From CCP to Juilliard: Pinay stage manager Cristina Sison inspires

MANILA -- Filipinos in the theater scene making a successful career in the Big Apple has always been an inspiring story for many local artists.

New York City-based Cristina Sison has been resident production stage manager at The Juilliard School for 18 years. Julliard’s alumni include the late Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve, Miles Davis, and Richard Rodgers, among others. The living ones that Sison had a chance to work with include Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain.

Sison is also co-founder and advisory board member of the Obie-and Drama Desk-winning Ma-Yi Theater. The 29-year-old theater company is known for developing Asian-American talents and showcasing their works. Among these productions is the award-winning and most toured “The Romance of Magno Rubio,” an adaptation of Carlos Bulosan’s short story by Lonnie Carter.

Other productions for Ma-Yi Theater she’s been part of were “PeregriNasyon (Wandering Nation)” by current CCP artistic director and vice president Chris Millado and “Mother Courage and Her Children,” directed by Tazewell Thompson.

Despite her achievements in the New York scene, humility could well be Sison’s middle name. When we met her at the Cultural Center of the Philippines last year, she was very approachable, simply dressed in jeans and long-sleeve T shirt, nothing as fancy as Carrie Bradshaw tip-toeing the decades-old CCP red carpets on Manolo Blahnik.

Life in Juilliard

At Juilliard, Sison mentors stage managers enrolled in the Professional Apprentice Program. She is also the production stage manager for Juilliard Drama’s main stage senior productions. She clarifies that she’s not like a professor handling classes.

“But as mentor, stage manager-apprentices get their practical, hands-on training from me when they are assigned to my projects as assistant stage managers (ASM). We have eight to nine apprentices who rotate assignments all-year-round between the Drama, Dance and Vocal Arts divisions, so I only work with one or two SMs at a time, per production. Tutok talaga. They get their experience, first hand,” she told ABS-CBN News in an email interview.

To get in, these apprentices must have prior stage management experience or with a degree in Technical Theatre with Concentration in Stage Management and the like. “They must go through an application-interview process before they are hired. Our apprentices must be committed for one year and are compensated accordingly,” she explained.

During the early parts of their careers, now famous Hollywood actors Adam Driver (Kylo Ren in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi”), Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Interstellar”) and American-Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac (“X-Men Apocalypse,” “Annihilation,” also the recent “Star Wars”) studied in Juilliard.

Sison shared that Chastain played the role of The Lady Fancy in Dakin Matthews adaptation of Aphra Behn’s “Sir Patient Fancy” (2003), directed by Brendon Fox. In 2005, Isaac played the title character in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” directed by Rebecca Guy. In 2009, Driver was part of the ensemble in "The Greeks Part III: The Gods”, an adaptation by John Barton and Kenneth Cavander, and directed by Brian Mertes.

Other Juilliard alumni she’s worked with include Alex Sharp (“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”), who won the 2015 Tony Award Best Actor in a Play; and Samira Wiley (‘Poussey’ in Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black” and 2017 Emmy Award Nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”), to name a few.

Avid theater fan

Born and raised in the Philippines, Sison holds a Communication Arts degree from St. Scholastica's College, Manila. Her love for theater started at an early age, when her grandmother would tag her along to watch locally produced plays and musicals.

“As a teenager, I remember watching ‘The Sound of Music’ at the Meralco Theatre with Baby Barredo and a nine-year old Lea Salonga, ‘Himala (The Miracle Worker)' with Janice de Belen at the PhilAm Life Auditorium and ‘Flores Para Los Muertos (A Streetcar Named Desire)’ with Laurice Guillen at Fort Santiago, to name a few,” she recalled.

But what triggered her desire to work in the theater was a closed-door rehearsal of Bulwagang Gantimpala's production of "Ang Kalayaan sa Buhay ni Domingo Kang Tse" at CCP's Tanghalang Huseng Batute starring Spanky Manikan and Chat Silayan that she happened to eavesdrop on from the balcony section in the early 1980s.

“Sabi ko, ‘someday, magtatrabaho din ako dito sa CCP’. And I did.”

After high school, she started attending workshops at CPP, got her training with Gantimpala under Tony Espejo and was able to stage manage quite a few plays directed by Manikan. As part of the Gantimpala SM pool, she also worked with directors Joel Lamangan, Dindo Angeles and Soliman Cruz.

“Dream come true! I was with CCP all throughout college until I left for the States in 1989,” she said.

Gantimpala to Ma-Yi

In the Big Apple, she initially worked as hotel receptionist, eventually rising from the ranks, first was at the Rihga Royal Hotel and later at Essex House Hotel, for a total of nine years. One may think she had become too busy at work to continue her passion for theater but the year she arrived was the same time Ma-Yi was born. As one of its founding members, Sison remembered how it all started from a basement.

