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Alumnus Andrei Pamintuan goes back to Ateneo Blue Rep to direct musical

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Totel V. de Jesus

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/09/26/blue-rep-1.jpg"/><figcaption>A scene from &#x27;The Theory of Relativity.&#x27; Photo from the Facebook page of Ateneo Blue Repertory</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- If there&#x27;s one aspect in man&#x27;s life that even Albert Einstein can&#x27;t figure out, it&#x27;s how teenagers think and behave. There&#x27;s no formula on how to prevent a tantrum or rebellion, or how to solve most of their problems, which are often caused by their parents and other adults. In the ongoing &quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; by Ateneo Blue Repertory, the audience is presented with concerns and issues that teenagers deal with -- and one can play psychiatrist or simply a theater-loving viewer.Going back to his roots at the Blue Rep, alumnus Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan directs &quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; for its 28th season premiere.&quot;This is great piece for a season opener especially from Blue Rep for college-aged students,&quot; he told ABS-CBN News last Sunday after a performance. Unlike previous productions of Blue Rep, &quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; is a series of songs and monologues performed by 19 actors that may sound not connected to each other. In the end, the song cycle is an insightful, wonderful story that teenagers can relate to. Such concerns include being allergic to cats or being in love to one or many people, either with the opposite or the same sex. It tackles sensitive topics like how a child of separated parents cope while growing up. It also lets us inside the mind of a germaphobe. &quot;The show was specifically written for millennials, although that wasn&#x27;t a term when they started staging it,&quot; said Pamintuan. He was referring to composer-lyricist Neil Bartman and book writer Brian Hill, who developed the material starting from the Canadian Music Theatre Project up to the staging by Goodspeed Musicals and in London Off-West End.Bartman and Hill are also known for the musical &quot;Story Of My Life&quot; on Broadway, &quot;The Adventures of Pinocchio&quot; for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, &quot;You Are Here&quot; for Goodspeed Musicals and &quot;Something Wicked This Way&quot; for Delaware Theatre Company. <div>Hit among young audiences</div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/09/26/blue-rep-2.jpg"/><figcaption>A scene from &#x27;The Theory of Relativity.&#x27; Photo from the Facebook page of Ateneo Blue Repertory</figcaption></figure></div>So why did the current batch of actors from Blue Rep choose something unfamiliar to most local audiences as &quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot;? &quot;Well, why not?&quot; Pamintuan said. &quot;Seriously now, &#x27;Theory of Relativity&#x27; is about understanding different perspectives and other realizations beyond this post-digital modern age. The show is all about experiences told in a song cycle.&quot; &quot;They also want a material that resonate with younger audiences like them,&quot; he added. Proof, amid bigger productions simultaneously being staged by established theater companies and other university-based groups around Metro Manila, Blue Rep had sold-out shows the first and second weekends. The production is on its third and final week that started on Wednesday, September 25, and runs daily up to Sunday, September 29, at the Fine Arts Black Box Theater in Ateneo de Manila University. For those who haven&#x27;t seen it, a promo material attributed to Live Like Tom has this to say: &quot;Take a Physics manual, blend it with the sound of &#x27;The Book of Mormon,&#x27; the hilariously nerdy references of &#x27;The Big Bang Theory,&#x27; a sprinkle of &#x27;Chicago,&#x27; few drops of &#x27;Glee,&#x27; bake it in a Broadway bowl, use all the originality you can have... That’s the successful recipe for the spectacular song cycle, &#x27;The Theory of Relativity.&#x27;&quot; Adding to that, Pamintuan said: &quot;It&#x27;s about the use of physics concepts, making it more human. Because when you think of mathematics, there seems to be no heart to it.&quot;&quot;What&#x27;s great about this show is that this digs deeper into human connections. The play&#x27;s themes have become inter-generational in terms of resonance. Probably why we been having sold-out runs so far. Our audiences are not just Atenistas. There are lots of college orgs from other schools that follow Blue Rep. And dami pa ring nanonood, even younger,&quot; he said. In a recent performance, he brought his 13-year-old nephew, who enjoyed it a lot. &quot;There&#x27;s a scene where a character speaks about the loss of a mother and my pamangkin told me after the show that he remembered his grandma. Ang ganda pakinggan na even a 13-year-old can relate to it,&quot; Pamintuan added. <div>Sensitive, important issues</div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/09/26/blue-rep-3.jpg"/><figcaption>A scene from &#x27;The Theory of Relativity.