November 29, 2023
Abigail Monteagudo: Story Through Song
STORY BY Sasha Roter / edited by Emily Trage
Abigail Monteagudo (‘24) is a singer and actor from the Philippines. She is passionate about the arts and won her high school’s singing competition Star Search in 2019. After graduating college magna cum laude with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies of Language and Literature, she set out to the U.S. to obtain a second degree. Monteagudo is currently pursuing a B.A. in musical theater at Ithaca College, and channels her love of storytelling into her performances on stage. She most recently appeared in the new play Incubator, and hopes to one day perform in productions on Broadway.
Sasha Roter sat down with Abigail Monteagudo to discuss her background, inspirations, and ultimate hope for her career in theater.
SR: To begin, tell me a little bit about yourself. Where you grew up, about your family, anything that shapes your identity today.
AM: I’m 24 years old and I grew up in the Philippines. I lived in Davao City, where I was born, for some time as a baby, and then we moved to Manila and that’s where most of my childhood was spent. Then we moved back to Davao City during the ninth grade, so it was a lot of back and forth. Really, I grew up in two cities. When people ask me, “Where’s your hometown?” I just say the Philippines because Davao City is where I was born, but I think of Manila as my hometown too because I spent most of my childhood there.
SR: You mentioned the transition back to Davao City happening during high school. Could you talk to me a little bit about your education and interests? I know that being a musical theater performance major was your second career path, so how was that process of realizing what you wanted to be?
AM: I think my awakening was when we visited New York City in 2014, when I was 14 years old. And then we went to watch Mamma Mia on Broadway, and that was really fun. I think that was really the moment when I knew that — if it’s possible to have a career in that — that’s what I wanted to do. I had already been singing — I’d had voice lessons at that time — and that was my turning point. And then I started pursuing more voice lessons in high school when I was back in Davao City before we moved.
SR: Interesting. And originally, that didn’t propel you into musical theater?
AM: No, because I was already involved with music. As a child, parents want you to perform and everything, and I took voice and piano lessons when I was really young. So it was on and off, and I stopped at some point. And then I think my passion for music came back when I was in high school with this trip.
SR: Definitely. And, seeing that you’ve been in lessons since you were very little, I wonder whether your family was also musical? Why did your parents put you in these lessons early on?
AM: Coming from an Asian family, most of my relatives were pursuing medicine-related careers, like being a nurse or a doctor, on both sides. So it was kind of weird for my family to be musically or artistically inclined. But I think because they saw my talent when I was younger, that’s why they made me take voice and piano lessons. Also, the church was influential for me because I was in the choir both in Manila and Davao City, and consistently reading music sheets and learning parts.
SR: It seems you had all of this amazing musical talent when you were younger, and still do now of course. What steered you away from music originally?
AM: Performing arts is not something that is encouraged for us because it doesn’t pay well. I was in a Christian Chinese school and it was — I don't know if conservative is the right word, but theater was not something that they would encourage. Most people were in STEM, or business, or accounting. And the track that I took was humanities and social sciences, so that’s where my love for writing came to be, because there was no track for performing arts. There were not a lot of people who wanted to go that way, so it was not in the cards for me in high school.
Then in college, it was kind of tough to take. I wanted to pursue a B.F.A. in acting or in theater and I wanted to live in Manila for that, because there’s no college in Davao City that offers theater. But it’s a small town and very far, so it was hard because I was also eighteen. And that’s a big thing for Asian families — when you’re eighteen, you’re still young, so they view you as naive, or with the idea that “you're not old enough to do that.”
And for my family, religion is also a big thing, and influenced their idea of what a career in theater is all about because there’s no boundaries. You could kiss someone or you could be any character and that's a big “no” because in our religion — my family’s old-fashioned Baptist — it’s very restricting. You have to wear a certain dress, you have all sorts of requirements, but I grew out of that eventually. That's one of the reasons why I couldn't pursue that career at that moment, so I took language and literature for my college.
SR: And how did you learn — because you had so many singing lessons and piano lessons growing up — that you wanted to be an actor as well, rather than just a singer or musician? How did the acting pursuit come into that?
AM: I consider myself a singer first, then an actor. It’s singing, acting, then dancing — that’s where I am right now. I did one show when I was a senior in high school: The Sound of Music. And that was one of the things that made me realize that this is something I want to do — not just singing, but to also act. Because I’m also very fascinated by actors. When I’m watching a film or a show, I’m fascinated by how they do it. In my previous college, I was also a part of the Ateneo Repertory Company, which is a performing arts club. We did perform mostly singing acts, but we also had acting workshops, which encouraged my love for acting.
SR: That’s super cool. And on the topic of acting, how is that process for you? When you first get a script and you’re assigned a character, what is the process like to connect with the character? Do you try to put yourself in your performance, do you completely detach? What does that look like for you?
AM: I’m still figuring out what the best method is for me. For the process, of course, reading the script is the first thing that you have to do. And then because there’s a short description in the script, you can kind of know what your character wants just by analyzing what they say or what they do. In my acting class, what we’ve been doing is going through each line and figuring out a tactic or method of how to deliver that line, like “What is the meaning behind this line? Why is she saying this? Why?” Knowing why they’re saying it is important, so that you know how to say or perform it. And we’re also learning the Meisner technique, which is something I’m really fascinated by because it’s about taking in what your scene partner does in that moment, so it’s more spontaneous. So besides learning the scene and the context, like learning who your character is, it’s more of what your scene objective is like and finding out what your character wants at that moment.
