How Jonas Sebastian was ‘lured’ into the theater

SEBASTIAN. His productions benefited from his fresh concepts and “tasty” twists on the script.

When acclaimed theater artist Jonas Sebastian passed away recently, we lost an exceptionally imaginative and creative talent. Jonas was known for his versatile portrayals of edgy and troubled characters, radically different from the bland performances turned in by many of his contemporaries.

In our view, however, he was an even more significant and inventive director. We know whereof we speak because we befriended Jonas even before he got involved in theater. Truth to tell, we were among those who “lured” him into the theatrical field.

Way back when, we were very busy as an actor and Jonas was one of the “groupies” who would watch our plays, and sometimes even drive us to rehearsals.

When we were commissioned to script and direct the “inspirational” play, “Dream of A Better World,” we got Jonas to play a small role in it, since he was always around.

And, when we played Fagin in the Ateneo’s production of “Oliver,” our director asked us to look for a character actor to portray little Oliver’s adoptive father. We suggested Jonas—who enjoyed himself so much in the role that he decided to make our theater world his lifelong work and passion, too!

More significantly, when we were rehearsing with Julie Borromeo for her production of “The Fantasticks,” we suggested to Julie to tap Jonas to direct the intimate musical, which was staged at a five-star hotel.

Fresh concepts

Jonas turned out to be not just a proficient director, but a brilliantly creative one, and the production benefited from his fresh concepts and “tasty” twists on the script and score.

After that success, Jonas was on his way up in the theater world, and we continued to cheer him on. Our last collaboration was Shakespeare’s “Othello” at the CCP, where we portrayed the title role and Jonas directed and did the production design. The other principal characters were portrayed by excellent actors like Laurice Guillen, Tommy Abuel and Babsy Paredes-Quirino, eliciting CCP head Lucrecia Kasilag’s enthusiastic support for the production.

The play turned out to be a controversial one, but our relationship with Jonas weathered all storms. Along with Manny Pichel, we forged a friendship that lasted decades, so Jonas’ (and, before him, Manny’s) “exits” have diminished us, and are deeply felt.

However, they were such exceptional friends and colleagues that they live on in our recollection and appreciation—as well as in other like-minded people’s estimation!