Top actress and teacher has a flair for drama even in dressing
EACH DECADE HAS A fashion style that distinguishes it from other periods.
Take the bomber jacket, its popularity an offshoot of World War II; even women of that time wore it, with aviator shades. Or Dior?s hourglass silhouette in the ?50s, when women needed a reason to forget the deprivations of war and welcome opulence; or Madonna?s like-a-virgin outfits of the ?80s.
But whatever the trend, design categories fall into what you call mind clothes or body clothes. Mind clothes focus on construction details, emphasizing three-dimension patterns. Body clothes focus on showing the shape of a woman, and is, therefore, usually well-formed.
One woman who insists on both mind and body clothes is Ana Abad Santos, a classical actress who studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
Ana fell in love with theater at age nine. In her long career, she has essayed the roles of Juliet in ?Romeo and Juliet,? Beatrice in ?Much Ado About Nothing,? Helena in ?Midsummer Night?s Dream,? and Portia in ?Merchant of Venice,? among other characters she has played for Repertory Philippines.
She has also done plays for Actors Actors, Inc. (for instance, Alice in ?Closer? and Ophelia in ?Hamlet?); Dramatis Personae; UP Playwrights; CCP; and Atlantis. This year she plays Blanche Dubois in ?A Streetcar Named Desire? for Tanghalang Pilipino directed by Floy Quintos. Her inclination to play tragic, tortured souls stems from her desire to interest people in stories that fascinate and are out of the ordinary.
Ana?s love of acting is not confined to theater?she has done both feature length and short films. ?Out of Love,? directed by Flora Lau, was judged Best Film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival 2009, while ?Behind Closed Doors? won Best Screenplay in Cinemalaya ?09.
She?s also into directing (?Hamlet?), and has taught Theater Arts at De La Salle College, Sta. Isabel College of Music, and the advance workshops of Repertory Philippines.
Ana?s philosophy is that theater, like any other art form, involves the spectator. It elicits a response from him and makes him think and question. She feels interaction between people and art, whether it is a painting, sculpture or performance, is vital. This is something she always reminds the new generation of performers.
Dream
It is her dream that theater be made a necessary part of education, and that it gets government support.
In preparing for a role, Ana needs a lot of quiet time to read and reread her script many times over, and each time she picks up a new detail. When she is ready, she immerses herself in the role and completely transforms into the character.
Aware that theater is a jealous mistress, Ana admits to missing family dinners, gatherings and vacations. But she compensates by bringing her nine-year-old son to every play she does. Ana reveals with pride that he can sit through a three-hour Shakespearean play and ask insightful questions afterward!
When it comes to dressing, Ana is not afraid to match a green bomber jacket with pencil skirt, feminizing the ensemble. A vintage-cut jacket over a pleated shift dress allows her to accessorize the look.
For dressier affairs, she opts for printed shift?a fresh change from the usual safe black numbers. A one-sided top worn with jeans crosses casual with chic. Ana is also fond of animal prints.
While her favorite style is a splash of daring, her best accessory yet is her trim, fit figure, owing to her favorite pastime of surfing.
Of all the roles Ana has ever played, or will play, her most favorite one is that of being mother to her son.
