80’s singer brings play on migrants’ isolation, loneliness to PHL

In the Eighties she was a celebrity. She had regular performances at the Cultural Center of the Philippines and a recording contract with Vicor Records.

But when she felt weary of her fame, Becca Godinez — one of the so-called Triple Treat along with fellow crooners Kuh Ledesma and Norma Ledesma — escaped to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for a year before finally settling in the United States.

“When I went to the US, I was looking for anonymity. If I had to go somewhere, I'd remove my lipstick, put on a sweatshirt and I'm free,” said Godinez in a roundtable interview last Friday, June 27.

Despite finding the peace she craved in another country, Godinez admitted that part of her missed the Philippines — and what the country could exclusively offer.

“There's missing bagoong,” she said. “There's that sense that there's a part of me that's one foot in the Philippines and one foot in the US.”

Flipzoids

This feeling of alienation, of trying to make a home in a foreign land, convinced Godinez to return to the theater in 2012 and star in "Flipzoids."

A play originally staged in 1996 by Ralph B. Peña, a founding member and now Artistic Director of the Ma-Yi Theater Company, "Flipzoids" explores how Filipino migrants react to a new culture.

Godinez plays Aying, the ornery 72-year-old Ilocana who followed her nurse daughter to Anaheim, California, in the Eighties, a time when Filipinos are called “F-ing Little Island People” or flips in casual conversation.

Godinez said it was the play's message that convinced her to go back to acting after 30 years of absence. In fact, her belief in its message was so strong that she decided to bring it to the Philippines.

“At this age, the decision to do things now is because it really means something. I don't wanna do it anymore if it's just a popular thing to do. I wanna do it because it fulfills something inside,” she said.

Inspiration

Asked what inspires her to play Aying, Godinez mentioned Peña's excellent writing and her own experiences as a migrant Filipino.

Godinez, who worked corporate for 10 years before returning to acting, said the smallest triggers, like the smell of bagoong, sparked the most vivid memories of the Philippines and made her yearn for the country.

“When I said that line the first time during rehearsals, I wept. The connection of someone who is uprooted from their country, to the connection at home, that was very, very strong for me,” she said.

Godinez, who recently lost her father, said her mother's loneliness made Aying's lack of connection to her surroundings starker. Godinez's experiences as a mother also helped her relate to Aying. Like her character, she had difficulties reconciling her own identity as a full-blooded Filipino and her daughter's American upbringing.

“When I went to America, I went through loneliness, cultural adjustment. Parang, how do you do old world and translate that to America? Because I have a daughter—how do you allow that? How do you allow her to still appreciate the culture that I love? The blood that goes through me is Pinoy," she said.

“My daughter was offish because she couldn't relate. But then I began to teach her our culture. Therein lies the story: some people accept it, some people just don't want to,” she added.

As Aying

And Aying is a prime example of a migrant who steadfastly refuses to assimilate. Like old-timey folks, she casually tells neighbors how their dogs look delicious or mistakes innocent hugs as harassment.

But rather than mock these actions, Godinez said they were merely tongue-in-cheek references to the inherent silliness of certain aspects of Filipino culture. More than that, it is Aying's way of remembering her native country.

“It's not just because she's provincial, it's because something's going on inside her. She keeps telling her daughter, 'Never forget. Always remember.' She's trying to tell her daughter, don't forget who you are, where you came from. Because it's true. We're left with memories when we uproot ourselves,” Godinez said.

While "Flipzoids" has momentarily found its home at the Music Museum for the month of July, Godinez said various groups have asked her for local stagings of the play.

“There was a group that asked me in New Zealand, but here's the surprise—I'm talking to this guy in L.A. and he says, 'How much would it cost to re-mount it in L.A.?' This thing won't die. It just wants to live," said Godinez, who produced the Philippine staging of "Flipzoids".

"Flipzoids" will run at the Music Museum from July 17 to 19. —KBK, GMA News