What I’m learning and working on right now is being spontaneous, and at the same time being present with my scene partner, which is important so that the performance is authentic. Because it’s staged, you know — the script is staged, the actions are staged — but your reaction depends on what your scene partner will bring you.
SR: Absolutely — it seems you take a lot of inspiration from body cues and energy.
AM: Definitely, you take in what your scene partner is giving.
SR: How does it feel to be on stage? What are your thoughts going into a performance?
AM: Performing on stage is always a thrill for me — it’s always just so fun to do. But it can be really nerve-wracking as well. For the new play Incubator, I was nervous that I would do something wrong. But then when I get on stage, it’s just — it's hard to describe it. You're just free. And it’s liberating. When I’m on stage, it’s just like, “Okay, I'm in character now and I don't have to worry about anything.” It just kind of flows.
SR: Definitely. So you almost become the character in a sense — you’re no longer weighed down with those worries.
AM: Yeah. Again, with the Meisner technique, you just take in what’s happening or what your scene partner gives you. And you take in impulse and stimulus. What they say in acting class is that you don’t do something unless you have an impulse to do it. Unless there’s a stimulus to do it — for example, if you have this urge to shout because you think that character would shout — if you don’t feel that impulse, it’s going to sound inauthentic.
SR: While on the topic of character, you mentioned that you were in the play Incubator, where I know you played a queer character. How did you overcome the barrier of playing a character that you didn’t share the same identity with? What was the process like becoming her?
AM: At first when I was given the script, I was like “Oh my God, am I the right person to play this person?” Because on the internet, people have had conversations surrounding “This actor is not gay, why is he playing a gay character?” So I was thinking, “Am I actually the right person to play this?” But at the same time, I was in the mindset of “You know what, I’m just gonna give this character a shot.” There are aspects of me in this character that I relate to and characteristics that we share, and that’s where I started. “Like, okay, she tries to look cool and she’s very outspoken, and she just loves to be herself,” and I think that’s how I viewed Renee [the character].
I was actually very nervous because I didn’t know how people were going to perceive it, and whether they were actually going to see me as a gay character. But I think I just saw it as a challenge for me to test my acting abilities. It’s not about how I could play the character, it’s about how I could put myself into this character.
SR: Definitely. I know with underrepresented communities, there’s a lot of pressure to perform and present their characters as well as you can for the audience members who do identify with their experiences. And so I think it’s really admirable that you put so much work and thought into it, and really tried to be authentic within that role.
I want to backtrack a little bit to your journey deciding to pursue musical theater. Last we ended was in the Philippines with you in college. What was the decision process like for you to come to Ithaca and pursue this degree?
AM: Well, when I graduated, I originally wanted to give myself a year off to just figure out what I wanted to do. I didn’t think of pursuing musical theater in the beginning, so it was a “maybe later in life” idea — also, because I was super burnt out from college. So when I graduated, I was just like “You know what, I’m just going to enjoy my life right now and celebrate my achievement.”
And what happened was that at some point, I thought “You know what, what if I go back and study musical theater? What would that mean? Where would I be?” I had all of this time for myself to start thinking about my future. And so eventually, I ended up deciding to pursue musical theater.
That was mainly the process, just giving myself time. And I eventually determined that I would give it a shot. I was also kind of scared because I was in the mindset of “I'm about to be twenty-four and I’m going to be twenty-eight when I graduate — is this the right path for me?" But I think the Bachelors is the right fit because I really don’t have that much background or experience with acting and performing on stage, so I decided to pursue that. I had to persuade my parents to support me for this because, like I told you, my parents are kind of religious and didn’t initially want me to pursue this career. But eventually, I think because I spent most of my college life — aside from studying — doing a lot of extracurriculars that involved performing, they realized that “Okay, this is actually something she is very passionate about.” It took a lot of persuasion, but they eventually gave me the go signal.
SR: That’s a really cool journey, and just reinforces the idea that it’s never too late to do what you love. Where do you hope musical theater will take you? And what would you say is your ultimate goal after your degree?
AM: Yes, it’s never too late! I would love to go to Broadway — that’s the ultimate goal for me. Either Broadway or West End, because they’re both big, big productions. But at the same time, having experience on Broadway, if you’ve worked on a lot of productions, means that when you’re older, you’re going to have so much experience that you can be a teacher. The professors here have so much background in theater, and I think that’s really interesting. That’s not something that’s an ultimate goal, but it’s something that I could think about for the future if I’m not working on stage anymore.
But Broadway is definitely the ultimate goal for me, and just any place where I can do what I love and get paid for it. I love performing. I love entertaining, and I love bringing a smile to people’s faces. I think it’s also because I love stories. I'm passionate about writing, and so I’m very passionate about telling a story too. That’s kind of what the theater is all about: telling the story. But it’s movement. It’s performance. It’s not something that you read. You get to see the story unfold before your eyes, and that’s something that I really love doing.