HEREE is happy to be Bayani Agbayani's leading lady in the RPN-9 sitcom, “Kemis (Ke Misis Umaasa)”. “I'm supposed to be launched na by Viva sa ‘Scorpio Nights' 3' pero hindi natuloy,” she says. “Nagkaproblema raw so I said, ayaw yata ni Lord na paghubarin ako nang todo kasi I really want to be known more as a singer.”

What happened to her album with E-Real Records? “After it was launched, nag-away-away ‘yung Fil-ams na nagpapatakbo ng company so walang nangyari. Sayang nga. Hindi man lang na-promote nang husto. But I'm now producing my own album and I'm looking for the right label to launch it. Basta hands on ako sa production.”

Before, she wouldn't admit if she went steady with Onemig Bondoc. “Kasi ayaw niyang aminin namin sa public. Pero mahigit one year din kami.”

Why did they break up? “Maraming ibang nagti-text sa kanya so I got jealous. Hindi mo naman masisisi kasi guwapo kaya mga babae ang humahabol. As of now, rest muna ako sa boys.”

Is it true Onemig is getting married soon? “I heard about it, too. And my friends tell me ‘yung babaing mapapangasawa niya, kamukha ko raw. I wish them the best kung totoo.”

In “Kemis,” she plays Armi, Bayani's neighbor. “Kumare niya ko rito at dahil alam kong OFW sa ibang bansa ang misis niya, sine-seduce ko siya. It's a funny show directed by Ding Bolaños.” “Kemis” starts airing this Monday at 8:30 p.m. on RPN-9.

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GMA ARTIST CENTRE FINE TUNES TALENTS

YDA Henares of GMA Artist Centre is very serious about developing their talents so she coordinated with Nanding Josef of the Cultural Center to train their stars in acting.

Fifteen stars had a rigid training with Nanding since October and for their graduation, they did a theatre presentation at the GMA Artist Centre Workshop last Monday.

GMA's Jenny Donato invited us to watch it and we're impressed with the way some of their stars acted so persuasively on stage.

The best for us are the Roco brothers, Felix and Dominic, who did Tony Perez's acclaimed one-act play about half-brothers who meet each other for the first time, the day after their father died. Bembol Roco will be proud of his sons who did their dramatic scenes so well, especially Felix. But the boys have to be taught to be more relaxed with the press as they seem so shy or guarded in the dinner GMA-7 hosted after the play.

Next is Mike Tan, who did Emily Mann's “Still Life,” about a soldier who killed children in Vietnam and now feels so guilty about it.

Mike shared the same piece with Chuck Allie, who came on stage with so many props, including a gun. But honestly, we prefer Mike's performance. You can really feel the anguish the man is going through.

As for Chuck, he lacks the much-needed angst in portraying the same role.

Dion Ignacio and Gian Carlos played streetkids planning to escape from the syndicate that torments them in “Gamo-Gamo sa East Avenue” by Rolando de la Cruz. Dion has great stage presence but he has to be more careful in delivering lines. But both of them did their crying scene well.

LJ Reyes and Jackie Rice also tackled the same material, “Babaeng Itawis” by Chris Millado, about a young mountain maiden whose father was killed by 21 soldiers who then raped her.

LJ gives a more touching performance but her voice has this tendency to trail off as she ends her lines, making the words unintelligible. Jackie has better voice projection but she rushes the delivery of her lines and doesn't fully register the grief and rage that the character experiences.

Also impressive is Valerie Concepion as a young social worker who identifies with the people in the squatter community where she volunteers in “Juan Tamban” by Malou Jacob.

Valerie shows unusual depth in tackling the role especially in her confrontation scene with her boyfriend, CJ Muere, who cannot understand why she sympathizes so much with the poor.

A disappointment is Ryza Cenon in “Agnes of God.” The material is very challenging about a nun who gets pregnant but Ryza does not seem to totally comprehend the gravity of the material. She should have been given a less demanding role.

Mark Herras, Rainier Castillo and Iwa Moto acted as anchors who introduce the plays through dramatic readings of Biblical passages. Rainier does so well reading Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd, but Iwa buckled a lot while reading St. Paul's famous letter about love. Mark also did fine reading passages from the book of Job.

We don't want to comment on Marky Cielo as his performance was presented on video. All we can say is that he has the makings of a good character actor in his piece on Macli-ing Dulag. It'll be unfair to those who performed live. But we do commend Yda and Jenny for their efforts to continually hone and finetune the skills of their talents.

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