Cover (Photo: Instagram/@listentojef)
(Photo: Instagram/@listentojef)
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Theatre actor, composer, and teacher Jef Flores shares his passions, creative process and how he balances everything all at once
After making his theatre debut in 2012 with Repertory Philippines, Flores has been making great strides in the industry as one of the biggest names the Philippine stage has ever known in recent history. But he’s not just an actor, he’s also a composer with a passion for video game music and a teacher for Galaw.Co, a performance school that offers classes in music, dance and acting.
But how did all this come to be? All that and more will be answered in this edition of Artist in Focus.
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Flores has been writing songs long before his theatre career. After learning to play the piano and violin at a very young age, he started creating little symphonies, piano ballads and love songs. When he turned nine, his mother took him to watch The Music Man on Broadway and he fell in love with it instantly. Come middle school, he auditioned for his school’s production of Elton John’s Aida and the choirmaster noticed he could sing. At 13 years old, the worlds of theatre and music coincided and the rest is history. “Since I was a teenager, I’ve wanted to write a musical. The first musical I wanted to write was going to be ‘Ninjas and Pirates.’ That was one of the first memes that we thought was really funny. Who would win in a fight? A pirate or a ninja?” shared Flores.
Getting into theatre was all about getting lucky, according to Flores. “I got into theatre on a rumour. I was at a family party, I think it was Christmas, and somebody asked for my resume as a performer… And he said ‘You know I have a friend in Repertory Philippines, maybe you’d fit into their new show, they’re doing Camp Rock the Musical.’ So I auditioned, and I got it.”
But adjusting to life on stage wasn’t as easy as memorising the script. For Flores, he struggled with dancing and knowing where to stand. “I couldn’t dance to save my life. It was really frustrating for me and my choreographers. When a choreographer tries to teach you and you can’t dance, you get frustrated with yourself and then they get frustrated with you. So I wasn’t close to many choreographers. Because when I get mad, the director gets mad at me and everybody thinks I’m a jerk. So that was my biggest problem in my first year. Developing memory for blocking was also difficult—like where to stand and why—was [to me], a weird skill. Even today I still forget where to stand and sometimes Robbie [Guevara] thinks I’m trying something new and explorative when the truth is I just don’t know where I’m supposed to be. ‘Task failed successfully’ is exactly it!” Flores shared.
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As an actor, composer and teacher, Flores often has plenty on his plate. How does he balance this? Simple. “I don’t.” Flores quips. When he acts, he drops everything to focus on the show. He’s not the type to juggle projects and always hyper-fixates on the most important thing he has going on. Flores prefers to perfect what he’s doing, always looking for questions to ask himself whether it’s about a particular character, a song that he’s writing or a batch of students he’s trying to teach. “When I act I act, when I teach I teach, and when I compose I compose… When I took Tick, Tick… Boom! they [Galaw.Co] knew they weren’t going to see me for a while. I even removed it from my Instagram bio. I usually have Galaw.Co on my bio, but then I said ‘We’re not Galaw.Co this month. We’re Jon this month.” said Flores.
When he’s not creating new and original musicals or acting on stage, Flores likes to spend his days playing video games. In the past, he used to play a lot of League of Legends with Reb Atadero and most recently, he’s sunk in more than 20 hours into an indie game called Dave the Diver in just two days.
Drawing inspiration from video games, Flores integrates iconic musical scores like Final Fantasy VII and the Legend of Zelda soundtracks into his compositions. “My music is heavily influenced by games. All the Square Enix games like Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have great soundtracks… I was introduced to the Breath of the Wild soundtrack and I haven’t played it, but it’s such a great soundtrack. I had a field day there.” said Flores. Though he’s found great success in his career as a theatre actor and composer, his ultimate dream is to write music for video games.
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About
Gabriel found his passion for writing through poetry in high school. He sharpened his skills at Ateneo de Manila University and hopes to write a play worthy of Broadway one day. A self-proclaimed geek, he loves to spend his free time playing video games and board games. When he's not clicking heads on Valorant or roleplaying as a barbarian in Dungeons and Dragons, you can find him exploring art galleries or watching stage plays.
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A creative writer who writes about anything and everything, Gabriel loves to dive deep into the arts and culture scene—as well as going on long road trips for travel pieces.
You can reach him on Instagram at @gbohol for any leads, casual conversations or game invites.
