Monique Wilson puts her art and activism to good use

WILSON. More acute understanding of social issues.

We rarely see Monique Wilson these days. So, we braved the rush-hour traffic last weekend to watch her perform with Leo Navarro, Ima Castro and Tanya Manalang, the “other” Kim in the 25th anniversary revival of “Miss Saigon” on the West End stage, in the theater-themed concert, “From East Coast to West End.”

It was a treat to see Leo and Ima perform show tunes from “Man of La Mancha” and “Dreamgirls.” But, aside from Monique, the biggest draw for us was to hear the “home-grown” Tanya perform tunes from the Cameron Macintosh production she’s been performing in since May.  To say the least, her renditions blew us away—but, that’s another article.

For her part, Monique’s rendition of “Send In The Clowns” proved that a singer need not turn a show tune into a show-stopping, “birit” piece to move concertgoers. When she gets too caught up with teaching and her advocacies, we remind Monique that she should spend as much time performing, because there aren’t a lot of actresses out there who are as gifted.

Onstage she was blisteringly powerful as Oleanna, Sally Bowles, Rose Vibier and, most recently, Rachel Corrie, the American peace activist who was run over by a bulldozer during an Israeli military operation in Palestine in 2003.

Cast against type, Monique is even more powerful: Onscreen, her indelible, Urian-winning portrayal of a battered housewife in Chito Roño’s “Laro sa Baga” remains one of Philippine cinema’s most memorable performances.

One Billion Rising

These days, Monique is even busier in her capacity as the Global Director of Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising movement—a position that requires her to shuttle from one country to another.

From the time we last met Monique in London five months ago, she has been on a dizzying tour around the world—New York, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Johannesburg, India, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore—!

The actress’ affiliations with V-Day and Gabriela have deepened her understanding of social issues. She puts her money where her mouth is. Isn’t the economy getting better? She sighs, “That may be true—but, only the middle class is better-off, while 80 percent of families in the lower class still live below the poverty line.

“This is where we can put art and activism to good use. When you’re poor, you’re almost always powerless—but, theater gives you a voice. It makes people’s suffering more bearable.  My work is to help shift the consciousness of the middle class, to improve their awareness about issues involving the poor!

“V-Day understands the issue of violence against women, but not so much economic violence. OBR has deepened that understanding for me. The things that I see in those different places are life-changing. What we believe is different from what we see!”