What ‘Choosing’ means for Liza and Ice
What ‘Choosing’ means to Liza and Ice
PICTURE 1: Ice Seguerra and Liza Diño-Seguerra in Choosing (A Stage Play) / Courtesy of Fire and Ice LIVE! / Feature art by Abigail Manaluz
In 2007, Ice Seguerra came out publicly as a lesbian. Seven years later, he came out as a transgender man. I was four years old in 2007, then 11 years old in 2014. I had no idea yet about what coming out meant or how important that moment was to Ice and the Filipino queer community, but looking back at that harsher time—of labeling taboos and conservatism—he was so brave to share that piece of himself with the world.
“We have to accept the fact that there are restrictions, and that they shouldn’t stop us from living our truths,” says Ice. “We have to be more courageous.” Despite thinking that coming out then when you’re from the industry was a form of “career suicide” insofar as it resulted in public scrutiny, he chose his happiness and to live his life without any regrets. Now his bravery decades ago continues to inspire others to live their truths in Choosing (A Stage Play).
Ice Seguerra and Liza Diño-Seguerra in Choosing (A Stage Play) / Courtesy of Fire and Ice LIVE!
The play, which is set to have its limited rerun this June, follows Stella and Mitch, a cisgender woman and a transgender man in a relationship, and how their journey is riddled with challenges of acceptance and tons of decision-making. As Liza Diño-Seguerra puts it: “A love story about a couple that is put in a life-changing crossroad that can make or break their relationship.”
“It’s real life, not just ours, but the lives of different couples going through all of these changes and how they try to survive them to still choose to be together,” Ice explains. It’s the story of the before-and-afters of their 12-year relationship as well as of many others from the LGBTQIA+ community; an amalgamation of lived experiences.
People were messaging them, saying they were living vicariously through them, and the two shared how happy they were with the audience’s reaction. “It feels so good to hear: ‘I really resonated with Stella. We had those exact conversations,’” says Liza. “In that moment, the words become theirs.” Some parents even reached out to them in hopes of understanding their queer children, sharing their fears of being misunderstood to the couple. This is why they think such stories are important.
On a personal note, the play was already brewing in their minds. “It was something that Ice and I had already wanted to do, as at the time when everyone was telling us we cannot live our true selves, we chose to love openly,” Liza adds. She gives further context on how their relationship was met with hardships and obstacles, and for Choosing (A Stage Play), they just wanted to share their experience and work with each other for the first time since Ice mounted a play under Dulaang UP to propose to Liza, showing that their love for theater is intrinsic to their relationship.
Aside from being their first project together, Choosing (A Stage Play) was also a first for Ice as it was his non-musical play debut, and a first for Liza as a playwright. “I wasn’t supposed to write the play, but when the time came to rehearse and we still didn’t have a script, I locked myself in my room for three days to write,” says Liza. The two eventually collaborated, with Ice doing the monologues. Liza says they did an exercise where they played their characters and asked each other questions. Every back and forth, it hits closer to home for Liza, and she funnily admits to taking Ice’s answers personally at times, forgetting that they were Stella and Mitch in that moment.
Ice Seguerra and Liza Diño-Seguerra with Director Dr. Anton Juan in Choosing (A Stage Play) / Courtesy of Fire and Ice LIVE!
The collaboration doesn’t stop with the two, as they share the role that Dr. Anton Juan, the director, played in the production. “It’s a big deal that he is our director, as he trusts us enough to give us space to explore our characters and really go deep,” Ice says about Juan, who was also their principal sponsor for their wedding. “It was like a scriptwriting and therapy session all at once,” adds Liza, “[H]e unearthed a lot of our experiences to form something poetic in a narrative form, making it all authentic and grounded.”
