week before!
So, each new rehearsal took up hours to “remind” them what they’d forgotten, before being able to tackle new material!
Shared situation
The ladies were properly apologetic for their memory lapses, and we had grown to value them so much that we accepted the “senior” nature of our shared situation, so it really was fine with us.
It was like having more than 20 doting “surrogate” mothers—how could anyone get ticked off by that?
Still, while our affection remained constant, the long process of eliciting “exciting” performances from a cast of, ah, matriarchs, took a toll on our equanimity and health—so, one day, they had to rush us to a hospital near our rehearsal venue, because we were feeling—decidedly dizzy!
Naturally, our “moms” were very worried and a little bit guilty about that, but we assured them that it really was OK with us—and, we forged on!
Well, came the day of the alumni homecoming, and Eggie and her batchmates were thrilled when our 20-minute show was given an overwhelming reception by the audience—and ended up as the evening’s biggest hit!
In fact, some alumni association officials asked us to direct all of the classes of the school’s high school alumnae for their reunion the following year!
It was a big compliment, but we had to pass on the request, because we really didn’t want to make a career out of directing alumni shows—and we did it only for dear Eggie and her classmates—who have remained in our heart of hearts all these years!
