Tell a story
with your voice

Born in New York City and raised in the suburbs of New Jersey, David Maquiling is a magna cum laude graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He made his feature film debut with Too Much Sleep, which was produced by Michele Medina of Grassland Films and Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente of Open City Films. For Too Much Sleep, Maquiling won an Independent Spirit Award, was featured in Variety’s annual “Someone to Watch” article, earned the IFP Project Involve Fellowship, and was elected to the Directors Guild of America, where he serves on the Asian American Committee.

A modern adaptation of a Filipino folk story, Too Much Sleep had its World Premiere at the South By Southwest Film Festival, screened at more than 25 international festivals, and earned rave reviews when it was distributed by The Shooting Gallery. In The New York Times Dave Kehr wrote, “Too Much Sleep is a sharp comedy on the order of Scorsese’s After Hours …marks Maquiling as a filmmaker to watch.” Roger Ebert insisted that we must “cherish it as a treasure.” Kevin Thomas of the LA Times described Too Much Sleep as “a shaggy-dog story full of hilarious and outrageous twists.” Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, wrote, “Too Much Sleep mixes The Bicycle Thieves with the daffy buoyancy of Bottle Rocket.” The Denver Post described it as “a wickedly smart indie film that will remind you of Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch.”

Maquiling teaches film production courses at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and serves as the Chair of the Admissions Committee for the Production Division. He is the Lead Faculty for USC’s Youth Filmmaking Workshop, where he teaches filmmaking to at-risk high school students, and is the Lead Faculty for the USC Afghanistan Narrative Workshop in Dubai. He is also a faculty member of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach film production at the University of the Philippines.

David is the Co-Founder of Maquina Films, which is dedicated to producing feature films that address relevant social issues. He is the Co-Founder of the New Filmmakers screening series at the Anthology Film Archives in NY, was the Festival Co-Director of the 25th Annual New York Asian International Film Festival. Maquiling also served as the Head of the Feature Jury for the 22nd Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Actor and director Rod Menzies, is an internationally recognized voice, speech, text, and dialect coach. He is a former co-artistic director of Ensemble Studio Theatre Los Angeles (EST/LA), where he serves on the Board of Directors and contributes as an actor and director in the development of new American plays. He is also a member of the Open Fist Theatre Company, where he acts and directs. In 2018, Menzies appeared in Zuri Alexander’s award-winning short film, Quiet Denial, which has screened at a number of film festivals including L.A. Shorts, where it was recognized with an Audience Award.

As a director, Menzies has helmed more than 60 theatrical productions, including three world premieres for EST/LA, and an award-winning world premiere of Tom Jacobson’s Walking to Buchenwald, for Open Fist. In Los Angeles, he has performed leading roles at Open Fist, A Noise Within, Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Pico Playhouse, Getty Villa, Chalk Repertory Theatre, and EST/LA. A veteran of the Shakespearean Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, Menzies has played many leading Shakespearean roles, including Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, Hortensio in Taming of the Shrew, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the title role in King Henry V.

As a faculty member in nationally recognized conservatory programs, Menzies has taught acting, Shakespeare, and directing, as well as many courses in voice, speech, text, and dialects. He is a founding faculty member of Canada’s National Voice Intensive where he taught voice and Shakespeare text for 15 years. He is also the founding producing director of New York Theatre Intensives, where he taught a summer intensive in new play development in collaboration with the member artists of EST/NY.

Among the actors he has coached are Patricia Arquette, Neve Campbell, David Duchovny, Mariska Hargitay, Adrian Homes, James Purefoy, Marcus Scribner, Alicia Silverstone, TJ Thyne, and Sophie Turner.

In addition to UCLA TFT, Menzies teaches at the AMDA Conservatory of the Performing Arts. He received his master of fine arts degree in theatre from York University in Toronto and a diploma in acting from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, England.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Alicia Sedwick was a NYC-based actor, performing in Off-Broadway (Lady Macbeth) and regional theatres including The Old Globe, American Conservatory Theatre (company member), The Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and The Ensemble Theatre Company. She has made numerous national commercials and voiceovers, as well as television credits include Law and Order and LA Dragnet.

Sedwick co-produced Spark Off Rose, a live monthly storytelling event in Los Angeles for fifteen years. She received her M.F.A. in Acting from The American Conservatory Theatre and teaches College Acting, Movement, Speech, VO, and Conceptual Storytelling.

She has been a creative writer for story-based App content, and coaches and edits speeches for national non-profits, TED Talks, and corporate speakers. She is also on the Literary Committee of LA’s Blank Theatre, which supports new play development works from established and emerging writers in weekly staged readings for their long-established Living Room Series.