- CHERYL G. CRUZ
Bacolodnon Kyanna Audriz Villaruel broke into the theater scene overseas, with her performance as Kim in Miss Saigon Guam early this month.
An alumna of St. Scholastica’s Academy Bacolod, Kyanna said getting the role was “actually very eventful”.
She recalled that she sent in her audition tapes to the World Theater Productions (WTP) after she saw a Facebook post last February that it was holding auditions for Miss Saigon Guam.
“A few months went by but I heard nothing…I figured, maybe I didn’t make the cut and let it go,” Kyanna told the Negros NOW Daily. “(Then) I randomly got a message from the WTP saying they are in need of more people…Next thing I knew, I was flying out to Guam on a July night.”
Her mom, Margarita, said Kyanna graduated from MINT (Meridian International Business, Arts and Technology) College in Taguig on July 15, and the following day, she flew to Guam to start training for Miss Saigon. “Perfect timing. Pag si Lord na ma plastar, who can stop it?”
Kyanna, the eldest of five siblings, said she was initially invited to be part of the ensemble, or chorus. “But whilst there, they held auditions for understudies, so I thought why not try? At first, I wanted to audition as Gigi, but one of my good friends in the cast, Anya Gutierrez, convinced me to go for Kim because I genuinely wanted to be Kim. So I did my auditions and was fortunately cast as Kim.”
She played Kim in the Sept. 4 staging of Miss Saigon Guam at the University of Guam Calvo Fieldhouse. The WTP performance started Sept. 2.
She said in a Facebook post after the show that she was “very grateful for the experience of playing a role that is filled with such innocence and bravery. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions, having to learn such delicate role with limitations. I may not have had a lot of time with Kim, but she will always have a piece of my heart”.
Kyanna said being on stage is nerve-racking. “But I was always told that fear is good because it means I care. I love being on stage despite the fright,” she explained as she encouraged other stage actors, especially from Bacolod and Negros Occidental, to continue auditioning. “There’s nothing you can lose by trying, so do as much as you can. There will be heartbreaks, but let those heartbreaks push you to do better.”
She said her mom and lola are her role models. “They’re both very hardworking women who showed me that you will claim the dreams you want for yourself by having grit and to keep on striving”.
Mrs. Villaruel said it is truly Kyanna’s passion to do stage plays and perform. “Since she was a little girl, I knew she had a nice voice…she had simple voice lessons and did recitals in malls.”
She represented St. Scho in a Kundiman contest initiated by the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports Cultural Educational Association when she was in grade school, and even sang in Annie and Mamma Mia plays in kindergarten.
Her love for singing was put on the back-burner in high school, when she joined sports, like volleyball and football.
Mrs. Villaruel said that Kyanna’s love for the musical was reignited during a summer school at Repertory Philippines in Makati. “From then on, she stayed in Manila, and took Senior High for Theater at MINT College.”
The Scholastican community and her colleagues in MINTeatro, the official theater organization of the private college, were very supportive of Kyanna’s first overseas performance.
“Congratulations to our Batch 2022 alumni, Kyanna Audriz Villaruel, as she stars as Kim in Miss Saigon Guam!” the MINTeatro posted. “We’re all so proud of you! Break legs, Kyanna!”/CGC
