MANILA, Philippines — Those who will participate in the MQuest Artists Agency (MQAA) acting, dance, and voice public workshops will get the chance to be discovered and have exclusive access to auditions and the opportunity to join the MQAA talent pool.
The workshop will be conducted by direk Rahyan Carlos (“Pamahiin,” “Shake, Rattle & Roll 8,” “Ringgo: The Dog Shooter,” ABS-CBN’s “Florinda” and TV5’s “Regal Shocker”). He recently joined the MQAA as head of training and development, under the leadership of Jeffrey Remigio, who is also VP for content acquisition at Cignal TV.
According to media release, direk Rahyan is the only Filipino accredited to teach the Hollywood “Chubbuck Technique,” which he mastered under Hollywood acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, whose clients include A-listers like Halle Berry, Brad Pitt, Sylvestre Stallone, Jim Carrey and Charlize Theron.
In the Philippines, direk Rahyan has trained some of the industry’s most celebrated actors, including Christian Bables, Coco Martin, Arjo Atayde, Megan Young, Julia Barretto, Roco Nacino, Sandino Martin, Carla Martinez, and Carmi Martin.
He also trained the first batch of MQAA talents as well as beauty queens Lara Quigaman and Shamcey Supsup.
One of the objectives why they are offering public workshops is to scout new talents and artists, stated direk Rahyan at a presscon. “But it doesn’t mean that if you attend a workshop, you become an artista right away. Meaning, you have to work hard during the workshop.”
“I have an assessment report, naka-line graph, including attitude, attendance, who’s late, sino ang ka-eksena, nag-rehearse ka ba or what. That’s part of me assessing them if they will level up. If they will pass all of it and then maybe I can give them a go to Sir Jeff and they can be considered to be part of the pool of artists.”
Direk Rahyan said that they will create an MQAA artist registry for character roles, second lead, and others. There’s no age requirement, he added.
“I have a participant before who’s 69 years old (Cecille Santos) and then after four years, she got a billboard on EDSA and appeared in various projects… The most important (thing) is whatever training I will give to the MQAA artist, the pool of artists, it will be the same training that I will give to the public.”
He further assured that he will give them the best training not only in acting but also dance and voice with other coaches.
“I believe that we want our artists to be triple threat performers. Because sometimes, as simple as this, it goes hand in hand. For example, ang artista ko model, stiff. It (the change) is not overnight.
“I will tell him or her, ‘Can you go to the dance class, can you go to the voice class?’ Kasi ang artista dapat kumanta rin at sumasayaw (An artista should also know how to sing and dance).
“There is science to do it. Hindi po pwedeng yung acting natin ngayon na, ‘Bahala na si Batman.’ So all of these (things are) what they can expect. They can be discovered and at the same time, they can have the training that Hollywood actors are learning from Ivana Chubbuck.”
Direk Rahyan is likewise excited to train MQAA talent and Metro Manila Film Festival 2023 Best Actor Cedrick Juan (“GomBurZa”). “But he did a great job in ‘GomBurZa,’ which is why I’m excited to train Cedrick — because how else can we take it to the next level?”
The public workshops are set to take place around the first or second week of December. These will include acting programs for teens, adults, and kids.
For details, visit MQAA Facebook page (@mqaaworkshops), Instagram (@mqaaworkshops) or e-mail at mqaa.training@gmail.com.