Audie Gemora's STAGES Productions is looking forward to joining forces with Repertory Philippines for the staging of the musical Peter Pan.
Sam Concepcion will be playing Peter Pan and Tippy Dos Santos is cast as Wendy. (CLICK HERE to watch Sam in character as Peter Pan)
"We are doing a co-prouduction. It's the first time that we're doing this with Repertory. So, it's quite exciting," Audie Gemora said about the joint project of his theatre group with the respected theatre group in the country.
"You have two companies who used to be competitors and are actually coming together this time as partners."
Audie believes that the partnership is beneficial for the staging of a big production in the local theatre scene.
"I think we're going to draw strength from each other. Right now, just look at how they are promoting. A lot of this is how we use to promote our shows. We're trying to elevate Repertory from being an established quiet theatre company to one that is a little bit more maingay (noisy) and more showbiz. We want to inject more panache and showbiz persona to it," Audie pointed out.
Audie himself is no stranger to Repertory Philippines having appeared and honed his talent in numerous productions of the theatre company in the past. He recently appeared onstage for Sweeney Todd and directed the controversial Equus that starred Marco Mañalac.
Audie is happy to bring young actor Sam Concepcion to the theater company that developed his acting skills.
"Sam is a STAGES talent. Tamang-tama lang for him. And it's backed up by Repertory's artistic direction. So, it's gonna be quite exciting."
A DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE. Audie, who is president of Stages and a founder of Trumpets, said that it was Joy Virata who broached the idea of a co-production.
Audie said, "It's a compliment to us. You also have to consider that enormity of the project. Ako naman, I have always considered myself as a Repertory baby. I said, 'yeah, of course.'
Audie said that the idea was brought up to him when Equus ended its run last July.
"Right around August... That was the time the idea was broached. We started with exploratory meetings and doing the numbers. Kasi iba yung sistema nila, iba yung sistema namin. And then we agreed how the partnership should be conducted.
He added, "We also feel that, although it's a happy situation, there are a lot of theatre companies right now. And there is only so much pie that you can cut on. Rather than compete, we would rather just join forces, come out with a really strong production and not have to divide the audience.
