Manila theater scene is facing questions about whether an oversupply of local productions is diluting audiences and straining ticket sales.
Palanca award-winning writer and sought-after director Guelan Luarca recently started a thread asking, “I wonder if we have data that show how theater sales are affected (positively? negatively?) by the influx of foreign touring shows here in Manila.”
Guelan, whose Scene Change Theater Company is staging “Dagitab” at the Ateneo Comm Studio this June, was referring to major international touring productions like “Come From Away,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Into the Woods” and more, all coming to Manila.
Musical director Rony Fortich weighed in:
“I think it’s a good question. But the wider net would be to ask: what drives people to or away from Philippine theater? Are people saving money for foreign shows? Possibly. Are audiences too spread out among the incredible number of productions happening in a year? That’s also possible. I like the idea that more theater means more awareness, which helps everyone. It’s a great discussion to have to see how the industry can support itself better.”
The current reality is that selling out local shows has become increasingly difficult. Theater groups now rely on packaged rates, and even sponsor-subsidized tickets just to fill seats. This is critical, as live audience energy is vital for theater performers.
Barefoot Theatre Collective head and Gawad Buhay Best Director John Mark Yap added:
“Two years ago, even with ‘Hamilton’ and last year with ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘Six,’ most (if not all) local productions still did well in terms of sales. It’s really the sheer number of local productions happening in the metro. It’s not a bad thing, but each production has to work harder to market and sell tickets. There are more than 15 million people in Metro Manila. We just need to reach and tap the right audiences.”
Yap also pointed out that subpar shows have damaged audience trust:
“If there’s one thing that’s affected theater sales negatively, it’s the ‘bad’ shows. A lot of people (based on Reddit) are now scared to spend their hard-earned money on shows that aren’t worth it.”
Producer Aaron Velasco agreed:
“Oo nga, we should have that data. My hunch is that foreign shows don’t have much of a negative effect. We had the same fear with ‘Hamilton,’ ‘Miss Saigon’ and ‘Six’ right after the pandemic, but I think they didn’t really eat into our regular market. If anything they open our local theater market to untapped audiences. I think what affects our sales more are when local theater companies have shows/ do pre-sales simultaneously, kasi our market shares are more or less the same.”
CCP Artistic Director Dennis Marasigan stated that “Raw data seems to indicate that popular foreign shows introduce new audiences (young ones, especially) to theater. They then turn their new-found interest into watching other shows. Sales data shows that some local shows outsell some foreign ones, percentage wise.”
Guelan in turn asked, “If (and only if) some study shows that this wave of foreign touring prods negatively affects the local scene, I wonder if there’s already a law that exists that says that producers of foreign touring prods should pay some amount to, say, NCCA or CCP or some arts agency, which fund goes to the support of local artists. A way to offset said negative effects, if there are any? Is this a bad idea? Or does this law already exist?
“Hindi ba meron naman nang tax na levied on foreign acts? Kaya mas mahal ang concerts dito at mas matipid pa lumipad to Singapore to watch some acts.”
Yeah, but Edge Angeles wondered if that tax should go to aid local artists competing with these foreign acts.
Norbs Postales opined, “I remember nagclamor na makakuha ng displacement fee noon ang mga theater artists sa foreign theater performances tulad ng pagkuha ng displacement fee ng OPM kapag may foreign concerts.
“The industry needs a comprehensive set of market studies, perhaps initiated by Philstage or University-based theater studies programs.
“Collate data outside of Metro Manila to distribute what constitutes our Theatre Industry. Then we get a good enough sight of the country’s total theatre GDP. We need to put in plans on how to improve the Supply-Demand cycle nationwide to provide inclusive opportunities.”
Historian and author Jose Victor Torres said, “There were protests before by some groups when the tourism dept and private groups bought in the ‘Les Miserables’ and ‘Miss Saigon’ shows that got a chunk of the market and created a silly ‘measure’ on what is a ‘good’ ‘world-class’ prod. But on sales, I think there wasn’t a study yet.”
What do you think? How are these foreign touring productions affecting the local theater scene?