She has logged fifty years in acting in various roles from theater to film and teleseryes and believe it or not, even ballet (as Giselle’s mother Berthe).
One first saw her in 1989 in the Elsa Coscoluella play, In My Father’s House and indeed she stunned audiences from the Cultural Center of the Philippines to Singapore’s Victoria Theater.
She recalls fondly: “That play I consider my ‘home.’ It is where I was born, where I learned to walk and talk. It is where I learned most of what I know about my craft.”
Grace
For now, Shamaine commutes between rehearsals of the Floy Quintos masterpiece, Grace which will open on June 14 and the regular taping of the Coco Martin teleserye, Ang Batang Quiapo where she plays a matriarch of a marginalized family.
Her focus is on being Mother Cecilia of Jesus, the mother prioress of Lipa Carmelite Sisters who took care of the visionary, Teresita Castillo who was reported to be receiving messages from the Virgin Mary.
“I connected with the role as a mother who takes care of her family in a very protective way. I understood immediately why she opted to turn on herself to protect her loved ones. Her weakness is that she needed to belong to her community and was willing to sacrifice truth for that,” she says.
In previous staging, the members of the cast were able to collaborate on choices and even lines during rehearsals. “It was the best way to breathe life into these beautiful roles. On its third staging, I am just really starting to have fun with how to say Floy’s text because the previous shows were all about committing them to heart. And even this performance will never be definitive because there is always room for discovery. I am still asking questions on faith! Not just Sister Cecilia’s but my own!”
She was lucky to create the original female leading parts in six of Floy Quintos’s plays. “I am just thankful that I spent the pictorial discussing the play with him. It turned out that would be our last deep conversation. He died unexpectedly after our first reading of Grace, and that dictated how this role would be different from previous ones.”
She did her usual research because these were real people they were playing. “But the major driving objective was not to be as close as possible to the personality of the characters, but to the text! I memorized and worked on being faithful to Floy’s written words. We all did.”
She openly admires Quintos as a genius playwright who gave actors not just complex and rich characters but a guide in knowing themselves as Filipinos. “He used Philippine history as his source material. He made me search for my love of our country when we did the Kundiman Party and I essayed his Maestra. He made me appreciate the sacrifices of our heroes in Atang where I played Atang de la Rama. He made me take a closer look at our politics and our culture in Ang Kalungkutan ng Reyna as President Yolanda. He made me understand our spiritual nature in Fake as sister Emily, the seer. And from the first play I did for him, Gironiere, I not only learned about French settlers who built a thriving community in Java-jala, Rizal.”
In that play ( Gironiere ) where she portrayed a crazed wife, she says “I discovered that I can take flight when I step on stage and lose myself in a role. That production was in 1984! I was an undergraduate student in UP. I started acting in schools plays as early as 1975 when I was only 10 years old in Naga City! The Contented Princess in Colegio de Sta Isabel. That’s the play where I also learned that I can cry on demand!”
She looks at her five decades in theater and film feeling blessed: “It is necessary to pursue one’s passion! I am lucky to have crossed paths with geniuses like Floy. I am guided in my choices to have stayed this long in theater even as I raised my family with fellow actor Nonie Buencamino. I am on God’s path. And that is what I always pray for, that I continue to walk towards Him.”
It has also taught her the importance of truthfulness.
“There is no point in saying your lines if you are not working on truth! What are you saying? Why are saying it? To whom are you saying it? Where? When? How? Looks don’t matter. It is truthful acting that resonates all the time.”
Home is Bulacan
Residence is a bucolic town in Guiguinto, Bulacan where the Buencamino couple share the house with four pets — three Belgian Malinois dogs and a senior French Bijon.
The four Buencamino children who are all into the arts are now living separate lives.
The eldest, Sarah Delphine, 34, is an actress, choreographer, yoga teacher, director, movement instructor and mother of six-year-old granddaughter, Haraya, lives at Teachers’ Village with husband, Gerson Abesamis.
Gorio, the eldest son is 31 and lives in Singapore with his wife. He plays the guitar.
Jose, their third child is 28 and is finishing his masters in musical composition in Germany.
Julia, their youngest daughter would have been 25. “It is her tenth death anniversary this year and I am planning to mark it with an exhibit. I am currently working as a regular cast of Batang Quiapo which allows me to paint regularly on MWF days when I am not taping. Working on teleserye parts are more demanding physically because you commute, bear the heat and the late nights. I am thankful that even if I only tape maybe four times a month, I get to rest and create visually on canvas! It makes me excited for the future!”
Shamaine and her actor-husband Nonie, connect beautifully. “He understands my moods and is very sensitive to my needs most probably because he is observant as an actor. As a mother and wife, it is crucial that to me that my partner supports and witnesses my growth. He may not think I will ever be a known painter, but he allows me to buy the classes and materials that I need. He is my official critic when it comes to my acting! I am still on the look-out for a visual arts mentor.”
She uses Julia’s drawings and doodles as an ingredient of her artwork. “In this journey of visual expression, I bring along my granddaughter Haraya. We paint and learn together! We travel together with Lolo Nonie and that is how we dote on her! I have always believed in travel as one of the best ways to bond and learn as a family. We used to go around during holidays but my children are off on their own journeys. I would like to think that we were able to give them enough exposure to the arts which is all that we can do as parents. Now they have to follow the paths to their own joy.”
Outside of the couple’s film and theater commitments, they are artistic advisers for performing arts groups in Bulacan. “We will be staging Floy Quintos’ Atang in November as part of the delayed Singkaban festival. Nonie will direct and I will reprise the role of Atang de la Rama. I completely trust Nonie’s artistic decisions. For another, it will also be another opportunity to breathe life again to Floy’s beautiful lines, the best way to experience his genius!”
(Directed by Dexter M. Santos, Encore Theater’s Grace will have its final run on the following dates: 2:00 PM & 7:00 PM June 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 & 29, 2025 PETA Theater Center Quezon City. To view the SEAT PLAN https://bit.ly/GracePETASeatPlan; To buy online: https://ticket2me.net/GRACE-EncoreTheater; to buy direct : https://bit.ly/GraceShowbuyer)
