Jake Waring is the second person to be chosen for the Brian Weaver Fellowship which provides an aspiring actor with professional, paid work at Derby Theatre.
He beat 15 other hopefuls to clinch the fellowship which is the result of a personal donation from Buxton resident Doreen Weaver in memory of her late husband Brian.
Waring was born in Chesterfield and lived in Whatstandwell and Holloway. He was a member of Derby Playhouse Youth Theatre, Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company and the National Youth Theatre.
He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and since graduating he has helped to form Engineer Theatre Collective, devising and performing in Missing, an award-winning show at the Edinburgh Fringe.
He has since worked with puppeteers Blind Summit, including performing to an audience of more than a quarter of a million people in The Magic Flute in Bregenz, Austria.
He said, “I want to say a huge thank-you to Doreen Weaver, Sarah Brigham and all at Derby Theatre for giving me this incredible opportunity.
“I'm so excited about what the year will bring, what I will learn and the amazing people I will meet and work with, all in my beloved home town as well! It means such a lot and I'm absolutely chuffed!”
Derby Theatre’s artistic director Sarah Brigham said, “Jake’s talent and determination shone through at the auditions and we very much look forward to offering him the mentorship, paid acting work and the platform to perform in two main stage shows over this next year.”
Adam Horvath, who was recipient of the first Brian Weaver Fellowship, appeared in two productions at Derby Theatre in 2014, Mike Kenny’s new version of Homer’s The Odyssey and Neil Duffield’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.