During the heavy downpour, I was hoping that it would last only for 30 minutes. That way, I told myself if the rain stopped at 4:30 p.m., and the sun would come out again, there would still be time left to shoot my outdoor scenes and after dinner, we can shoot my remaining indoor scenes. I could still go home before midnight. However, the rain lasted for 1 hour and 10 minutes. It was already dark at 5:00 p.m. and besides everyone was dripping wet. There was no way that we could still shoot my outdoor scenes which was set to have been taken at 2:45 p.m.

When we arrived at the Munsayac house in Biak na Bato (a big house constructed using antique materials) which served as our sleeping quarters, I saw everybody smiling and in high spirit, some had already taken shower after being wet by the rain, others were having early dinner still wearing wet clothes while others are waiting for their turn to take their shower.

I approached Jean Judith Javier, a theatre actor from Dulaang UP who is playing the role of Asuncion. She had already taken a bath and was smiling. I asked her if she got wet by the heavy rain. Without any sign of regret, she widened her smile and told me that all of them working under Director Ruello were all wet. I then whispered to her that I requested the Production Staff to prioritize my scenes since I did not expect that the rain would disrupt the shooting. I told her that I explained to the Production Staff that I have to be at the office next day because our office will be celebrating out foundation anniversary. Moreover, I was not ready to stay overnight because in the original schedule, all my scenes would have been completed after dinner. I did not bring my medicines and my vitamins. I did not bring extra clothing and other things for an overnight stay.

I was very much impressed with the response that I got from Judith from my litany of complaints, concerns and request to be prioritized. Judith whom I would be acting with for most of my remaining, told me in a very cool manner that for her it does not matter what would be the decision of the Production Staff on which scenes would be prioritized as a result of the heavy rain that disrupted the schedule of the shooting. She elaborated that since we entered into this vocation of acting, we should be ready just like a good soldier to follow what our director would say. The saying, “come hell or high water, the show must go on”, which I would hear every now and then from my peers when I was still a teen-age theatre actor made a flashback in my mental faculty.

I did not expect that I would have my retraining and re-indoctrination from Judith on the discipline of theatre actors, on the real meaning of an actor’s commitment, on an actor’s determination to do everything, to sacrifice if needed, in fulfilling the tasks being assigned as one’s share in the completion of a collective work of art!

Yes! I suddenly realized that I have been adulterated with bad personal values as far as my working habit is concerned for the almost ten years that I worked with “commercial” tv soap operas. I realize that I have acquired habits where the main consideration is one’s comfort and more importantly the talent fee that I would get completely devoid of any sense commitment.

It struck on me that I am no longer my old self in my youth, committed to my art and full of passion to do everything in pursuit of excellence in achieving only the best for my audience.

Yes! I was glad and felt very fortunate to have worked again with real artists with the zeal and passion for their craft. The process that I went through was simply infectious! I was fully re-indoctrinated and I feel that I came out a new self full of the real meaning of commitment to one’s craft.

That evening, nobody seemed to have gone through a heavy rain a few hours earlier and the shooting of the indoor scenes went ahead smoothly. The following morning, our unit under Director Shared started working at 7:00 am. The shooting went on smoothly until we were done with my last scene at 12:15 p.m. Indeed, the rain stopped the shooting of Kolorete but it was not able to put down our collective passion for our craft!

After taking a quick lunch, I immediately drove back to Quezon City and I was able to catch up with the celebration of our office foundation anniversary at 4:00 p.m.

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