Kierwin Larena: Actor, the quintessential leading man

      By JC Nigado

VERY few actors could impression Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson), doing slapstick and contortions, replete with the characteristic silly grin and rolling, bulging eyes, and in a moment, snapping back to a leading man stance. A minute, or two, is all it takes, and voila! Two characters, binary opposites in many ways, are performed at the exhibitionist’s flick of the fingers.

One such actor is senior Stager Kierwin Larena, a comebacking regular taking a leave from his law studies. After several years, Kierwin hits the boards again to play an important role in Vince Tañada’s “Katips: Ang mga Bagong Katipunero.”

Kierwin took a furlough from the PSF a few years ago to finish his degree, BSBA major in operations management, and proceeded to study law in the same school, San Beda College-Manila. However, he returns to roost the PSF stage every now and then, whenever an appropriate role calls for him, such as in “Dilaw at Pula,” during the summer workshop and theater festival in 2014.

Outside the PSF, Kierwin took part in the CCP’s run of Dexter M. Santos’s “Orosman at Zafira.” He crossed over to film and appeared in Bar Boys, directed by Kip Oebanda and featuring Carlo Aquino, Rocco Nacino and Enzo Pineda. He is billed Vance Larena, his screen name, ostensibly to separate his theater identity. (But why is that?)

Kierwin’s PSF credits include his performances as Carter Pryce in “Namaste, Ang Makulay na Buhay ni Grandhi,” Achilles in “Troy Avenue,” Yosef and at the same time alternating for the role of Ninoy Aquino in the multi-awarded “Ako si Ninoy,” Jason in “Cory ng EDSA,” Bimbo in “Joe, A Filipino Rock’sical” and Vincent de Paul in “San Vicente, A Zarzuela.” He was also part of the first three seasons of the PSF’s 4Cs (Four Contemporary One-Act Plays), a side offering during the season.

Kierwin was nominated Best Actor by Aliw Awards, for his performance as San Lorenzo Ruiz in “Enzo… Santo” (2010).

A quintessential leading man, he defines Greg like no other in Katips: his temper is his tempest.

The Voice of Walt Whitman resonates in Kierwin:

There was a child went forth every day;

And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became,

And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,

Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.

 (JC NIGADO)

                                                 Kierwin Larena as Greg