Why We Believe Families and Kids Can Appreciate Theater and All Its Drama

by Kevyn Gohu
December 5, 2023

Repertory Philippines opens Season 87 with family-friendly and centric musicals, including two original theater productions that the kids will love.

“Theater is meant to get the kids to watch and learn,” explains Repertory Philippines Creative Director and Director of the original Jepoy and The Magical Circle Joy Virata. “It’s a challenge that we [those in theater] will face as their interests — millennials, Gen-Z, and maybe Gen-X — change.”

Before cartoons, families would bring their kids to plays and musicals performed in a theater. Many performers still and will vividly share the day they decided to become a patron or a practitioner in the arts, recalling the exact moment as the play reached its climax. And although 2023’s curtains fall for the Repertory Philippines with their performance of Snow White and The Prince at the Greenbelt Theater, it rises again for them as 2024 now has the Repertory family return home to one of their old auditoriums: the Carlos Romulo Auditorium in RCBC Plaza, Makati City.

And considering their lineup, there’s a lot for the family and kids to appreciate this coming 2024.

Repertory Philippines’ Family-Centric Theater Line-Up

Why We Believe Families and Kids Can Appreciate Theater and All Its Drama

Kids love plays, especially ones filled with magic and creatures of yore. Whereas, we, moms and dads, love spilling the tea. Their opening number, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, will not just tug at the heartstrings and pay tribute to every Filipino’s favorite plot of a turbulent and unsatisfactory marriage filled with extramarital affairs. It also opens the door to welcoming new members into the Repertory Philippines with their new The Bridge Project.

“When we came up with The Bridge Project, it was to help aspiring actors, theater practitioners, playwrights, and the like learn from the masters!” Victor Lirio explains excitedly. “Betrayal will have an extra layer experience wherein we want those who are watching to learn from the second generation British-Filipino.”

But what is theater without the slice of life? Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo demonstrates the realities of love and relationships with the production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, And Now Change. “It’s most likely going to be PG-13,” she replies when asked about the age range. “But it’s the perfect age! It’s when teenagers and even us talk about love and relationships.”

Where Do the Kids Find Their Fun In The Theater?

Children's Theater Presents Jepoy and The Magical Circle for the kids

Kids who aspire to join the theater will see that there’s hope for them to rise on the stage. But helping Filipinos raise their talents to the global stage is one thing but to establish the Philippine identity in theater and supporting family’s appreciation for it is another. “I think a lot of us [the producers] found comfort in producing Western plays because of a pre-written script and Disney being having tested the plots with the kids,” admits Joy when asked about her concept about Jepoy and The Magic Circle. “But it’s all about execution; I’m confident that Philippine mythology — even the most obscure ones — will shine.”

“There’s just something about the spooky that kids love,” Musical Director Ejay Yatco continues. “Philippine mythology was always about scary stories. So, adding a more light-hearted, comical spin to the family tale where Jepoy looks for his father while encountering the many strange creatures in the Philippine forest will be a breath of fresh air. It takes scary but not too scary.”

Singer and songwriter dad Jose Mari Chan now joins Philippine Repertory

The greatest surprise was yet to come as Repertory Philippines welcomes a new member to the family: the father of Filipino Christmas and Christmas memes himself, Jose Mari Chan. Millennials, Gen-Z and, almost every Filipino family has grown up listening to JMC’s tunes and can now do so with the newest play: Coming Home For Christmas: A Jose Mari Chan Musical!

Theater Walked So Cartoons and Movies Could Run

Although there’s no denying the appeal Disney and Netflix have, Theater still has a different appeal for the kids. The immersion, the artistry — there’s no need for a computer to make them sound great. People in theater have trained all their lives to perform and make families smile with their characters and their stories. Celebrating their first post-pandemic season, Repertory Philippines opens the 87th season of musicals for every family to love.

For more details, check out their website here!