Friends in Need

By Katrina A. Holigores
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Last updated 20:19:00 02/15/2008

MANILA, Philippines—All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players’ penned noteworthy playwright William Shakespeare. In theater, it is easy to say that everything is staged, from start to finish be it a happy or a tragic ending. Behind the scenes though, less predictable and planned situations take place, and in many cases, less ideal-especially when it comes to the funding and support of theatrical productions. Repertory Philippines has been in existence for the last 40 years and it has been a breeding ground for locally and internationally recognized talents such as Lea Salonga and Monique Wilson. In spite of all this it has counted on support from its “friends” in order for it to keep going season after season.

The Past

Friends of Repertory (F.O.R) was originally formed in 1988, by Margaret Go and later formalized with its own officers and members by the late Paz Yuchengco. Friends of Repertory’s main mission was to support the theater and its productions. The end goal was to keep ticket sales up while keeping prices low. Activities revolved around fundraising, sales of season tickets, wrap parties for cast members and even a pension plan for actors were part of its goals, some were realized, and some were not. In recent years, F.O.R seemed to have lost its voice and another plan of action was to be taken. Rem Zamora, current Marketing Head for Repertory Philippines decided that the best way to revive the “friends” was to create a whole new “barkada” (group). “I just decided to go for some new blood, people who had more energy and enthusiasm to volunteer their time and effort.”

The Present

Last October, Friends of Repertory was “revived” with 21-year-old Toff de Venecia as head. “Toff seemed the perfect candidate” explained Rem, “He loved theater, was acting and had a wide network of friends.” Toff certainly didn’t have an easy start, the thrust of Friends of Rep was not necessarily fundraising but to sell tickets, and there was some resistance as many felt that Repertory was already well-financed and supported. Theater is in constant need of funding as productions are not cheap, and actors get paid an almost minimum wage for their performances. Now with about 30 members total in F.O.R, the first goal of 2008 is firstly, raise awareness of the ‘encore’ presence of the younger set. Of course, they also have to raise in order for them to start their campaigns for the selling of new Repertory plays and seasons.

Stage Hands

I met with Toff and five other members on the day of the shoot and he explained to me that their first activity for 2008 was a dinner/concert benefit on Feb. 22 entitled FORever Rep. “We got artists such as Miss Saigon alumni Michael Williams and Robbie Guevara, opera singers Lionel and Cynthia Guico among others to perform. The proceeds will be used to fund our projects which includes buying shows that will cater to the sectors of society (including the youth) who have limited exposure to theater.”

It is true that until now, theater (especially the Western pieces that are the standard of REP) are considered too high brow, but F.O.R plans to change all that through its efforts of bringing more people to watch—without having to spend. The other members who were present at the shoot were also active in theater, either with their school or outside. Andrei Pamintuan is a Theater Arts Major from Ateneo and most recently appeared in a Trumpets’ production directed by Freddie Santos. Jorja Hung is still in school but came out as Simone in Floy Quintos’ Fluid. Nicole Co is fascinated by languages and is planning to pursue Mandarin studies in Beijing this year. Charlie Barredo who hails from Assumption has done both musicals and straight plays and is passionate about saying that her involvement is what her parents ( Repertory founders Baby Barredo and Zeneida Amador) would have dreamt about. Faust Peneyra is focusing on production design, but also involves himself in acting and as a professional stage manager for concerts and theatrical performances.

Wrap-up

The rapport between these “friends” was genuine as they teased each other and got their game on posing and talking about what they were going to do that day. The jokes and teasing flowed especially as Andrei got a free haircut from hairstylist Raymond Ko. The girls studied their curls and the boys (all having theater backgrounds) were obedient in the makeup chair. I asked them why any of them would want to volunteer their free time when they could easily spend their weekends partying, going out of town or just “act their age.” All of them just shrugged their shoulders like being involved in as many aspects of theater was just a natural progression for them. Natural was the vibe during the shoot and it went pretty quickly. Then off they went (Rehearsals for some, studies for others) they didn’t even slow down to eat. It looks like Repertory has found a group that certainly has the vim and vigor to make sure that the show will go on, and on, and on.

FORever Rep will be held at the Urdaneta Clubhouse in Urdaneta Village, Makati, MM. For more information call or text Bea Garcia at 0917-9128930 or click on www.repertory-philippines.com