Toff De Venecia temporarily leaves Sandbox Collective with ‘Sideshow’

It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon a couple of weeks ago when the 11-year-old Sandbox Collective dropped the announcement that its co-founding artistic director, Toff De Venecia, will go on temporary hiatus to pursue his postgraduate studies in London.

Sandbox Collective’s co- founder, marketing and public relations manager Sab Jose will take over the post.

“I haven’t been able to fully process everything to be honest. It’s been a whirlwind, jumping through my concentric lives of theater and government, and now preparing to uproot myself to London to take my masters (Masters in Public Administration in Innovation, Public Policy and Public Value),” De Venecia told GMA News Online before the opening week of “Sideshow the musical,” which will have a one-day extended run, Sunday, August 24, with 3pm and 7:30pm shows at PowerMac Center Spotlight BlackBox Theater in Circuit Mall, Makati City.

It has earned rave reviews, some calling it “a rare gem.”

De Venecia has just finished his three consecutive terms in Congress, having served for nine years as 4th District Representative of Pangasinan. “I will surely miss my constituents and the policy work, which provides such an immense opportunity to generate impact. The politics, not so much, he added.

Over the years, he has made major contributions to the growth and dynamism of local theater in particular and the whole gamut of arts, culture, cuisine, publishing, media, literature and handicrafts-making industries.

He is principal author of Republic Act 11904 or the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act of 2022, which gives more protections and security to more than seven million Filipinos working under the creative sector.

De Venecia is also vice president of Philstage, the umbrella organization of 16 professional theater companies in the country, which gives the annual Gawad Buhay Awards. He earlier shared the good news that there was an increase in the number of Philstage productions since live shows, post-COVID 19 pandemic, have fully opened in 2023.

“Highlights from our survey show that the number rose from 26 in 2023 to 43 in 2024, or a 65% increase. This translated to almost double the number of performances, from 325 shows in 2023, to 594 shows in 2024 or a staggering 83-percent increase. Even the number of venues in which our shows were mounted increased by 33 percent from 15 in 2023 to over 20 venues nationwide in 2024 as companies toured across the archipelago,” he said.

“However, despite a double-digit increase in productivity, the number of tickets sold registered only a single-digit growth (this number excluding audiences of touring productions, university theater, and non-Philstage members). From 190,048 ticket buyers in 2023, the number rose to 204,492 ticket buyers in 2024 or a modest 8% growth. This data reinforces the need to ramp up efforts towards achieving Philstage’s long-term dream of positioning the Philippines as the number one theatrical arts hub in Southeast Asia,” he added.

Sandbox Collective arrived at the scene in July 2014 staging “Dani Girl” at the Carlos P.
Romulo Auditorium. It was followed by the game-changing interdisciplinary arts event called “The Imaginarium Festival of the Absurd” held at the PETA Phinma Theater in the same year.

Over the years, Sandbox has bravely, creatively and successfully tested the waters with “No Filter 1 & 2 (The Millennial Monologues),” National Artist Ricky Lee and music genius Vincent de Jesus’ “Himala: Isang Musikal,” and Duncan Macmillan’s “Lungs” and “Every Brilliant Thing,” among others.

Focusing on mental health issues, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic years, it has restaged every year the Filipino translation by Guelan Luarca—with inputs from actor Jon Santos—of “Every Brilliant Thing” titled “Bawa’t Bonggang Bagay.”

All in all, as confirmed to GMA News Online by Sab Jose, Sandbox has staged 20 shows since 2014. They could have done more but they had to take some years off. “First time we went on hiatus was in 2016 when I went to London and Toff first joined Congress. We came back in 2018,” she said.

“And then the pandemic happened and we were on break again for three years. We came back in July 2023. Hopefully, no need for more breaks,” she said.

Sandbox has been able to stage three productions in a year but in 2024 for their 10th anniversary, they mounted four shows. “We did ‘Spelling Bee,’ ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ [the restaging of] ‘Bawat Bonggang Bagay’ and ‘Tiny Beautiful Things’,” said Jose.

“This year, we’re back to doing three shows, “Next To Normal,” [the third staging of] “Bawat Bonggang Bagay and [now, the ongoing] “Side Show.”

It’s a known fact that Sandbox Collective’s sister company is 9 Works Theatrical, which is staging “The Bodyguard the Musical” at the new, state-of-the-art The Proscenium Theater in Rockwell Center in Makati City this September.

We asked De Venecia the possibility to having future shows for Sandbox at the said theater and he told us, “I believe so. Stay tuned for future announcements.”

Meanwhile, as he takes a break from public service and theater, De Venecia takes his final bow as he closes the ceremonial curtain on Sunday, with “Sideshow.”

“While in London, I might still help Sandbox, give my inputs via Zoom or [FB] messenger,” he said, laughing. “Let us see.” — LA, GMA Integrated News