In an era where attention is measured in seconds and stories are consumed through endlessly scrollable screens, sitting in a theater for two uninterrupted hours has quietly become a radical act.
Live theater today competes not only with convenience, but with a digital culture that rewards speed over reflection.
This tension—between fleeting content and sustained human experience—helps explain why local stage productions remain relevant, even urgent, especially for younger audiences raised online.
For many people, the choice between watching a live play and consuming a stream of short-form videos is no longer trivial.
The discipline required to remain seated, attentive, and emotionally present until the final curtain can feel demanding for audiences shaped by swipe-and-skip habits.
For older viewers, however, the theater offers something beyond nostalgia: a multisensory encounter with art that cannot be paused, replayed, or sped up.
This contrast was on full display during the opening of the Xavier Arts Festival on February 4, organized by Xavier University–Ateneo de Cagayan (XU) through the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA).
The festival opened with “Mananap ni Frankenstein,” a Cebuano adaptation of Nick Dear’s screenplay based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Beneath its gothic elements, the play confronts questions of identity, creation, responsibility, and alienation—concerns that resonate in a time when people increasingly curate and perform versions of themselves online.
Jesus Christopher F. Salon, artistic director of Dulaang Atenista, noted a visible shift in audience behavior, particularly among young people.
“There has been a decline in interest in theater. Is it social media? Is it the time?” Salon said.
“People are more fixated on other things, such as schoolwork, primarily, and what’s on your phone. By the time you’re exposed to theater, from our observation, they find it hard and challenging. It was a different time for us—we were willing to die for theater,” he added with a chuckle.
For Salon, this challenge makes arts engagement even more necessary for students, not less.
XCCA Director Hobart P. Savior stressed that theater offers more than momentary amusement.
“I’d like to emphasize that to watch is not just to experience entertainment,” Savior said, citing Horace’s philosophy of dulce et utile.
“You are entertained, but at the same time, you find meaning and function in what you actually watched.”
That meaning is shaped by the theater’s immediacy.
Scene changes happen in seconds, lines flow without interruption, and emotions move directly from actor to audience.
Gasps, sighs, and laughter ripple across the room, underscoring that live performance unfolds in real time—unfiltered, collective, and unrepeatable.
“We’re very serious about our culture and arts program, even if it remains at the margins. Still, we persist,” Savior said. “No one can stop art.”
After the performance, Ryan James M. Estavas, production manager of Mananap ni Frankenstein, expressed cautious optimism about the future of theater.
“There is still a chance that people crave long-form content, especially in this digital time,” said Estavas, who is also a college student.
“We’re competing for attention, so we have to adapt our strategies and use online and digital platforms to promote our shows.”
Short-form content, he said, may be easy to consume, but it cannot replace the depth of live storytelling.
“These contents are accessible to everyone. However, there is still a clamor for quality—something that evokes emotion.”
