Repertory Philippines' new home in Quezon City. Handout 

MANILA -- Repertory Philippines is moving to a new home as a 500-seat theater will soon rise in Quezon City. 

The brand new performance venue is a result of Rep's partnership with Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, the retail and commercial development arm of Megaworld Corp. Set to be launched in October, it will occupy 1,400 square meters of space at the fourth floor of Eastwood Citywalk.

The deal was formalized on Monday, during a contract signing event with Rep president Mindy Perez-Rubio and Megaworld Lifestyle Malls head Graham Coates.

Megaworld Lifestyle Malls first vice president and head Graham Coates and Repertory Philippines president Mindy Perez-Rubio. Handout  

"The timing was perfect," Coates told ABS-CBN News shortly after the contract signing. "Repertory was looking for a new home and we were looking to increase our entertainment and amusement concepts in our mall, so this is a perfect partnership."

"I'm a big fan of theater and my children have been with Repertory Philippines all their lives," he added, referring to his daughters, theater actresses Becca and Rachel Coates. "And I think theater brings something different to the equation, it's the live interaction with the patrons. And with their lineup of shows, it just makes a difference to the mall."

Perez-Rubio, for her part, believes that moving to Quezon City is a great way to reach a wider audience. "We actually always conduct surveys with all our audiences, and we found out that most of them come from Quezon City, and number 2 is Makati," she told ABS-CBN News.

"And I think Quezon City would be a good place [for Rep]. We've never been here before, it's our first time and we look forward to it," she added. "It's going to be a new era. We had 50 years in Makati, and maybe the next 50 years -- Rep is now 57 years old -- will hopefully be here [in Quezon City]."

The first show at the new performance venue in Eastwood City will be "Jepoy and the Magic Circle," a Rep original production. Here's a glimpse of the upcoming musical:

Meanwhile, Perez-Rubio said audiences can also look forward to a musical based on the songs of Jose Mari Chan -- dubbed the Philippines' "Mr. Christmas" -- just in time for the holidays.

"We are creating the script right now as we speak, and we will be using all his songs," she shared. "So it will be a Christmas musical," she said. 

Jose Mari Chan musical to banner Rep's 2024 season