"enough of those off-broadway shows which kills the local theater market!"--- direk frannie zamora

frannie zamora: proud to direk KANSER.

DIREK FRANNIE (seated in red stripes shirt) with the staff and cast of KANSER

Isang early afternoon coffee break iyon sa Kuya J restaurant, at nasa magandang mood si direk Frannie Zamora. Katatapos lang nu'n ng isang successful performance ng KANSER2017: THE NOVEL. At, naisipan ni direk Frannie, mag-kape muna somewhere.

Kasama ang aktor na si Joel Molina at isang blogger na kaibigan niya, napag-usapan ang pagiging aktibo ng teatro ngayon sa mundo ng entertainment scene. At heto ang naging pambungad na reaksyon ni direk Frannie ukol sa bagay na iyon:

"Active kung active, yes!", sabi niya. "At sino pa ba ang sasaya diyan kundi kami ring nasa mundo ng teatro. Malaking tulong 'yung well-publicized kasi these days ang teatro- lalo na sa Social Networking sites, very exciting ang effect nito. But sad to say, when it comes to revenue or kita, nagkukumahog pa rin kami. We're pulling the strings pa rin, at salamat naman, nakakatawid pa rin kami."

Bakit kaya ganu'n direk Frannie? realistically, totoo po ang mga nasabi mo. And we just wanna know, what could be the reason kung bakit kulang pa rin ang revenues sa mga theater shows? Tanong 'yan ng isang blogger.

"Theater appeals only for a certain group", sagot ni direk Frannie. "And theater is not a commercially-appealing. It only attracts limited type of students- like art students or maybe, students who wants to be in the theater arts someday. Isa pa rin sa naiisip ko, 'yung audience ng theater is a mixture of curious people or those people who are simply monitoring who's who in the theater scene. Iba-iba talaga ang audience ng teatro. And now I can say, kulang pa rin kami sa suporta sa mga ganitong klase ng palabas. Nahihirapan kami sa mga sponsors."

But will theater still prevail in the end, direk Frannie?

"Maybe we have to offer something different", sagot muli ni direk Frannie. "And enough of those off-Broadway shows which simply kills the local theater market scene. Kaya ako, I never patronized them. I never watched any of those shows here. mas gusto ko pa rin ang mga gawa natin."

Marami ang nagsasabi, bakit hindi raw magdirek ng ibang klase ng stage play naman, aside from Kanser which he's been directing for the four years now sa Gantimpala Theater Foundation. Wala ba siyang plano na magdirek ng ibang klase ng play?

"I cannot, as of the meantime", mabilis na sagot ni direk Frannie. "All I can say now is, ang suwerte ko dahil kahit isa lang itong dinidirek ko sa Gantimpala, it's the Kanser play naman. And it's one of the best plays- in fact, it's the longest-running play in Philippine theater history. Walang makakatalo sa Kanser pagdating sa bagay na iyan.Tumagal ng 37 years ang play and it's still running."

Ang maganda pa, for the past four years, laging updated ang version ng Kanser. Nagiiba-iba. Hindi siya nakakasawa.

"And I am so proud this time", pagtatapos na sabi ni direk Frannie. "In fact, a lot prouder this time. Dahil tinitignan ko yung mga estudyante, everytime na matatapos ang performances ng Kanser, I could see na pumasok sa system 'yung mensahe ng play. Kaya nakatulong ang mga new formulas ko in updating the play."

kanser2017:The Novel will have its last two performances today at SM Southmall. But there are more performances to come soon.

break a leg, direk Frannie Zamora!


(written by robert silverio)