Missy Maramara for Vogue Spotlight. Photographed by Kieran Punay for Vogue Spotlight December 2024
In Vogue Spotlight, Missy Maramara talks about acting, teaching, and performing with SPIT Manila.
Perhaps you’ve heard the tune, “Dam-dam, dam-dam, ba-dum,” on TikTok. If you didn’t scroll past, you’d be watching an act by The Silly People’s Improve Theater (SPIT) Manila, one where an actor guesses words based on rhyming couplets improvised by the others. “Is it the bible or dictionary? / You must be resilient and happy,” says a cast member for the word “bibliography.” Another member says, “It’s going to be a catastrophe / If you don’t use your punctuations properly” for “apostrophe.” The audience can’t help but laugh as the actors come up with rhymes. It’s one of the many acts they perform during their shows.
While watching, you might’ve seen the actress with a PhD who recently played Marie Curie. That’s right: her name’s Missy Maramara. Beginning her acting background at an early age, there’s an ease to the way that she carries herself. “I was born and I knew I was meant to be in the theater,” she jokes while filming Vogue Spotlight.
Laughter comes easy when you watch her perform acts with SPIT Manila, and it’s as easy to be drawn into the intensity of her other performances, such as her recent run as Marie Curie in Music Artes’ production of The Half-life of Marie Curie.
Her theater work includes collaborations with Tanghalang Pilipino, New Voice Company, Repertory Philippines, PETA, and Dulaang UP. She has also performed solo shows such as Love Liz and Clytemnestra at the New York United Solo Festival, with Clymnestra touring across Europe and the United States.
“Actress” is just one of the many hats that she wears. Beyond acting, Maramara has established herself as a theater director, acting coach, intimacy director and coordinator, and educator. Currently, she is the president of the Philippine Actors Guild Inc. and a faculty member at Third World Improv.
In Vogue Spotlight, Missy Maramara talks about SPIT Manila, her surprising tarot practice, and her teaching style as a coach and professor. Watch the full video below.
Missy wears an APARA STUDIOS top and skirt, BITAGCOL coat, and stylist’s own shoes.
Photographs by Kieran Punay of KLIQ. Videography by Excel Panlaque of KLIQ. Digital Editor: Jacs Sampayan. Associate fashion editor and styling by Carlos Mangubat. Makeup by Kim Roy Opog. Hair by Arthur Tolentino. Produced by Bianca Zaragoza and Divine Lorenzo. Production Assistant: Bradly Hao. Fashion Associate: Neil de Guzman. Digital Associate Editor: Chelsea Sarabia. Digital Multimedia Artists: Bea Lu and Myc Priestley. Digital Content Writers: Celine Lagundi and Daphne Sagun.
