Autumn Term 2016 PQA Barnet Autumn Newsletter Welcome to our Autumn 2016 Newsletter. This year has already proved to be a very special and exceptional year for PQA Barnet. We had our first ever cinema screening at the VUE Cinema in Finchley, a number of our red group students joined the students from our sister academy in Enfield to take part in the National Theatre Connections Festival which was an amazing experience for everyone involved and one which we hope to repeat in the future. June saw our green and blue group students perform a wonderful medley of work to family and friends in the East Barnet School Auditorium and our Red Group Students performed at The Millfield Theatre with our Enfield academy followed by the group Trinity examinations in Musical Theatre and Comedy and Drama which I am delighted to say produced outstanding results. We are very proud of all our students and their hard work and dedication and we are looking forward to continuing the journey with them as we begin preparations for some very exciting projects in 2017. Also coming up in the Autumn Term we are delighted to announce the opening of PQA Enfield Sunday and PQA Plus. For more information on these and other exciting developments keep an eye on our facebook page and website. Will McGinley Principal PQA BARNET & ENFIELD STUDENTS WALK THE RED CARPET Aspiring actors and film makers from The Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts in Enfield and Barnet walked down the red carpet, just like the Hollywood Stars at the premiere of their own film projects at the VUE Cinema in North Finchley on Sunday the 20th of March 2016. Students at our academy receive training every Saturday in film and television alongside modules in musical theatre and comedy and drama and students worked for many months writing, shooting, acting and directing their very own short films for the screening. The quality of these films was simply outstanding said Principal Will McGinley The students worked incredibly hard on these projects and it s so exciting to see how they have used the techniques of television and film to tell some brilliant stories. The students were able to invite family and friends to join them at their premiere and they were treated to over two hours of short films from both academies. All students received a commemorative medal for their important contribution towards the film making process and some very lucky students received awards including Best Director and Best Actor/Actress in a lead and supporting role. We are proud of all our students for the professionalism and commitment they have shown throughout the whole pre and post production process. We have entered a selection of our films into the exclusive PQA Empire Film Festival, where the very best films are selected to be screened at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square in an exclusive red carpet event hosted by Pauline Quirke.
STAGE WHISPERS PQA BARNET'S MUSICAL MOVIES END OF TERM PRESENTATIONS On Saturday the 25th of June, our green and blue group students presented a wonderful medley of musical theatre and comedy and drama work to an audience of family and friends at the East Barnet School Auditorium. Green Group performed a medley of Disney Songs and choreographed routines from some of the most popular and much loved Disney films. This was followed by a wonderfully devised and scripted drama performance of the classic Roald Dahl novel 'The Twits'. Our Blue Group students performed a high energy Hairspray Medley followed by a stylized drama performance from an adaptation of the popular Roald Dahl classic 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Our Red Group Students performed at the Millfield Theatre on Sunday the 26th of June alongside our PQA Enfield Academy. They took the audience back to the world of the Sharks and the Jets in 1950's New York with their West Side Story medley. They also performed their Grade 4 Scripted Drama work from the play 'Find Me'. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the PQA Team and to our students for their dedication and hard work particularly in the lead up to all the live performances. PQA BARNET
STAGE WHISPERS PQA BARNET & ENFIELD RED GROUP STUDENTS PERFORM AT THE QUEEN S THEATRE AS PART OF THE 2016 NATIONAL THEATRE CONNECTIONS FESTIVAL On Sunday the 8th of May, PQA Enfield and Barnet s Red Group Connections Cast performed What Are They Like? at The Queen s Theatre in Hornchurch as part of the National Theatre Connections Festival. After a long hot day at The Queen s Theatre, including a fabulous workshop by Engineer Theatre Collective; a group of young theatre makers who describe themselves as a group of devisers dedicated to creating visually striking, ensemble led theatre, the whole cast and crew gave the performance of a lifetime. Never has the phrase Be Yourself, Be Amazing been more apt. Our cast and crew received excellent feedback from the National Theatre Director at their very first home performance. He commented: The company has clearly worked really hard on this unconventional text and brought it to life with bags of energy and creativity. The company s insights during the after show chat were quite illuminating and were testimony to how hard they have all worked; there was loads of interesting chat about the delicacy of family relationships and what would seem to be a deeper appreciation of the difficulties of parenthood. Connections is the National Theatre's annual festival of new plays for youth theatres and schools. The 2016 Connections cycle involved: 12 writers; 500 youth companies; 10,000 young people; 1200 performances; 41 partner theatres and 40,000 audience members. It was a privilege to take part in such a prestigious festival and we are excited to announce that we have applied to take part in the 2017 festival too. Coming up in the Autumn Term 2016: In our Musical Theatre module, we will be focusing on mini musicals and medleys - from the audition process, casting, rehearsals, choreography, vocal technique, accents, all culminating in a final performance with all the magical touches needed to create a musical. We all have a very busy term ahead in Film and TV. We will continue to film, direct and star in our very own short films. All the film projects our students will be working on throughout the academic year will be showcased at our next Red Carpet Film Festival. So keep working hard in film and TV so that we can show a variety of film work at our own private screening again! We will also be creating short films around our exclusive PQA Film Festival brief. In Comedy and Drama students will continue to build and develop their acting and drama skills. Projects we will be covering in our autumn term curriculum include: Green Group: Disney Rocks - Green Group will be exploring a variety of scripts from very popular and much loved Disney stories like The Little Mermaid and Frozen and other popular stories. Blue Group: Blue Group will be working on an abridged version of Roald Dahl's 'James and the Giant Peach'. They will also be working on monologues and duologue's from a variety of contemporary and classic plays to enhance audition technique. Red Group: We will be working on scene studies and building student's naturalistic acting skills. We will also be working on some classic monologues and duologue's with Red Group to enhance audition technique. PQA BARNET......
OUTSTANDING TRINITY EXAM RESULTS FOR PQA BARNET : We want to take this opportunity to say a huge well done to all our students who took their group Trinity examinations in musical theatre and comedy and drama on Saturday the 2nd of July. They all passed with flying colours and were awarded the following grades: Green Group: Grade 2 Devised Drama-Distinction Blue Group: Grade 3 Scripted Drama-High Merit Red Group: Grade 4 Scripted Drama- Distinction Red Group: Grade 3 Musical Theatre - High Merit Autumn Term Dates: We come back to PQA Barnet on Saturday 3rd September The last day of term will be: Will McGinley will@pqacademy.com 07807 142 648 Saturday 17th December If you have any questions regarding fees, uniform or auditions through the Quirky Kidz Agency please contact Head Office on 08456732022 whose offices will be open throughout the summer break. Master-classes at PQA Barnet: Each year we organise exclusive masterclasses with industry professionals who visit our academy and share their knowledge and experience of the industry with our students as well as delivering exciting workshops. We were thrilled to work with West End actors from Long Lane Theatre Company who delivered an advanced improvisation masterclass with our Red Group Students and a Roald Dahl masterclass with our blue and green group students. We were also excited to invite BAFTA award winning TV Producer and Director Adrian Hedley to the academy who delivered a 'How to Be a Children's TV Presenter' masterclass with all our main academy students and our red group students enjoyed an SFX Make up Masterclass. We have more exciting masterclasses planned for the next academic year. From swashbuckling stage and TV combat to West End Dance and stage acting masterclasses with the origianl West End Blood Brothers cast to how to act for screen and more! Would you like something fun and constructive to do over the Summer Holidays? Sign up to one of our Summer Holiday Workshops Make your own short film 1st August 5th August. Visit our micro site for more information or pick up a flyer and a booking form from the front desk. Spaces are limited.