{"id":25707,"date":"2017-07-01T15:58:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T07:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/?p=25707"},"modified":"2021-04-07T18:05:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T10:05:17","slug":"art-as-activism-with-bibeth-orteza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/art-as-activism-with-bibeth-orteza\/","title":{"rendered":"Art as Activism with Bibeth Orteza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bibeth Orteza is no stranger to the stage. In fact, it\u2019s where she got her start in the arts, over four decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a founding member of the repertory theatre company of the University of the Philippines,\u201d recalls Bibeth as we settle down for a chat in the green room of the Victoria Theatre. She later became the chairwoman of the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t all fun and games, however, to be an artist in her home country at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Philippines was still under martial law then,\u201d she explains. \u201cOur members were getting arrested left and right, and we developed a system where, if someone was detained, someone else could step in and do the work on short notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That must have been a harrowing experience. But, as Bibeth puts it, \u201cWhen you\u2019re young, you\u2019re not afraid!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One gets the sense that she\u2019s still<\/em> not afraid, even now that she\u2019s older and married with two grown children of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce an activist, always an activist!\u201d she declares, while noting that she\u2019s been involved in her fair share of \u201cscrapes\u201d. She\u2019s even been arrested once, although her case was never brought to court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s evident that Bibeth firmly believes that art is activism \u2013 that the work she does matters because it makes people think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou need to say something in whatever you do,\u201d she observes. \u201cThat must always be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Neanderthal man\u2019s very first charcoal drawings in caves, she points out, must have made people reflect on their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it is with Bibeth\u2019s work on stage and screen. \u201cWe do the kind of work that could make someone in the audience \u2013 even if it\u2019s just one person in 20 \u2013 have an epiphany and ask themselves questions like: \u2018Am I really in the right place? Am I where I\u2019m supposed to be?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Get In Line!<\/em>
Bibeth running lines backstage with (L-R) director Pam Oei,
stage manager Charlene Poh and co-star Shane Mardjuki<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a period of time, Bibeth\u2019s activism extended to her working relationship with Singapore. As with many activists in the Philippines, Bibeth and her husband Carlos Siguion-Reyna (himself an artist and a film-maker) had been furious about the execution of domestic worker Flor Contemplacion in 1995 for murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe swore never to have anything to do with Singapore,\u201d she confesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, tempers cooled, and Bibeth has since come to view Singapore almost as a second home. She became a frequent visitor to the Lion City when her husband was offered a teaching position at Singapore\u2019s NYU Tisch School of the Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen my husband was in class, I\u2019d be walking around,\u201d she reminisces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how her love affair with curry leaves began. She remembers detecting the fragrance of curry in the air on a stroll past the market opposite Tiong Bahru Plaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, she still cooks with curry leaves, even growing her own in her garden at home. \u201cIt\u2019s heavenly<\/em>,\u201d she enthuses. \u201cI make a really good curry-leaf omelette \u2013 you don\u2019t have to use as much salt because the flavour comes from the curry leaves!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s thrilled, therefore, to have her own opportunity to live and work in Singapore for an extended period of time because of Boeing Boeing<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one thing, it means she can partake in another of her culinary indulgences. \u201cMy guilty pleasure here is durian ice cream,\u201d she confesses with a laugh. \u201cI get to indulge now, because my husband won\u2019t be joining me until the last weekend of the show. He always says that bringing durians into our house is grounds for separation!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s also glad to have the chance to \u201csay goodbye to Orchard Road\u201d, the ultimate destination for the average Filippino traveller. Over the past few weeks, she\u2019s had the opportunity to discover more areas of Singapore for herself, from Tai Seng (where rehearsals for Boeing Boeing<\/em> took place) to Chinatown and Little India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, she admits that she was initially apprehensive about the prospect of moving to Singapore for a few months. \u201cI\u2019m rather spoiled at home,\u201d she reveals. \u201cWhen I got the job offer, I asked myself, \u2018Do I need to do this? Do I need to be away from my home and my house?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, however, she chose the adventure of relocating to another country instead of sticking with the comforts of home. \u201cI\u2019m 63, and I\u2019ve survived cancer,\u201d she says proudly. \u201cThis is something I really want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience has allowed her to return to her roots as an actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the Philippines, I have a certain kind of status,\u201d she says with disarming frankness. \u201cSo, when I\u2019m under stress meeting other deadlines, I can pull rank and say, \u2018I\u2019m coming in an hour late\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not something she permits herself to do in Singapore. \u201cThere\u2019s none of that here,\u201d she continues. \u201cI\u2019m really putting my foot forward as a professional, and I really like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, she\u2019s thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with the company of Boeing Boeing<\/em> and her director, Pam Oei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy sister was here for two weeks to help me settle down,\u201d she confides. \u201cI thought I was going to be really sad by the time she left!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happily, that hasn\u2019t been the case at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis entire experience has been really great,\u201d she says with a huge smile. \u201cI love working with Pam \u2013 she\u2019s so sensitive, as a director, and her mind works so fast. And my fellow actors have been taking very good care of me. I feel so welcome here!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A stage and screen veteran in her native Philippines, Bibeth Orteza is wowing audiences in Boeing Boeing! She chats with us about art, activism and the joys of living, working and eating in Singapore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[228,227,217],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glutenfreepleasure.com\/__proxy_domain\/www.wildrice.com.sg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}