“We were a group of Filipino theater artists who used to have our meetings and rehearsals in a Church basement in Manhattan. We were homesick and did not have money but we were full of passion and spirit. But 29 years later and several Obie Awards to our name, we are still here and thriving. So proud of what we have accomplished.”

She was stage manager for most of Ma-Yi's plays from 1989 to 2000, prior to Juilliard. She remains a member of the advisory board and if her schedule with Juilliard allows her, she still does stage management for them.

When Ma-Yi toured "The Romance of Magno Rubio" at the CCP in 2003, she was able to come home after 14 straight years in New York. For almost two decades, “Magno Rubio” has become one of Ma-Yi’s most enduring and toured original productions.

From hobby to full-time job

How she got the prestigious post in Juilliard happened when Filipino actor Orlando Pabotoy, who had just graduated from Juilliard Drama in 1997, landed a leading role with Ma-Yi's “Peregri-Nasyon" ("Wandering Nation"), written and directed by then New-York based Chris Millado. The play was a hit and Pabotoy was given the opportunity to direct Millado’s one-act-play "Intermedyo."

When he was studying in New York City, Millado wrote and directed “Peregri-Nasyon" ("Wandering Nation") for Ma-Yi Theater, of which Sison was a founding member.

“I had the privilege of stage managing both plays—and Orlando being a Juilliard alumnus, we were able to rehearse at Juilliard. As luck would have it, they were in the process of looking for a production stage manager for the Drama division and Orlando convinced me to submit my resume. I said, ‘They're not gonna hire me, this is freakin' Juilliard! But then again, why not?’"

She made it to the interview. “Armed only with my Pinoy spirit and passion and a whole lot of prayers and the rest is history. I was wrong. Juilliard was not 'freaky' after all. It is nurturing, not intimidating. Warm and welcoming.”

Back home again at CCP

After 14 years since “Magno Rubio’s” staging at CCP in 2003, Sison returned to the Philippines last year. With a grant from the Asian Cultural Council in New York, she visited Manila for six weeks, from June 14 to July 24, 2017, and conducted a series of Stage Management Mentoring and Training Workshops at the CCP in time for the 13th Virgin Labfest.

The workshops were part of a specialized three-part training program designed for professional, mid-career and early-career stage managers in the Philippines.

“It was really inspiring. I was truly in awe when I witnessed the yearning and hunger of our stage managers to learn and immerse themselves into the work, and felt proud to witness that renewed sense of pride and passion for the work that they do,” she said.

“I am truly grateful to my colleague and very dear friend Ed Murillo for his generosity and unwavering support. The workshop would not have been as successful (and fun) as it did without his participation,” she added.

Her short visit was refreshing for her, seeing how vibrant the local theater art scene has become. Besides seeing all the plays at Virgin Labfest, she was able to catch the hilarious local staging of “Kinky Boots” and had wanted to watch “Caredivas” and ‘Newsies” but there was no time.

But more important, she was also able to renew ties with old friends and make new ones. “While my visit to the Philippines was primarily for 'business', the time spent reconnecting with old friends, working alongside former colleagues, making new friends and inspiring a whole new breed of stage managers along the way, made it all worthwhile.”

On being an effective stage manager

She believes it’s very possible for Filipinos to make it into the New York theater scene.

“Being that we're a minority in the Broadway capital of the world, it's tough. But very possible. Lea Salonga, Loy Arcenas, Clint Ramos, Jon Jon Briones and a host of other Filipino artists in New York who are out there and quietly holding their own and thriving. It takes talent, perseverance, good timing, and a whole lot of luck and prayers,” she said.

We asked her if she has plans of writing a book on being an effective stage manager or an autobiography that will surely inspire young theater aficionados, she said the thought never even crossed her mind.

“But I do share my story to every incoming apprentice at Juilliard and to any aspiring individual, to hopefully inspire them to be the best that they can be in whatever they do as they begin their journey into the professional world,” she said.

An effective stage manager, Sison said, is one who is extremely organized, disciplined, focused, and thorough. “Underneath that is another layer—work ethic, leadership and humor. It is the art of working with people: Knowing, loving and guiding them.”

“It is knowing when to step forward and when to remain subordinate. It is learning from mistakes and using success to build assurance and confidence. It is about being respectful and responsible to every single member of the company. And as long as it is done at the right time and not mean-spirited, an [effective] stage manager with a good sense of humor is always a joy to have in good times and in bad.

“Most importantly, there must be an internal drive. A desire to be a stage manager. This is the heart and soul of the SM. It is the spirit that makes one want to lead, and stay, during times of adversity and extreme intensity of the job,” she added.

“I believe that dreams do come true. If you want something, go for it. Work hard. Never give up. Stay grounded. Be kind. Be respectful. Keep your integrity intact. The learning never stops. Take pride in whatever you do. Be thankful. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I'd end up living in New York City, much less work at Juilliard!”