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New Premises for Local Screen Acting Academy

by Adam Howarth, Editor
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The Wrexham Academy of Screen Acting team with Ken Skates

New Premises for Local Screen Acting Academy – the Wrexham Academy of Screen Acting’s drama classes have proved so popular they have had to find a larger location.

You may remember we featured the Wrexham Academy of Screen Acting in our April edition last year.

A Thriving Hub

Founders Dean Fagan and Louise Pridding, along with co-director/actor Ruby Snape, are the driving forces behind the idea and as Dean said at the time, “We’re more than just a school; we’re a thriving hub of creativity. We’re determined to bring the industry to Wrexham and eliminate the need for local actors to travel far and wide for opportunities.”

Wrexham Academy of Screen Acting logo

The academy has gone from strength to strength since its inauguration. Indeed, it has grown so fast that it has had to move to larger premises at King Mill (LL13 0NS) to accommodate the ever-increasing interest in its services.

They held a special event to commemorate the opening that featured Ruabon resident Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, Flint-born actor/writer/director Ian Puleston-Davies and Jonathan Stumpp, Ellie Partington and Julie Jones from the Caia Park Partnership.

The afternoon started with an animated discussion about acting opportunities in and around Wrexham. However, the conversation shifted to Wrexham’s history – with Ken chipping in with some nuggets about his home village – before finishing with comments on how much the city has to offer these days.

The group that attended the inauguration of the new premises pose at the new WASA premises
The group that attended the inauguration of the new premises pose at the new WASA premises

An Impromptu Performance

We then enjoyed a demonstration from Liam Davies and Natasha Green, two of the academy’s young talents, as they performed a scene from the film Barbarians. Ruby and Dean used all their acting knowledge and experience before the impromptu performance as they gave the couple tips about close-ups and camera angles. After the first take, the guys asked Ian if he could provide some guidance, and he duly obliged with some fascinating observations and suggestions, which really helped the actors elevate their performances.

Dean revealed a little more about what WAoSA was working on at the moment: “A big highlight recently was Sutures, a one-shot short film WAoSA produced and featured our students. It won the Best One-Shot award at the One-Shot Terrassa City of Film Festival in Barcelona.

Dean Fagan and Ruby Snape put the budding actors through their paces
Dean and Ruby put the budding actors through their paces

“We filmed the short in one shot, continuously for 9 minutes! It turns out we’re the best in the world right now for that! Some of our students went to collect the award with our writer/directors, Nate and Elliott Reeves.

WAoSA Classes

WAoSA classes are divided into youth and adult sessions and take place as follows:

Youth (9 to 17) – 5-6.30pm every Monday.

Adult (18+) – 7-9.30pm every Monday for Foundation level and every Thursday for Intermediate level.

They also do a drop-in class on a Friday from 6.30-9pm, featuring a free trial session. Information and booking details are at wrexhamacademyofscreenacting.com.

Ian Puleston-Davies dropping some pearls of wisdom during the acting session
Ian dropping some pearls of wisdom

Special workshops are also available with dialect coach Emma Stevens-Johnson on 22nd March, stunt coordinator Ray Nicholas on 8th March and TV director Adrian Bean on 25th April.

Veteran entertainer Les Dennis is also holding a seminar with a Q&A session at Hotel Wrexham on Friday, 7th February. Tickets are available from their website.

We hope you enjoyed reading “New Premises for Local Screen Acting Academy”. Click here for more of our community articles.

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