Gab Pangilinan: Her Stage, Her Stand
Theater artist Gab Pangilinan speaks up about how important it is to use her voice—on stage and in life—to tell stories that matter.
Perhaps you’ve caught her onstage in the hit musical Ang Huling El Bimbo as Joy, or on your screens as Sab in the Viu series Still, a performance that bagged her the Best Female Leading Performance Award for Digital at the 27th Asian Television Awards. Or perhaps you’ve seen her posts online, with her theater, book, and lifestyle recommendations, living her life with her husband, family, and friends, and, throughout the years, speaking up about the state of our nation.
For theater artist Gab Pangilinan, her voice is not only a key element of her passion, her livelihood, and her identity, but is also the conduit for making herself heard when it comes to things that matter to her.
An artist herself, Pangilinan, who hails from the famed showbiz clan, has been vocal about supporting theater and the arts in a post-pandemic world. She’s advocated for women. She’s spoken up on current issues plaguing our country. These dots, it turns out, are all connected and the starting point is really her own personal experience.
As a woman in our society, life can be tough, and in Pangilinan’s case, things are compounded by her choice to be a freelance artist. “I’m so loud about supporting the arts,” she begins, “because as much as I am a theater maker, I am also a theater fan. And as Filipinos, all of us are trying to survive here in this country that we were born in.” Referencing the stories that she has brought to life on the stage, she adds, “It’s so important to be intentional when it comes to the stories that we as artists choose to tell. If I’m not loud enough, I always hope that the work that I do speaks for itself.”
Jerick Sanchez
The work that Pangilinan has done, in her long career that really began when she fell in love with theater as a child, indeed speaks volumes—whether it’s Pingkian: Isang Musikal, about the life and work of Emilio Jacinto, or Quomodo Desolata Es? Isang Dalamhati, an adaptation of Nick Joaquin’s A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, or even the smash hit Ang Huling El Bimbo. Each story that Pangilinan chooses to lend her voice to has been a conscious, intentional choice.
Theater, after all, is for the renegades, and has been known to provoke thought and challenge ideas. “People can say that theater isn’t political all they want, but it really is,” Pangilinan says. “Any story that you decide to tell, if it affects anybody in any certain way, that’s political. That’s why I choose to tell stories like these, because they reflect what is going on in society today.”
Theater, it seems, has honed Pangilinan’s voice in more ways than one. When she is onstage, she gets to sing her heart out, as she walks the shoes of another character in another time and place—which is what she loves to do. But it’s also given her courage. “If anything,” she says, “theater has taught me to be braver. We’re on stage, telling stories of different Filipinos or human beings. That helps me take a stand or voice out my opinions.”
Art direction by Nicole Almero. Beauty direction by Larissa Joson. Makeup by Lala Flores, assisted by Raquel Rocha. Hair by Patty Inojales. Styling by Gee Jocson, assisted by Eru. Photographer’s assistants: Karl Rimando and Dave Orpilla.