&#x27; Photo from the Facebook page of Ateneo Blue Repertory</figcaption></figure></div>Another reason why they had sold-out shows in the last two weekends is because of sensitive issues that young adults are dealing with but are usually kept in the closet or hastily posted on social media for strangers to feast on. &quot;It&#x27;s successful in the college circuit because may mga story about being gay, having lost a parent, getting abortion at iba pang mga bagay na importanteng pag-usapan ng harap harapan,&quot; he said. The artistic team is composed of young experts in the field. Abi Sulit is musical director, Ricardo Magno is movement director, Jodinand Magno is set designer and Miyo Sta. Maria is lighting designer. They have Blue Rep members assisting and learning from them. Pamintuan is happy to share his expertise to his assistant director Kat Batara. The same with Sulit to assistant musical director Kax Torrefiel, Sta. Maria to assistant lighting designer Kristina Ticzon, Aguillon to assistant movement directors CJ Lubangco and Esee de los Santos. The cast members and their respective roles are, in no particular order, as follows: JP Lapuz plays Paul, Mar Argente as Julie, Joyce Buen as Joanna, Jerome Chua as Adam, Keisha Pandapatan as Amy, Julia Santiago as Sara, Nikole Delene Lim as Jenny, Anton Vergel de Dios as Adrian, Bea Salcedo as Dana, Davy Narciso as Ryan, Choy Simpao as Oliver, Tristan Ahorro as Mike, Misha Fabian as Caroline, Janine Idquival as Mira, Leon Bernabe as Trevor and Peter Romero as Joshua.The ensemble is composed of Xavi Fernando, Dana Ysabel Li and Claire Venzon. Pamintuan said almost all cast members are in their freshmen and sophomore year and he&#x27;s very happy to have directed these vibrant, brilliant &quot;kids&quot; all eager to learn about musical theater. They took over from the batch that graduated last school year, mostly those who were part of the critically acclaimed &quot;Spring Awakening.&quot;Lapuz and Buen are the only two cast members who are in their senior year in Ateneo and in their last year with BlueRep. Lapuz was last seen in &quot;Spring Awakening,&quot; playing supporting character Ernst Robel.Besides Narciso, who is on his second year in Ateneo and Blue Rep, Pamintuan said most of the cast members are first-time actors.The only Blue Rep alumnus in the cast is Chua, who plays Adam the &quot;pie guy carrying a bouquet of roses.&quot;Lapuz plays Paul, the character allergic to cats. Narciso shines in this production as Ryan, who copes with bigger teenaged problems like dealing with divorced parents, a sibling who eloped and a pet dog that died.Buen as Joanna is hilarious doing the &quot;cake monologue,&quot; which we can say is a highlight in this production. <div>Best mentor-director</div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/life/09/26/blue-rep-4.jpg"/><figcaption>A scene from &#x27;The Theory of Relativity.&#x27; Photo from the Facebook page of Ateneo Blue Repertory</figcaption></figure></div>&quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; is Pamintuan&#x27;s sixth directorial job for Blue Rep. He started with &quot;Stages of Love&quot; in 2006. &quot;I was in junior college then. I directed it again when it was re-staged in 2016 and 2017.&quot;In his senior year, he directed &quot;Spelling Bee&quot; in 2007 and again when it was re-staged in 2014. In 2008, he directed &quot;All Shook Up&quot; and discovered Victor Robinson III, who eventually bagged the lead character of Topper in &quot;Sa Wakas,&quot; which Pamintuan also directed.Pamintuan directed &quot;Spring Awakening&quot; in 2013, just a couple of months before he did &quot;Sa Wakas.&quot; In 2017, he co-directed the anniversary concert &quot;Company Call: blueRep at 25&quot; with Toff De Venecia. As Einstein once said: &quot;Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.&quot; Pamintuan did keep on moving and improving. Away from Blue Rep, he is busy nowadays as creative director of Pineapple Lab, an art hub located in Poblacion, Makati City, and the annual Manila Fringe Festival.&quot;But I keep on coming back. It&#x27;s different with Blue Rep. I kinda grew up here. We had the best mentors and experiences. As you can see, it&#x27;s been a spring board for many theater artists in professional theater groups. The likes of Maronne Cruz, Abi Sulit, Ejay Yatco, Caisa Borromeo, Gabs Santos, Kakki Teodoro, Jill Peña, Gab Pangilinan, Kyla Rivera and the list goes on. They still come back. It&#x27;s a chance for us to get back and remind ourselves where we came from, teach the next generation of theater artists who want to pursue professional theater.&quot;After all, &quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; is about human connections and Pamintuan, like the remaining age-old trees inside that historic campus on Katipunan Avenue, will always remain deeply rooted to Blue Rep. &quot;So show some love to these young thespians of Ateneo Blue Repertory! You still have one weekend to catch this inspiring production.&quot;The Theory of Relativity&quot; runs until Sunday, September 29, at the Fine Arts Black Box Theater in Ateneo de Manila University. Tickets can be purchased <a href="https://ktx.abs-cbn.com/category/theory-of-relativity">here</a>.

"The Theory of Relativity" is a series of songs and monologues performed by 19 actors that may sound not connected to each other.

"The Theory of Relativity" is a series of songs and monologues performed by 19 actors that may sound not connected to each other.