SPOTLIGHT’S 2010 staging of “Magsimula Ka” boosted the careers of a new batch of exceptionally promising talents.
In the course of his long directing career, Nestor Torre has showcased and mentored then young stand-out talents like Isay Alvarez, Robert Seña, Gigi Posadas, Angelique Lazo, Jograd de la Torre, Jonjon Briones, Tricia Amper Jimenez, Bimbo Cerrudo, Beverly Salviejo, Giselle Sanchez, Dio Marco, Malu de Guzman, Pinky Marquez, and most recently, Aicelle Santos.
In fact, in the field of musical theater, some senior stars advise newcomers to go out of their way to be mentored by Torre—“to really learn how it should be done.”
Torre has earned his reputation by sharing what he’s learned from his own acting career, during which he starred in over 130 challenging roles in plays and musicals directed by the best of them—Bert and Daisy Avellana, Rolando Tinio, Zeneida Amador, Tony Espejo, Sarah Joaquin, Bill Kane, Joey Gosiengfiao, Jonas Sebastian, etc. He’s also trained child, teen and adult performers in his productions, as well as his workshops for Ryan Cayabyab’s talent school, Spotlight Artists Centre and Gawad Kalinga.
On Saturday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., talents who haven’t benefited from being mentored by Torre will have the opportunity to do so by way of a one-day performing workshop at Rose Cab-rera’s Mabuhay Restop theater and travel cafe at Rizal Park (near Quirino Grandstand). For details, call Rose at 359-7927 or 0917 810-8194 to 95, or e-mail info@ mabuhayrestops.com.
Torre’s past hit stage productions, which have starred many new talents who’ve gone on to long-running performing careers, include “Magsimula Ka,” “Magnificat,” “Cory the Musical,” “Katy!,” “Nasaan si Hesus?” “Pag-ibig sa Bayan,” and the current “With Love, Pope Francis” with performances in Metro Manila and Tacloban.
(Seña’s own staging of “Magsimula Ka” for Spotlight continued its tradition of showcasing and developing new talents, boosting the careers of other young comers like Myke Salomon, Poppert Bernadas and Jerald Napoles.)