THE “MOTHER” of the country’s oldest theater group, Repertory Philippines, Zenaida “Bibot” Amador left behind a legacy of theater excellence and a “brood” of world-class stage artists when she died of lung cancer last Nov. 28.
Amador formed Repertory Philippines Foundation Inc. as president and artistic director in 1967, training theater hopefuls including Lea Salonga and Monique Wilson of Miss Saigon fame.
“To me she was a fantastic teacher because she never took any excuses. She always said, ‘I hate the words pwede na because that means mediocrity. And if you’re (going to) be mediocre, you have no place in theater’,” Wilson told Businessworld.
Born on Feb. 7, 1933, Amador was involved in over 350 theater productions. She had directed about 200 plays and played important roles as Mother Courage in Mother Courage, Berthe in Pippin, and Berenice Sadie Bracma in Member of the Wedding.
Amador, one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service honorees in 1977, finished her Litt. B degree in the University in 1953, before taking a post-graduate course in Drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.
Aside from her work with Repertory, Amador was also a member of the Film Ratings Board of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines and of the Cinema Evaluation Board. She was also a columnist for the Manila Bulletin.
Amador also taught Drama and Literature at St. Joseph’s College in Quezon City, and Literature and Literary Criticism at the University of South Dakota.
Amador was also the Aliw Awards’ Best Stage Director from 1981 to 1983. Lady Camille L. de Guia, with reports from Businessworld
This is a nicely written article about a great lady. But the writer did a great disservice by not double-checking the correct spelling of said lady’s name: ZENEIDA AMADOR.
Is it too late to do something about this?