A PASSIONATE LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE STAGE By Nestor U. Torre Boots Anson Roa is known as a TV and movie star, but the fact is, her life-long love affair has been with the stage. As early as kindergarten, she was already stopping the show with a seven minute one-woman version of Little Red Riding Hood, in which she played all the parts-including the wolf. In High School of Assumption Convent, she did plays in Pilipino and operetta in English. Boots wryly calls that she was forever being cast in male roles because she was among the tallest girl in class - "and among those with the least vital statistics!" In college at UP, Boots was only freshman when she joined Freddie Guerrero's Dramatics Club. She did many plays for Freddie, including his signature Half an our In a Convent, Our Town, The World is an Apple, Suddenly Last Summer, Something Unspoken, and Blood Wedding. In time, Boots became the first woman president of the Dramatics Club. During her term, they toured with the club's celebrated Mobile Theater. They even performed at the Manila Grand Opera House at 10 a.m., before the vaudeville shows. After college, Boots did some reading with the Avellana's Barangay Theater Guild - The Trojan Women and Mary, Queen of Scots. When she caught a rehearsal of The Trojan Women, Behn Cervantes paid "sweet" Boots the supreme compliment: "Wow, Boots, puede ka pa lang maging passionate" Boots was thrilled! Of course, Boots got "sidetracked" into TV and movies after college, and she quickly became famous as a showbiz star. But her romantic "trysts" with the stage continued whenever she got a chance - and the time. Pete & Boots in "Owl and the Pussycat" I directed Pete and Boots in The Owl and the Pussycat, a demanding two-actor comedy in which Boots played, of all things, a hussy! Now, "passionate" is one thing, but the "sainted" Boots Anson Roa coming on like a cheap play-for-play girl is quite another! Still, Boots loved the freshness and zing of it, and dug into the role with a vengeance. It helped, of course, that her leading man was hubby Pete. Practice does make perfect. And, boy, did they practice. Even in the bathroom, they threw lines at each other. They knew that they had to get everything down pat, since acting a two-character full length play is like joining the Olympics of the theater world. Few are called, and even fewer make a good go of it. Next, I cast Boots as Helen Keller's gutsy teacher in Himala, the Filipino translation of The Miracle Worker. Blind and deaf little Helen Keller was played by the adolescent Janice de Belen, and Boots and Janice were great in their combative scenes together. They went at each other hammer and thongs - and proudly sported the bruises they got for their pains. Finally, Boots, Tommy Abuel and I comprised a Filipino delegation that went to the Soviet Union to observe theater there and to perform excerpts of some Filipino plays. The Soviets were bowled over by Boots' beauty and talent, and she was thrilled and moved by the many plays we saw in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. In all of these productions, I saw that Boots was grateful for any opportunity to stretch to her limits as an actress. The movies and TV then may have typecast her as "sweet", but she was more adventurous on stage. Brassy Boots in Brocka Play Like when she did the stage play, Mga Ama Mga Anak for Lino Brocka. She played a brassy socialite, and the character had to smoke, so Boots learned to smoke for the part - no fake smoking would do for Lino! And the character had a foul mouth, so Boots had to cuss a blue streak. Boots Anson Roa - cussing? Such dedication to the demands of characterization! And yet, after all that, Lino still sighet, "Boots, ang hirap-hirap mo talaga painitin!" What has Boots gotten from her love affair with the stage? "Discipline. An awareness of the need for energy. And I enjoy the 'tuhog' of the stage, and the advantage of being able to build up more easily. "The stage has also taught me the need for projection. Before, I thought underacting was the best, I was afraid of overacting" (because my dad Oscar Moreno, was famous during his time in the movies as an exponent of underacting). But my stage directors have taught me that, if you internalized and feel genuine emotions, you won't overact. "I've also learned that, even if you have many lines to say, there's no need to rush. And, if you're playing an angry scene, you shouldn't be 'high' all the time. "Freddie Guerrero advised me that, if my co-star is so high, I should underplay. I've put this into practice even in real-life situations in showbiz. If someone is 'kulang sa pansin', huwag mong sabayan!" Boots as Stage Director Boots had a chance to direct a stage production in 1987 in Washington D.C., for a special commemorative program for the Statue of Liberty. Boots handled a huge class in a pageant that showcased highlights of US and Philippine history. She enjoyed rising to the challenge of that production, but she lost some weight, and is perfectly happy to go back to being "only" an actress-for the meantime. Boots says she was more "liberated" on stage than on the big and small screens because she felt then that the audience for the theater was more mature, and could better distinguish between the actress and the role. Today, however, she feels that the film audience has also matured enough to make this distinction. Before, she was more careful about her image and choice of roles because her children were still young. Now that they're all grown-up, "I feel I have more freedom to choose the roles that really interests and challenge me. I'm less concerned with considerations of image, and what people will say or think." In other words, dear Lino, hindi na mahirap painitin si Boots ngayon - theatrically speaking, of course! The Role Model: Her Life for Others Since she came back, Boots Anson Roa has received nothing but positive press coverage. Small wonder. As a movie star, a media personality and civic leader, she has always been a role model. Despite her hectic schedule, Boots has always found time for civic and community projects. Even more noteworthy, she has also involve her family in such endeavor. Husband Pete, himself a popular media figure remembers hiring a plane for an out-of-town benefit show. "It was the only way we could make it in time for the program, so kids in tow we boarded a light plane and made it on a wing and a prayer, so to speak" The Roas shouldered the cost, too. Fr. Ben Carreon recalls how generously the busy actress reserved her Sundays doing readings when he would celebrate mass for his scholars of "Operation Pag-ibig Foundation. He added: "When I used to celebrate mass at a squatter's place near Don Mariano Marcos Avenue in Quezon City, Boots would be there too, giving unstintingly of herself to the folks, who were always happy to see her." Boots has held several positions in national civic organizations. Among them: commissioner of the Population Commission (PopCom), governor of the Philippine National Red Cross, vice president of the Philippine Rehabilitation Fund, Inc. and PRO of the University of the Philippines Medical Association. With her family, she promoted National Food Authority's "Kilusan ng Wastong Pagkain." Boots was appointed PopCom commissioner in November 1980, shortly before she left for the U.S. Yet she was able to leave an imprint despite such a short stint, tire4lessly taking trips across the country promoting the 'betterment of life' campaign. She also attended the 35th Conference of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, months after her appointment. Later that year, Boots went on a one-month four city trip to the US to observe family planning programs. It was a hectic and fruitful tour, as reported in Crispina Martinez-Belen's Celebrity World column on June 6, 1981. Boots comes back from the US a seasoned civic leader, having joined issue-oriented American organizations as a volunteer and having been exposed to American civic groups' brand of commitment and advocacy. Observes Boots: "In the US, there are many causes such as civil rights, the homeless and the environment and there are many people fighting for these causes," she notes. "They are effective because they are organized, well-informed and single-minded about achieving their objectives. I hope to be able to contribute whatever I learned over there to the worthy causes in the country."