Maya Encila: Actress, a major discovery
By JC Nigado
AT 16, Maya Encila is a breath of fresh air
in theater. A major find by any standard, this Filipino-American from Arizona,
USA is more Filipino than many natives, both in upbringing and attitude.
She
was barely 15 when she breezed into the PSF, alternating as Rosalie Gadayan,
wife of NAIA’s celebrated janitor Ronald, in last year’s “#popepular: Pa’no
Kung Pinoy si Kiko?”
Reared
in Tucson, Arizona by artist-parents, Maya was exposed to many musicals at a very
young age, through their family-owned theater company in the Southwestern
American community, with the Grand Canyon as backdrop.
Some
of her previous performances include TiMoune in “Once on this Island,” Fantine
in “Les Miserables” and Chava in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Also in the U.S., Maya
participated in Ben Vereen’s National High School Musical Theater Awards, where
she finished as the regional finalist.
She
had eight years of ballet, jazz and choir training, and it shows in her thoughtfully
composed and captivating performance as Lara, the balikbayan female lead in
“Katips: Ang mga Bagong Katipunero.”
The role and her
songs in Katips are tailor-made for a lark like her, one can’t imagine any
other performing or singing them onstage.
She enrolled in St.
Scholastica's College to continue her studies here, but theater enticed her to
follow a dream, so she had to shift schooling online.
A voracious reader,
she sets her eyes on any books and magazines, which is matched by her admirable
discipline and work ethic.
Stark and striking,
this is one eye candy that doesn’t melt and has no mean streak in her bone.
Under any pressure, sanguine, sweet or sour, she indeed soars.
Centuries ago,
George Gordon or Lord Byron, the Romantic, perchance presaged Maya when he
wrote:
Maya Encila as Lara
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:...
(JC NIGADO)
Maya Encila as Lara
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