Asian Journal- The Filipino-American Community Newspaper

A 1500-SEATER theater, bigger than the playhouses on Broadway, was sold out these past two weekends for the off-off-off Broadway production of Miss Saigon in Red Bank, New Jersey. An affluent suburban town 1.5 hours away from Manhattan, local theater lovers, as well as out-of-towners (New Yorkers) took the train and trekked to the magnificent Count Basie Theater to support the main cast which included their friends and family, most especially 25-year-old Lora Nicolas, who plays Kim.

Once thinking that the role was just an impossible idea, Lora recounts her experience from dreaming to becoming, as she says, "I knew at a very early age that performing onstage as a singer/actor was something that I wanted to do. When I was five years old, I idolized Lea Salonga and imitated what little I saw of her from the news in the Philippines—singing my own unintelligible version of Last Night of the World. I had no idea what the show was about, all I knew was that I wanted to be like her."

Growing up, Lora has always been involved in church or school productions—singing, acting, dancing for as long as she can remember. But she thought it was nothing more than a hobby. Lora graduated with a degree in Communication Arts from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and was set to have a career in advertising.

"But as fate would have it, upon graduating, my Aunt Loida invited me to New York for a month- long vacation in 2005, which turned into a much longer stay," she recalls. "I met Carissa Villacorta, who encouraged, enabled and introduced me to the Filipino theater community (Liz Casasola and Victor Lirio of Diverse City Theater), and through them I realized that my dream was not as far-fetched as I thought it was. It opened me up to the idea that yes, you could go for what you really want and actually make a living doing it. This whole experience inspired me to audition for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) to obtain conservatory training."

Shortly after graduating from AMDA in 2008, Lora became a part of a national tour for a stage adaptation of James and the Giant Peach (Two Beans Prods.), originating the role of Spider. She was later cast in The King and I, where she continued to be a paid, working actress in Wytheville, VA.

"And now, I’m doing Miss Saigon! I can’t even really begin to explain what this show means to me. Kim is the role I have been waiting to play all my life—the role that has driven me to take a leap and switch continents!Everything about the show is timeless to me. The music still gives me goosebumps whenever I listen to it.When Miss Saigon was in Manila, my cousin and I became so obsessed with it that every after school/church, we would sing our little hearts out with the music blaring from his bedroom. We would often stage ‘Thuy’s Death’ complete with a toy gun. I couldn’t help but think about those days the first time I did that scene in rehearsal.It really is a dream come true—what used to be ‘just pretend’ is now a reality."