‘Boba, stupida, pangit’: Dolly de Leon, Lea Salonga reveal ‘traumatic’ experiences in theater

MANILA, Philippines — “Boba, torta, stupida, gaga, tanga, pangit” — these were some of the bad words Dolly de Leon had to swallow like a bitter pill in years leading to her becoming the first Filipino to get a Golden Globe and British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) nomination.

“Coming from growing up in that world, I mean, I've been called boba, torta, stupida, gaga, tanga, pangit when I was growing up,” she reminisced some of her most traumatic experiences as a thespian during a talk recently in Samsung Performing Arts Theater, Circuit Makati for the upcoming play “Request sa Radyo,” where she and Lea Salonga alternate as lone actors.

Being yelled at and called names, unfortunately, were part of their training as actresses, Lea and Dolly admitted.

“I didn't take it too personally because there, it was a kind of a ‘hampas lupa’ sort of approach,” Lea recalled an experience with a Repertory Philippines director. “But then after rehearsals were over, she would be nicer. She would be kind and yeah, I mean, obviously my experience is a little different because I was very young when I was working with Repertory Philippines and I just learned a lot from watching her as an actor as well as a director. And yeah, I heard the yelling, I've heard that yelling so much, but maybe some calluses must have built up at some point because when I got to working in New York like, oh my God, they're not yelling at me. This is nice!”

She, however, clarified that an actor can still get a scolding even in Broadway.

“But the expectation to perform and you still get yelled at, baby, but if you were not performing up to the level that you were expected to, then you'll get yelled at. Sure. I'm not against getting yelled at if you deserve it, but I just get ahead of that.”

According to Lea and Dolly, although they received a lot of yelling and name-calling, they did not take these personally.

“I really think about it as passion rather than… Yeah, and it's not personal. It's yelling to try and get the best out of (you),” said Lea.

Filipino-American Tony winner Clint Ramos, who moderated the talk, said that he experienced worse because not only did he receive shouting and name calls, but were