1 Asian Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities 2:2 (2012): <>–<> Acting Lessons from Rolando and Ella Ricardo G. Abad ABSTRACT The author looks back at the thirteen years he spent acting for Teatro Pilipino, once the resident drama company of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and distills five acting lessons learned from the company’s artistic director, Rolando Tinio, and his spouse, the actress and director Ella Luansing. These five lessons are not a list of techniques but a set of principles to be pursued in the course of one’s theater life. Call it, if you will, a credo of performance. KEY WORDS: Acting, Philippine Theater, Rolando Tinio, Ella Luansing, Teatro Pilipino Rolando S. Tinio and his spouse Ella Luansing were the pivotal igures of Teatro Pilipino, a theater company that resided at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and later, from 1975 to 1994,at the Metropolitan Theater. Both had directed almost all of the company’s productions, which were usually western classics in Filipino translation, and set standards for per- formance that theater artists in the Philippines still hold in high esteem. I joined the company in 1981, and learned acting from both Rolando and Ella in the years that followed. I acquired these lessons during sum- mer workshops, but most of them came informally: during rehearsals and shows, or during conversations at the Cultural Center “buffeteria,” in tea houses, or in car rides on the way home. Rolando and Ella taught by word and by example. They made their points with passion and authority. They always had a sense of mission, a quest to leave something worthwhile for Philippine theater. And they con- veyed these lessons that left me and my fellow actors—among whom were Angie Ferro, Ray Ventura, Pen Medina, Dido de la Paz, DivinaCavestany, and Rey Malte Cruz—yearning to do theater for the rest of our lives. I remember from the pair ive lessons of act ing that I now pass on to my students and actors. These acting lessons are simple but deep; they do not assume the presence of talent, but rather the desire to act. They also