For Lance Reblando, rest isn’t complacency
Lance Reblando has always believed in perfect timing. We have our ups and downs, she says, but more often, we plateau, and it can feel like progress isn’t being made. But as she would find out, those periods, while they may appear idle, can in fact be an unwitting springboard “for greater things ahead.”
For 20 years, she mostly took on—however memorable and essential some of them may have been—supporting roles and ensemble work in theater. But in 2025, she finally earned what she described as a “catapult moment.”
Patience and hard work
On stage, she shattered glass ceilings as the first trans woman to play the leading lady Julia in PETA’s “Walang Aray.” In film, she headlined the Cinemalaya entry “Warla.” And on television, she landed a major role in the iWantTFC original series “Love at First Spike”—completing her multimedia breakthrough.
“Kanya-kanya tayong journey, so just stay focused and be patient. Work hard, but don’t be too hard on yourself and lose yourself in the process. There will be moments that will test you and your authenticity,” she tells Lifestyle Inquirer.
She must admit, however, that this is something she also has to remind herself once in a while. As gratifying and fulfilling juggling three major projects was, it ended up pushing her to her physical, mental, and emotional limits. Still, for some reason, she continued to crave the workload even after she had wrapped it all up.
“Nabubuang ako sa bahay kasi nasanay ’yong katawan ko na dapat at this hour, nasa set ako, shooting scenes. But here I am at home just with my cats!” she shares. “I was like, ‘Bakit wala akong ginagawa? Dapat may ginagawa ako.’ Kasi talagang tinuhog-tuhog ko ang trabaho. Kayod-kalabaw ako.”
Was it a form of burnout? Reblando wasn’t quite sure. But what she did know was that it was anxiety. With therapy—and her partner’s grounding presence—she eventually learned to heed her body’s call.
“You’re not a machine. Na-lo-low batt ka rin,” she says. “At some point, your body will tell you, ‘Girl, huwag ka munang kumilos!’ And when it does, it’s important that you listen, and then appreciate the silence, the calm, and the smaller things you missed out on when you were so busy working.”
Staying on her toes
Chalk it up to hustle culture and that nagging feeling that you can’t afford to be vacant for too long. For the most part, the compulsion is valid, she stresses—after all, the bills aren’t going to pay themselves. Add to that the fact that theater can be a ‘cutthroat, dog-eat-dog world,’ and the sense of urgency only intensifies.
But Reblando realizes that another part of it may have been doubt and unease about the future. For a brief moment after her medical transition, she feared that opportunities would dry up. Thankfully, the industry proved her wrong, and when offers kept coming, she moved to strike while the iron was hot.
“Gano’n ‘yong naging mindset ko… na baka wala nang kasunod. Kaya itinodo ko na hanggang merong trabaho,” she says.
From this experience, she learned an important lesson: Rest won’t kill a career, but complacency just might.
While she has already played lead roles, she knows better than to let it get to her head, or assume that work will simply start landing in her lap. You still have to audition, post song covers—or “mag-delulu ka lang sa bahay, throwing lines”—anything to keep yourself visible and on your toes.
“The moment you say, ‘Alam ko na ‘yan,’ is the moment you stop learning and growing,’” she says. “Hindi batayan ‘yong nakapag-lead ka na para tumigil.”
In fact, Reblando is already set on trying out for the upcoming theater adaptation of “Die Beautiful”—the acclaimed 2016 comedy-drama movie about a trans woman named Trisha (originally played by Paolo Ballesteros), who dies after winning a beauty pageant and receives a glamorous makeover every night of her wake.
The missing puzzle piece
If luck would have it, she believes Trisha could be the missing puzzle piece to complete her journey as an actress.
She first started acting in Dulaang UP at just eight, and has since taken on numerous roles, including children’s parts and gay characters, both out and closeted. She played a magical bird in “Lam-ang”—coincidentally during the early stages of her transition—a drag queen in “Rent,” and a ciswoman in “Walang Aray.”
“I just realized na ‘di ko dinaanan ‘yong role that really says trans woman ‘to,” she says.
But it’s still all good if she doesn’t get the part. One of the gifts of theater, she jokes, is that it makes you thick-skinned. Rejection is par for the course, and, in a way, one of the things that makes us human. “Bitaw-bitaw din! You have to keep moving,” she jests.
At the end of the day, she says, rejections don’t define you. Perhaps someone else fits the role better—plain and simple. This is the mindset she’s adopting for the rest of the year.
“Kapag ‘di mo nakuha ang gusto mo, just reframe and recalibrate. Don’t interpret rejection as, ‘Hindi ako magaling.’ See it as, ‘Di ako ang kailangan nila, and that’s okay,’” Reblando says. “Because, again, I believe there’s always something greater waiting for you.”