Choosing (A Stage Play) is as personal as it gets, and as they put their story out there for the audience to hear, I was curious if there was any struggle behind the process. Ice recalls that the challenge was more on how they would show it was Mitch and Stella’s story, two familiar characters, but still distinct from Ice and Liza. On the other hand, Liza opens up about her anxiety in personifying sexuality through Stella. “A lot of people were asking me, ‘Did that really happen to you?’ and I was struggling to find the place where I could separate myself from Stella but also be her since I’m the actor.”
In the grand scheme of things, the trials they faced in making Choosing (A Stage Play) eventually had their payoff in the discoveries they had about each other. Ice is happy that he got to work with his wife (“An amazing, talented actress and a very good writer; a hard-working bohemian who can do literally anything”). Liza’s work ethic was so inspiring that it “lit a fire under Ice’s behind,” as he describes himself as someone who is very chill, to which Liza makes a disclaimer: “It’s because he’s been working his whole life.”
Ice Seguerra and Liza Diño-Seguerra in the press preview of Choosing (A Stage Play) / Courtesy of Fire and Ice LIVE!
“I don’t think Ice sees how special he is,” says Liza, “as his early involvement with the industry culminates into the person that he is now. He has a lot of saboteurs, and he sometimes takes all his experience for granted. I told him: ‘Love, you grew up working with the best, like it was the norm, while I have to work ten times harder.’ I’m the constant reminder of his greatness.”
There were also some changes that they made to the play, which had its maiden staging in November of last year. “We matured,” Ice says, “and even if only half a year has passed, we like to think that we have a deeper understanding of the text now, where we dissect every line and scene to know its intention.” Maturity further blossoms in the play in portraying intimacy, as the rerun touches on that specific aspect of a relationship more. “Intimacy is very important in a couple—intimacy that you share or you don’t share. I just hope that people see it for its rawness and not something obscene,” Liza adds.
There are also more silent scenes in Choosing (A Stage Play). “The play bravely tackles Stella’s fears not just through words, but also through silences. We wanted the audience to feel the weight of making these very hard choices,” Liza says. And it is in these silences that we get to appreciate the play even more for what it brings to the table; not just another coming out story, but something that commits to telling the truth about what happens after, which is not talked about often in queer media, especially in the Philippines.
“You’re correct, there is a lot of queer works dealing with coming out stories and we all welcome those as there is nothing wrong with them. But with Choosing (A Stage Play), we talk about what happens after the honeymoon phase; when you are faced with real-life decisions that can affect you and your relationship,” Ice says.
“Trans stories are still underrepresented, and I believe that queer love doesn’t end in coming out. We believe that there is space for the whole spectrum,” Liza says, sharing that they’re currently working on an upcoming film called Trans Fatherhood, which deals with a child growing up with queer parents who embrace their identity but still go through a lot of challenges.
What hit me the most during our conversation was Ice saying, “After the honeymoon phase, if you strip all the labels down, we all go through the same thing. Even if the play represents the LGBTQIA+ community, it discusses themes within relationships that anybody can relate to.” That is the magic of queer art to me, that even with all of its nuances specific to the lived experiences of people from the community, everyone, regardless of gender expression and identity, can still relate to them. Intersectionality is inevitable as we realize that being human isn’t a simple common denominator.
Choosing (A Stage Play) is not just another addition to the growing list of queer productions in the Philippines. It breaks the stigma on the challenges that LGBTQIA+ couples go through, embracing all the decisions they make like broken fragments in kintsugi. It’s a very personal retelling of sorts of Ice and Liza’s love story, but it’s also an interpersonal synthesis of the lived experiences of people from the community who are faced with limiting choices from the moment they accept their identities.
Choosing (A Stage Play) runs from June 6 to 15, 2025, at the Doreen Black Box Theater, Areté, Ateneo de Manila University. Ticket prices are as follows: VIP – ₱2,200, Platinum – ₱2,000, Gold – ₱1,800, and Silver – ₱1,500. For ticket purchases and more information, visit ticket2me.ph or contact Fire and Ice LIVE! at 09177003262.
SINEGANG.ph is an official media partner of Choosing (A Stage Play).
