Five years ago, he formed Little Boy Productions with friends and has since achieved a level of esteem after staging, among others, New Yorker in Tondo, Love Letters, Art, and the latest, Once On This Island.
In retrospect, the 30-year-old, largely Manila-based Cebuano maintains in a recent interview at East, West Café in Ayala that they have not strayed so far from the whys and wherefores behind the setting up of Little Boy half a decade ago. "We've always wanted to offer stuff that are of good quality, entertaining and that imparts a value system to those who watch it."
Little Boy, in one way or another, has sparked and nurtured an interest in theater, especially among the younger set. "We have moved to mentoring younger people and bringing them to Little Boy Productions through internships and volunteering because by doing that we believe it will a create a more stable theater base in Cebu," he says.
Hendri, who explains his seeming omnipresence in every Little Boy project with "I take a more active role because most of them [co-founders] have day jobs, and some have left for abroad," has been interestingly and appropriately deemed like a little boy by disposition. He's outspoken, restless in a good way and contagiously upbeat, especially about his job-cum-passion.
"Malingaw man ko more than anything. Yes, there's a lot of sacrifice involved. But the common thread we all have, including the volunteers, is that we love the theater and we have fun. If we're not having fun anymore, perhaps that's the time that we're going to re-assess our position," he shares.
He can never forget his first theater experience: he was grade six, it was at the height of the Edsa Revolution, and he watched "Joseph The Dreamer" at St. Theresa's College. "Lingaw kaayo ko adto," he recalls.
Since then he claims to have been fascinated with the randomness of theater. The A.B. Communications graduate of De La Salle University in Taft, who has written scripts for Manila-based productions and worked with the country's topnotch artists like Lea Salonga, is now proving quite a deft hand at producing. "Here in Cebu, it's like they lumped us together - directors, actors... I'd like to differentiate myself in that way, that I am first and foremost a producer. And it's an entirely different ballgame from directing. Producing involves money and a system. You make sure you know where the money's coming from and where it's going," he explains.
Does he worry about how much his plays would rake in profit-wise or does his love for theater overrule such concerns? "I do! I'm Chinese. I won't be into production if I'm not going to make money, unless I really know that I'm going to lose money beforehand. One classic example is Via Dolorosa. That was for prestige. It was very important that we did it, because it's a great play."
"Admittedly, some productions do lose money and you have to prepare for that," Hendri says, "But it's for prestige. You may have lost money for that production, but at least you have brought it to Cebu. The next time, you make money."
When asked if he takes offense with comments like he could have maximized his finances by way of the traditionally more lucrative ventures, Hendri, who admits to have grown in a strict Chinese upbringing, wherein his mother initially frowned on his chosen career, says: "Buot sila. I don't care. It's my money so I can do whatever I want. I'm answerable to myself. The arts have always survived through philanthropy."
"I've said this before: you have to feed your belly first, before you can feed your art, especially in a third world country like the Philippines. You can't expect art to pay for three square meals a day; we have not reached that level yet. At best, it's a hobby. We need people to support the arts. And I'm not alone there, we have regular patrons who support us," he adds.
In Little Boy, he makes it a point to execute a healthy mix of just-for-art's-sake and "unabashedly commercial" projects like New Yorker in Tondo, the longest-running project to date, which he calls community service play for its being "short, refined and very accessible." It was also in New Yorker, that the after-show open forum with the cast members - a uniquely Little Boy approach to truly reach out to its audience - first started and eventually was carried on for the rest of his productions. "The problem with New Yorker was that it was so short, and we didn't want the audience to feel shortchanged."
In selecting what plays to stage, Hendri enumerates several factors to consider. "Personal preference is one; the capability of the local actors, two; and the technical, schedule, and production requirements, three. I can never imagine myself to do My Fair Lady with local actors and it's not saying they're not good, but it's just that they're not British. I would never dream of doing something like Phantom of the Opera wherein you have caverns and all that because we just can't afford it!"
On his blueprint, however, he says, "Sound of Music is something I'd love to do one of these days. It's easy to do and it's familiar and close to the hearts of many." Another is "Metamorphoses," a play, which he has seen in New York. "It's timeless because of its mythological aspect, very philosophical and it's a lot of stories stitched together. And I like the setting, which is the pool, where the characters moved in and out of."
Very soon, he will be producing the opera, Carmen, in cooperation with the Arts Council and with The FREEMAN executive lifestyle editor, Mayen Tan, as the project head. They're also into talks with Bobby Garcia's Atlantis Productions to bring one of their plays to Cebu. But for the meantime, he's in the thick of preparations for the re-staging of his personal favorite, Once On This Island, in Cebu, after a highly successful run in Manila early this year with theater stalwarts in the cast like Bituin Escalante, Jett Pangan, Menchu Yulo-Lauchengco plus fellow Cebuano, Raki Vega. Directed by Bart Guingona, the Broadway play is coming to Cebu this August 27, Saturday at SM Cinema 1.
"I'm glad to bring Once On This Island back to Cebu after three years with the entire Manila cast and with live musicians unlike before which was taped. We're flying in the set, the costumes, all of the big-budget production," Hendri enthuses. The Manila production, wherein they had a sold-out last weekend performances, reportedly cost P4 million, while the one-day Cebu production is pegged at P1.6 million.
The guy is all praises for Raki, who also portrayed Ti Moune in the Cebu production. "Wow! She has gone such a long way. I've always been amazed by her talent and her voice. She's also a very sweet and very kind girl."
Hendri was fond of traveling before he got into producing. ("Vietnam for the food, Thailand for the culture and religion, Bali for the spa, spa, spa, Milan for their art industry, Vigan because it's so lazy... I love it! It's the place where you can read all your books and eat good food like the empanadas at the plaza"). However, he admits that the bulk of his time is now devoted to theater.
But the fulfillment is priceless, he quickly counters, adding good-humoredly: "And not a lot of us are doing that in Cebu, so there's an opportunity to be the best."