New kid on the theater block

MANILA, Philippines - On Tuesday night, a new performing arts collective was born in front of an intimate gathering of theater’s young and hungry. Its name is The Sandbox Collective, and it’s headed by theater director Toff de Venecia along with 9Works Theatrical’s Anna Santamaria. Their vision is to take on new, groundbreaking, and cutting edge work and bring them new audiences. This couldn’t come at a better time as a new generation of theatergoers is emerging, one that is demanding fresh forms of performance.

In this sandbox, Toff plays the managing artistic director while Anna is the operations director. At the lanuch, Toff shared that the team takes their cue from English theater stalwart Peter Brook, who encouraged a new energy and new artistic art forms to flourish. This means more opportunities for “new blood,” in terms of ideas, artistic voices, and local audiences.

There is no shortage of ideas and artistic voices, but gathering local audiences, who are far more interested in blockbuster movies, may be tricky. The Sandbox Collective aims to address this through its interesting yearly programming to sustain interest in the art scene. Their most intriguing seems to be Re:Imagine, a unique exploration of an existing work, be it local or foreign. With Re:Imagine, The Sandbox Collective offers a different presentation to an idea. If your idea of heaven is an all-white space with fluffy clouds, you can expect the team to put a creative spin. The team also has Blueprint, or the support of new and original work; and The Imaginarium, a multi-arts festival focusing on theater with a touch of other creative fields.

Their unique Engage program is also worth noting, as it promotes interaction with theatergoers outside shows. There’s The Talkback, where audiences can pick the minds of the cast and creative team after performances; Foreplay, a pre-show activity to help the audience better understand the show; backstage tours; student matinees with huge discounts; group packages for discounts and free tickets; and off-season programming like readings.

Dani girl

For its first Re:Imagine, the team will stage the Asian premiere of Dani Girl, an off-Broadway musical about Dani, a young girl battling leukemia. She loses her hair to chemo, and she goes on an imaginary quest with her guardian angel Raph, her roommate Marty, and her teddy bear Mr. Fritz to find it and answer the question “What is cancer?” Dani Girl has been called “a musical good for the soul.”

The musical was created by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond, and deals with abandonment, suicide, God, cancer, and death, told in the innocence of an imaginative child. Toff will direct the Philippine production, and he calls it a bold, new musical; a bit dark but positively uplifting.

The role of Dani Lyons will be played by Rebecca Coates, a high school senior who has appeared on stage in Resorts World Manila’s The Sound of Music and Repertory Philippines’ Alice in Wonderland. Her alternate will be Mitzie Lao, who will make her professional stage debut.

Coates and Lao will be joined by theater favorites Lorenz Martinez and Reb Atadero, who will alternately play Raph; Shiela Valderrama and Pamela Imperial, who will play Dani’s mother; and Luigi Quesada, who will play Marty.

Touching story aside, it’s this revolutionary way of approaching theater that will surely endear The Sandbox Collective to a new generation of theatergoers. Whoever said that theater is a dying breed needs to see the theater groups sprouting and the audiences slowly growing in the local scene.

“There’s an upswing of interest and resurgence in theater,” Toff shared. “As long as there is an audience, there will still be theater, there will still be art.”

Dani Girl will run for 15 performances at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati City, from July 11 to 27. Tickets are available at Ticketworld. You may visit www.thesandboxcollective.com, or follow the group on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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